Dolmen Reviews
Although he bets on a different setting, Dolmen does not risk in the development, and repeats the mechanics that we have already seen in the Souls saga. The Massive Works RPG is a challenging game that has been entertaining, but also shows technical shortcomings.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dolmen is a solid sci-fi spin on the Soulslike formula, even if there are some places where it falls short. Not being able to jump is a simple but detrimental design flaw, and the mediocre cinematics bog down what could have been a very cinematic experience. Despite that, Dolmen still features challenging combat, as well as a variety of ways to play to your own unique style. I look forward to seeing if and how Massive Work Studio will build upon this foundation in the future.
Dolmen surely has its flaws and is nowhere the quality displayed by From Software in its Souls series, but if you enjoy that formula you can still have some fun hacking and slashing through hordes of enemies.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Dolmen arrives to the crowded soulslikes field with some valid ideas, but failing in the execution of each of its sections. If you're a fan of the FromSoftware formula, you'll find a few things to rescue, otherwise, I don't think this game is for you.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
There are dozens of alternatives out there either for Dark Souls fans or sci-fi nuts, and Dolmen is just too riddled with issues to recommend.
Dolmen provides fans of SciFi and Souls games with another daunting adventure full of defeat and satisfaction. The game isn’t without faults, having a few bugs as well as some inconsistencies with some combat mechanics, but the team at Massive Work Studio have laid a solid foundation. The game provides just enough reward to make the challenge worth it.
Dolmen innovates the Soulslike genre with how it handles Energy and ranged combat but lacks a clear vision of what makes these games enjoyable beyond just some interesting mechanics.
Dolmen attempts to add some potentially good ideas into the Soulsborne formula. Unfortunately, it misses the mark far too many times in important areas to make it worth the effort you need to play it. Great level aesthetic and enemy design are wasted on far-too-flawed combat. With so many other Soulsborne clones available, Dolmen can easily be passed up.
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.
Despite its sci-fi setting, Dolmen is less a Soulslike than a Dark Souls clone, with very few original ideas. The biggest issue, beyond the overall familiarity of just about everything, is that it brings back annoying mechanics that games like Elden Ring have evolved away from. While there is some fun to be had in Dolmen’s weapons and combat, at some point you’ll just wish you were playing a FromSoft game instead.
Dolmen, in its current state, is a game that seldomly works. Not very consistent and with poorly conceived mechanics. Frankly, what was published looks more like an early build that still needs months of optimization and polish.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Clunky combat, boring progression, threadbare plot, unrewarding exploration, and a laughably bad healing mechanic. All of these lead to a soulless Souls-like that is Dolmen.
There is multiplayer for those finding the game too hard, but I found it harder to find a partner to play with than the game itself so that is likely off the table for most players. Dolmen just feels like scraps when a four course meal is literally right there. It was a bad time to release a game of this type when it falls so short of the mark set by the best in the genre and even falls below the current imitators. I am all for expanding on a game idea, but there has to be something there to make it feel special and unique and Dolmen just doesn’t have anything setting it apart on any level.
Dolmen is an honest game and a good souls-like. However, its rigidity, capricious camera and great difficulty (sometimes poorly dosed) sometimes have a hard time letting us enjoy the experience properly.
Review in French | Read full review
Dolmen is a brutal but ok action RPG that feels part space opera part action movie. The challenging gameplay and detailed customisation are fully welcome allowing for a lot of strategic thinking.
Dolmen is a good game and has fun without any doubt, but it does not raise passions like the «souls-like» that it is.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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.
For a genre that is now getting even more popular and perhaps even saturated, getting the basics right is the least we can expect if a game hopes to make an impression. However, with all these issues plaguing the game, plus visuals that hardly scream 2022, Dolmen is not living up to expectations at all. The game tries to include many of the hallmarks of the genre, but muddles it all up with poor systems and execution. For a fan that has grown used to the genre’s often challenging requirements, recommending Dolmen is something that will only happen in an alternate dimension.
One of the most thrilling parts of Dolmen is the horror element that grows exponentially as the monsters become more difficult and much better at hiding. At first, most enemies can be seen from a distance, but they quickly begin to hide around corners, on the ceiling, or within the environment. A few jumpscares will lead to cautiously approaching every turn and inspecting all of the walls. Horror mixed with features like an intricate upgrade system, daunting combat encounters, and the ability to take on difficult bosses alongside some friends makes Dolmen an exciting title that delivers constant action and intense challenges.
Extremely derivative on a playful level and technically insufficient even by the standards of the last generation (and beyond), Dolmen is an experiment that has only minimally succeeded.
Review in Italian | Read full review