DOLMEN

Dolmen is one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the Brazilian gaming industry. The detailed world building, the challenging combats, as well as ability customization possibilities. You'll probably want to play some more even after you finish it for the first time. After years of working on the title, Massive Work can be proud of the result. There is no shortage of reasons to be excited about the future of the studio.

A unique world with some fantastic environment designs and challenging combat, let down by often unfair enemies and a story that just wasn’t that interesting.

Dolmen is a Soulslike in a Dead Space setting: a dark, alien-infested space-environment filled with gore. The gameplay is what you'd expect from a Soulsgame, but has very little to add to the genre. The energy-management is a nice addition, as is the possibility to relive previous boss battles for extra nanites, the game's version of Souls. In the end, the game is too firmly stuck in the classic gameplay of Souls games, while the genre has progressed with the likes of Elden Ring.

You probably could have guessed this by now, but Dolmen should have released before Elden Ring. All Soulslike games from here on out will constantly be in that game’s gigantic shadow. It’s not that there’s not enough room in this genre for more entries, especially ones that are in such a wildly different setting. It’s just that whatever games release in this space must now meet such incredibly high standards or face intense criticism and likely faltering sales. Dolmen will surely appeal to those who want a Soulslike adventure in a sci-fi setting, and perhaps were disappointed by 2020’s Hellpoint release. Just go in with lowered expectations owing to a smaller dev team, and perhaps you’ll have some fun smashing enemies to bits.

Dolmen is an irremediably mediocre and dated soulslike, extremely generic and uninspired, with just a couple of good ideas when it comes to gameplay and weapons.

I had a lot of high expectations for Dolmen, considering the premise and gameplay genre. Unfortunately, it botches just about every aspect of being a Souls-like game. There were many concerns that I could look past in the demo, but are inexcusable in a full release. Not only are the technical mechanics poorly implemented with inaccurate hitbox detection and animations, the artificial difficulty and long spans of nothingness make the game frustrating for all the wrong reasons.

I’ve played all sorts of Souls-likes, including some made primarily for mobile platforms, which is to say that I don’t necessarily need the highest production standards to enjoy the core formula. I’d be willing to forgive the laughable presentation, if the gameplay wasn’t equally bad. The game feels bad to control, the animations are stiff and clunky, the user interface is a farce, the level environments are criminally boring, crafting equipment is annoying and tedious, the bossfights are terribly designed – there’s next to nothing here that isn’t subpar. Granted, there are a few good ideas and boss mechanics in there, but all of them are either poorly executed or half-hearted. Dolmen is not only the worst Souls-like I’ve played yet, it’s also a good contender for one of this year’s worst games.

Dolmen is a game that delivers what it promises. Fun game, beautiful graphics. People have to play more than the first hour to get used to the gameplay.

I dont get all those bad reviews. Admittedly, the price dropped very quickly so I got it on sale. It is nowhere near the level of polish you see in Dark Souls, but it does not even feel like its coming directly from there. It feels more like a cross between The Surge and Immortal : Unchained. If you like those two games (I loved The Surge 1 and 2!), you will definitely like this one. The inclination towards ranged combat explains the large size of some of the areas. The combat does not feel weightless and only slightly clunky. All your gear can be customized to some extent and using the right element weaspon on a particular enemy can have a huge impact. There are flaws and glitches, but nothing game breaking so far. If there is a sequel, I will go for it.

At the same time, "Dolmen" should be a really good game. The story is well told and drives you through the game. Currently, there are some bugs and coordination problems in the game. However, if you bravely fight your way through, you will be graced with a good combat system and interesting levels. Nevertheless, you will experience frustrating moments throughout the game. On the whole, "Dolmen" is successful, but also has some weaknesses. Currently, fans of the genre should rather go back to the title "Elden Ring" and hope for patches.

Dolmen is a ripoff soulslike clone that puts other soulslike games I enjoy to utter shame. Awful janky combat with overbloated enemy health bars in trash mobs with the worst stamina regen I've seen yet. Bad checkpoints that leave you frustrated & forcing you to teleport back to the base all the time if you wanna upgrade or tinker with crap you never was explained how to use in the first place..Obnoxious untelegraphed attacks from enemies with BS One shot kill mechanics built to waste your time... The UI & Hud are a eyesore.. Besides all the buggy glitchy filled mess I experienced in just the first 30 mins of the game to my character locking up unable to attack or dodge attacks to a sound glitch that mutes all sound as your playing the game forcing a restart. There is also a game breaking bug that can erase all your progress upon teleporting during specific places. I can understand what the Devs were trying to accomplish but I think they missed the point out what makes a decent soulslike. Very disappointing and the worst soulslike game I've ever played.

**** another "souls like" game has decided to grace us gamers with its presence. I want to get to the nitty gritty of this review. Save your money. Don't buy it. This is a linear garbage game that was slapped together to try and cash in on the souls like genre. You're on a planet or a ship or something. Nothing is ever really fully explained some voice chirps at you every once in awhile talking about gems or batteries or something. The crafting system is never explained fully. You're basically on your own crafting garbage weapons that feel like no matter how much you sink into him. They'd never do any more damage than your initial weapon. The different category of classes is never fully explained either as are their special abilities and weapons that are particular to that class. Nothing is explained. It's ridiculous. I gave it a one for enemy design. As interesting as some of the enemies look, there's no rhyme or reason to how they hit you or their hit points either. Sometimes the same enemy will one shot you for no reason at all and never mind your shield. It's good for nothing. It blocks nothing. The targeting is broken. You'll try to target enemy right near you and it'll target an enemy 50 ft away. There's so much wrong with this game, it just ****. Garbage bosses are nothing more than sponges designed to pad an already short game and are more aggravating than entertaining. Levels all look the same with little to no variety I could go on and on but you get the point. This is a garbage game. Save your 40 bucks and go play Mortal Shell instead. That's a souls like game done right? This is just junk.