Dolmen Reviews
Dolmen has tried to combine the best parts of Dark Souls and Dead Space, however the relative inexperience and low budget has doomed this soulslike to failure. There are things to like here, but the game doesn't have wide appeal.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Overall, Dolmen is a hastily assembled mess of a well-intentioned game. It is like a wannabe sports car. No matter how pretty it looks on the outside, if it’s running on a 2-cylinder engine underneath the hood, there are going to be awkward looks all around. But in the end, it’s going to depend on your millage. As much as I dislike the all-style, no substance presentation, I have to admit that some of the features are actually quite enjoyable. It may look pretty from afar. But its style over substance approach is what ultimately dulls the experience of this otherwise decent soul-like shooter.
Earlier I asked, “Will the game be filled with wonder and treasures, or will it be empty and nothing but bare-bones?”. Well, it is unfortunately the latter. That’s not to say it’s a bad game, because there is some enjoyment to be had. Part of the problem is the developers of Soulslike games have set the bar very high. With all its clunkiness, it would have been ok 10 years ago while the genre was still in its infancy. But Dolmen did just release in the wake of Elden Ring, and that’s a very big shadow to try and shine in. Is it good? No. Is it bad? Also no. It’s just sort of OK which is why I award Dolmen the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Dolmen is a souls-like experience that doesn't leave its mark and stumbles over a whole series of problems that make it only half a successful experience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I had more fun than expected playing Dolmen and everyone who enjoys a good soulslike game should check it out. The environments are varied and look nice, the level design was appealing, it has great character and gear upgrades systems, and multiplayer was a nice touch. The real downside is the poor enemy A.I., so while combat was satisfying, aside from a few well-designed bosses don't expect a stiff challenge. Overall though, it's still a solid recommend.
Dolmen really has lots of potential. It could have been a decent first effort from Massive Work Studio, if not for the jankiness and bugs. Some of the progression system and mechanics (like the crafting system) might be worth looking into, but as of right now, they’re underdeveloped and not well explained.
So overall, Dolmen is sitting somewhere in the middle for me. On one hand, you have some really great ideas, but on the other, there’s still some refinement to be made to the overall experience. A lot of these issues I could see being fixed down the line through a few balancing and adjustment patches, but I think Massive Work Studio and Prime Matter have done a good job. I hope to both see some refinement as well as a potential sequel down the line.
For a developer’s maiden title, Dolmen is a really ambitious project. In some places, it works. The boss encounters are the high point and for Soulslike addicts, they alone are probably enough reason to check the game out. There are, however, some glaring issues that prevent this game from getting anywhere near the heights of a Dark Souls, or even a Nioh. Poor enemy and level design, lack of visual or audial atmosphere, and a story that doesn’t engage the player. The list goes on. On balance, the bad probably slightly outweighs the good. Too much emphasis was placed on difficulty, without ensuring there was enough meat on the bone in other areas of the game. However, for Soulslike fans, there is certainly enough here to warrant a look, especially at its launch price point. The raw difficulty, and the tough, engaging boss encounters, provide more than an ample challenge for those looking for their next fix in this post-Elden Ring world.
Undoubtedly a good alternative to the Souls saga. Although it may be a somewhat burned out theme, Dolmen will keep you hooked thanks to its cosmic horror setting and fluid combat.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A lot of effort seems to have gone into certain aspects, such as the level design. But the game is held back by some poor gameplay design decisions that incur frustration, a UI and controls that feel rudimentary, a multiplayer feature they seem to not want you to use, and a lack of inspiration. If this game cooked for another six months to a year, the devs could take it beyond just having the basics to being something truly special. But as it stands right now, this game does not really offer enough satisfaction and enjoyment to be worth its asking price.
In a post Elden Ring world, Dolmen feels dated and too formulaic. It also lacks the personality, character and soul of the genre’s luminaries. If you’re looking for a new Soulslike game to scratch the itch however, Dolmen will certainly do that, despite its lack of mechanical innovation and uneven difficulty.
It can't compete with the brilliance of Elden Ring (no shame in that) but it also falls short of other AA sci-fi action-RPGs like The Surge and Hellpoint. Ultimately, it seems less like an offshoot of Dark Souls and more like a proof of concept launched before From Software birthed the sub-genre.
Dolmen is a serviceable, sci-fi ARPG that sets players up against a gauntlet of strong enemies and varied bosses. Utilising the Metroidvania style approach to progression, the game aims to keep players on their toes with it’s striking visual design and level layout. It’s just a shame the story isn’t up to scratch and a few certain gameplay features are left wanting.
Dolmen is a souls-like A-RPG in which we lead a Zoan Corporation expedition to Revion Prime, a dystopian planet full of danger. It is a dynamic and fun game, although with flaws in the targeting system.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
This game’s impressive just by virtue of it being Massive Work Studios’ first. But it wouldn’t be fair to only give it credit for that reason. Dolmen is a fun, and exciting cosmic horror-themed soulslike whose unique (and successful!) inclusion of ranged combat helps it to stand out from its peers. If this is just the beginning of what Massive Work Studios have to offer, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us down the road!
DOLMEN is a new action RPG with influences from the Souls franchise, where we must travel to a hostile planet to find answers to what happened there while trying to recover the fragments of the DOLMEN crystal, which has the ability to transport us between realities. An interesting proposal that will satisfy lovers of this type of game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dolmen is a sci-fi Souls-like action adventure game that spent many years in development and it definitely shows.
While Dolmen offers fun, challenging, and rewarding gameplay and a rich crafting system, its other features are a bit of a hit-and-miss.
More than just a really bad soulslike, Dolmen is a major disappointment. After more than half a decade waiting for this game, as well as constantly losing faith in it ever being released, I was expecting for these constant delays to result in it feeling more polished, more akin to more modern soulslikes. What we ended up getting was the complete opposite: a clunky, shockingly behind-the-times husk of an action RPG which would have been considered dated back in 2016, let alone today.
There are so few positive things to say about Dolmen. It combines Dark Souls and Dead Space together into something not nearly as good as either. It is such a generic game, that it looks like someone bought a bunch of sci-fi assets from the Unity store and hastily slapped them together. Even still, it is so unoptimized, it could be running totally smoothly one second and then start chugging the next. It is riddled with bugs, one day there was absolutely no sound and the next day the game tried to launch SteamVR every time I started it. The framerate is so inconsistent, especially during cutscenes, most flipbooks are smoother viewing experiences. Dolmen is a dull, incompetent clone of a FromSoftware game whose reach far exceeds its grasp.