Thymesia Review

Not too unlike a plague tearing through a town, FromSoftware’s Souls-like genre has absolutely ravaged the video game industry. At a glance, Thymesia seems as much a part of this ‘emulation as flattery’ trend as a dozen others. A vaguely Victorian-era dark fantasy world has fallen to a grotesque plague and now monstrous riffs on the working class haunt the streets. The alchemical apocalypse has forced the wealthy into their ivory towers, reigning literally high above the depths of the society they left behind as they ostensibly search for an end to the madness. Into this mess wades Corvus, an enigmatic plague doctor whose unreliable memories and penchant for violence lead him on a bloody quest to relearn his role in the outbreak.

He does so by sinking into his memories which serve as the game’s collection of levels for you to explore and fight your way through. For all the Souls-like bluster Thymesia boasts (and there’s a lot), its combat is more akin to fast-paced modern action titles than FromSoftware’s wheelhouse. If you were forced to compare apples to apples, Thymesia is most closely linked to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with a touch of Bloodborne’s thematic and mechanical ethos thrown in for good measure. This is a blisteringly fast game that has no qualms in punishing small mistakes, at least when it can decide if you’ve made one. Corvus is not limited by a stamina system, instead, the game fully commits you to your chosen actions which is freeing in some ways and exasperating in others.

Corvus must explore his memories with the help of this mysterious child

Corvus has two primary attacks that are then supplemented by specialised skills and passive boosts. The first is a standard three-hit swift slash of his sword which is used to expose a green secondary health bar on enemies that can only be reduced with his second type of attack, the claw. Slash at an enemy for a while but fail to reduce the green bar and the exposed portion will heal back over, requiring you to slash it away again before you can deliver death’s sweet release. This tension demands near-constant aggression, not unlike Bloodborne’s rally mechanic, but to the benefit of the enemy rather than the player. Which is, theoretically, sick.

The claw attack, which can be charged for greater effect, will also nab a unique weapon from your target called a Plague Weapon. There are loads of these in the game, ranging from lightning-fast sabres to slower, ranged options. Using these consumes Corvus’ magical energy, which like his health can be upgraded in the game’s extensive perk tree. Lastly, Corvus can swiftly toss out feathers that prolong the exposure of the secondary health bar or, timing permitting, interrupt enemy attacks. It’s a generous smattering of combat options that lets you customise your approach to a certain extent, but in practice this arsenal underwhelms.

In case you were wondering where Thymesia draws inspiration from

Take the Plague Weapons for example, whose attacks are accompanied by grandiose and beautiful animations that make landing a hit feel absolutely badass. Only, the game’s distribution of I-frames is woefully inadequate, leaving you far too exposed when using these tools. They’re impractical in a lot of instances, even though the game goes out of its way to make it feel cool as shit. It feels unfair, a term that is often mistakenly thrown around in the genre but here it permeates much of the experience in small but grating ways. Corvus can technically parry some enemy blows, but the window feels inconsistent while the impact doesn’t stagger your foe at all, leaving you open again as your animation winds down. Same with the dodge, another satisfying mechanic rendered less so due to unreliable hitboxes and enemy aggression. Each of these can be upgraded throughout the game, the dodge especially becoming far more satisfying part way through, but the core mechanics never truly satisfied.

Elsewhere the game’s skill trees and potion mixing options also produced mixed results. In addition to upgrading your Plague Weapons, you’ll also be able to build out passive boosts to your playstyle through the game’s offensive and defensive skill trees. There’s fun to be had in here – I got a real kick out of buffing my blades and equipping perks that restored my health and magic upon kills, making me a swift little death machine. However, whole sections of the tree feel alienating due to the base mechanical issues, such as the lengthy deflect tree going untouched my entire playthrough because I never felt compelled to even attempt a basic one. Thymesia also attempts to rework the Estus Flask concept and lets you choose between different potion types with ingredient slots for even more passive boosts, a welcome addition to the formula.

Thymesia’s skill tree is both rewarding and underwhelming

There are a handful of levels to explore, each an expected riff on the grimy, dark fantasy world the game is building; the poison-infested nature area, the spooky library, the dilapidated castle – they’re all here. There are at least some standouts – the blood-red crystalised lair of one boss felt genuinely unique and spooky. Initial visits will run Corvus through repeated mob enemies that rarely register as anything more than obstacles to the game’s great boss fights. Thymesia roars to life during these encounters when its rapid combat is deployed against single, high-concept foes. These fights rely less on the lacklustre parry and are frequently more brutal dances with powerful beasts that pushed my frame recognition and dodge timing to their limits in the best ways.

You can revisit these levels and complete side missions to access some additional bosses and lore tidbits, but again, those mob enemies make spending time in the world a chore. Most are aggressively fine, but occasionally you’ll run into someone like the spear dude who will proceed to wreck your everything for the next hour with his absurdly unbalanced attack patterns. Layer in the unmemorable worldbuilding and Thymesia struggles to cement itself as an experience worth deeper engagement despite its relatively fun combat options.

One of the game’s few standout locations is this strange red Hellscape

Final Thoughts 

Thymesia has a litany of small issues that coagulate across its limited runtime making for an experience that betrays the game’s best qualities. Boss encounters show off the best of the game’s combat loop in tightly focused and frenetic clashes but repeated enemies in the overworld grow stale quickly. The developers have already tinkered with the game based on community feedback, so over time the mechanical issues may be resolved and Thymesia allowed to fully flourish. I sincerely hope it can, as the bones of the game are strong, but the flesh is sadly unwell.

Reviewed on PC // Review code supplied by publisher

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