Acid Nerve talks about the origins of Titan Souls

Many people (including its devs) would tell you that Titan Souls is what you get when you combine Shadow of the Colossus with Dark Souls. While it is indeed similar is many aspects, this retro indie game also adds a few interesting twists of its own to the formula. Developed by UK-based studio Acid Nerve and published by Devolver Digital, Titan Souls places you into a world inhabited by Titans where your goal is to slay them in order to obtain their souls. Sounds familiar? The idea itself is rather similar to that of Dark Souls except for a few key details.

In Titan Souls you only have one life, or rather 1 HP. In other words, you only have to get hit once by a Titan and it’s game over. Additionally, you also only have a grand total of 1 arrow to kill all the Titans and there are no other weapons. The good news is that you can’t lose that arrow so after you shoot you bow, you can just go and recover it. Titans also only require one hit to kill, just like you. The difference is that you will have to find their weak spots and figure out their attack patterns before you can make your move. But all in all it sounds simple enough right?

“It’s not as simple as it sounds,” said Acid Nerve’s Mark Foster. “Each Titan is completely unique, with its own threatening move set and its own hidden weakness to be exposed. It’s a challenging game, and we’re not going to help you out with any overt tutorials or prompts either — you’ll need to observe carefully and figure things out for yourself. Whilst simultaneously managing to survive. Maybe we’re just horrible people.” He also says that this crazy idea was born out of a Ludum Dare jam game by the same name that the team created in a single weekend back in December. The game’s theme was “You Only Get One”, which explains why you also only get one life point and one arrow in Titan Souls as well.

This was meant to be a small project at first, but following the feedback they received from gamers, the team decided to turn Titan Souls into a full game. Acid Never says they are currently working on bringing a lot of improvements to the upcoming title before its release. This includes brand new engine with improved graphics, larger world, and more boss battles among others. Titan Souls will be launched in early 2015 for PS4, PS Vita, Mac, and the PC.