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Lost Soul Aside
2025 video game From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Lost Soul Aside [a] is a 2025 action-adventure role-playing game developed by Ultizero Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The player assumes the role of Kaser, who embarks on a journey to rescue his sister Louisa and save humanity from the Voidrax. The game is part of Sony's China Hero Project, an initiative supporting Chinese developers.
Lost Soul Aside was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows on 29 August 2025. It received mixed reviews from critics.
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Gameplay
Lost Soul Aside is a single-player action-adventure role-playing game.[4][5][6] The player controls the protagonist Kaser, who is aided by his companion Arena—a character capable of transforming into weapons and other elements used in battles and throughout the journey.[7]
The combat system features a Sword, Greatsword, Poleblade, and Scythe as weapons.[8][9] It also features Arena Powers, which are abilities that can have offensive and other effects.[10]
Liana, a story character, serves as the manual save system and hub for the player at specific points in the game.[11] In the story, she often separately follows and encounters the protagonist to document his adventures for her novel.
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Synopsis
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Kaser and his younger sister Louisa were orphaned during the war between the Empire of Celestria and the Kingdom of Frosthold. Eventually, they joined GLIMMER, a resistance group fighting against the Empire’s tyranny, led by Selene. During a festival in the Imperial Capital, GLIMMER launches an operation meant to inspire the people to rise up. However, the Voidrax, mysterious invaders from across dimensions, descend upon the city and seize the souls of its inhabitants. Amid the chaos and devastation, Kaser plummets into a vast underground laboratory and encounters Lord Arena, a dragon-like Voidrax, imprisoned within. Fused with Arena’s essence and imbued with his power, Kaser escapes to the surface. Tragically, Louisa’s soul is taken by the Voidrax after Vesper of the Holy Order uses her as a human shield. Following these events, Kaser and his companions set out to rescue Louisa and save humanity from the Voidrax.
Kaser, Arena, and Gethya travel to Mount Salvation in search of answers. There, Kaser and Arena confront the four Lords and free them from the influence of corrupted Voidrax energy. Their path leads them to Queen Seleria, who guards the seal imprisoning the Voidrax, including their leader Aramon, who attempted to conquer the world and seize its Life Nexus a millennium ago. Aramon manipulates corrupted Voidrax energy to control others and commands the Voidrax to capture souls to ultimately collapse the seal. These souls are collected in Soul Crystal Fragments scattered across Alternate Dimensions. To stop Aramon, Seleria shows Kaser and Arena the entrance to the Chronocore Dimension and directs them to three key locations in their quest to find the dimensions and retrieve the fragments. In the Imperial Capital, the Emperor bestows corrupted Voidrax energy to Victor and Vesper of the Holy Order and orders them to hunt down every resistance member.
Kaser, Arena, and Gethya go to the Skycrest Badlands, but the Holy Order and Imperial Army pursue them. Kaser and Arena find and kill the Voidrax that took Louisa’s soul. They free the Buckhorn Spirit-Dragon, a sacred protector, from the influence of corrupted Voidrax energy. In return, the creature opens the entrance to the Aeroflux Dimension. The Empire unexpectedly releases all captured resistance members and civilians. The Emperor then offers Kaser the assistance of the Empire and Holy Order in GLIMMER's fight against the Voidrax threat. He claims that he seeks to harness Voidrax and Life Nexus energy to lead humanity on a new path. Nevertheless, Kaser and and his companions remain wary of his motives.
Kaser, Arena, and Gethya visit Mistwood. Kaser and Arena free the local monastery's master and disciples, including Zana, from the influence of corrupted Voidrax energy. Master Neverwind says that the entrance of the Lethonix Dimension lies at the ancentral shrine of Seleria, but he is too weakened to guide them. Fortunately, Zana knows the way and leads them there. In the Imperial Capital, tensions grow as Vesper terrorizes and abuses the people, while Victor and Selene try to stop him. The Emperor kills Vesper, asserting his control and ending the situation.
Kaser, Arena, and Zana continue to Frosthold. On the way, Zana shares that the King of Frosthold is her father and might be able to help. To pass the storm-wall protecting the realm, Kaser must prove his strength in battle against Chief General Drogo, a challenge he wins. Drogo expends his Voidrax energy to shut down the barrier and dies in the process. Inside, the group discovers that the King has been overtaken by corrupted Voidrax energy, but Kaser and Arena free him from its influence. They learn that the Entropis Dimension is collapsing, causing it to merge with reality and unravel Aramon's seal, because the King has heavily depleted its Voidrax energy.
At the royal palace in the Imperial Capital, the Emperor reveals the entrance to the Dragon Ruin Dimension, which has utterly collapsed, to Kaser and Arena. He threatens to execute citizens unless Kaser surrenders the Soul Crystal Fragments to him. The Emperor uses the fragments to transform into a powerful being, but is slain by Kaser, Arena, Zana, and Victor.
With all the Soul Crystal Fragments recovered from the Alternate Dimensions, Kaser prepares for the ultimate confrontation with Aramon. Seleria and the four Lords sacrifice themselves to bestow their power upon Kaser. Aramon reveals that he was manipulating the Emperor of Celestria and the King of Frosthold into extracting Voidrax energy from Alternate Dimensions, weakening the seal. Kaser and Arena destroy Aramon in a cosmic battle. At the Life Nexus, the souls are set free from the Soul Crystal.
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Development
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Lost Soul Aside is a game developed by Ultizero Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.[12][13] Ultizero Games is a studio based in Shanghai, China.[14] The game was originally conceived as a solo project by Yang Bing, but it evolved into a full team effort over the years.[7][15][16] As of 2022, the studio's staff consists of about 40 people, mostly development members.[17] The game was built using Unreal Engine 4.[18][19]
Yang Bing started the development of Lost Soul Aside in 2014.[1] At the time, he was a graduate student at Dongguk University in South Korea.[20] After the game's initial reveal in a promotional video uploaded to Yang's YouTube channel in July 2016, Sony took notice and reached out to him, expressing interest in discussing the project and exploring a potential collaboration.[21] In 2016, the two parties met in Shanghai, marking the start of their partnership.[7] In October 2016, Sony offered a place for the game in its China Hero Project.[12] Yang regarded the opportunity to receive funding and technical support from Sony as a big deal, considering that China's console game market was not established, so he participated in the China Hero Project and worked closely with the people involved starting in 2016.[17] With support from Sony and its game industry partners, Yang founded Ultizero Games in January 2017.[12] Sony officially became the game's publisher in 2022.[22] According to Yang, during a particularly challenging phase of development, Sony proposed a deeper level of cooperation that established its publishing role and helped get the project back on track.[22] The Sony team worked jointly with the studio on certain aspects of development, such as project management, performance optimization, music and sound, and other areas.[22][23]
Tatsuo Eguchi, President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Shanghai, said that Lost Soul Aside was very significant for the start the China Hero Project.[24] He explained that it led to the idea that the Sony team might be able to help creators like Yang achieve their dreams if they provided various know-how and support.[24] The game is part of the China Hero Project Phase 1 launched in 2016.[24]
Lost Soul Aside's long development cycle was largely due to early inexperience and the time required to build a capable team.[15] In 2021, the game's overall tone was established, which was reflected in that year's trailer, and set the direction for the remainder of the development.[15][23] Yang noted that the story evolved over time, explaining that while the earliest trailer conveyed a sense of loneliness, the final game introduces companions who join and support the protagonist throughout his journey.[22]
Yang was inspired by the Final Fantasy series, some of his favorite games, in the design.[1] He was particularly captivated by how the series fused fantasy and realism in its world—offering the romance of fantasy and the reassurance of reality, a balance in the series that he also sought to achieve in his game.[1] For instance, the protagonist's outfit was designed, then physically produced, and finally digitally recreated within the game, reflecting the intention to blend fantastical and realistic elements much like the aforementioned series.[1] Roen, a Japanese fashion company, designed the outfit.[25] In terms of action, Yang was inspired by Japanese titles such as Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden, and Devil May Cry.[17]
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Release
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Lost Soul Aside was released for PC (Windows) and PlayStation 5 on 29 August 2025.[26]
Lost Soul Aside was first revealed in a promotional video uploaded to Yang Bing's YouTube channel on 30 July 2016.[21] During a press conference in March 2017, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced that the game had joined its China Hero Project.[27] During a press conference in November 2022, the company announced that it would serve as the game's global publisher.[28] The game was initially confirmed as a timed exclusive for PlayStation 4 in October 2016,[19] but a PlayStation 5 version was confirmed in April 2021[29][30][31] and a PC version was confirmed in July 2023.[32][33] Media outlets speculated that the PlayStation 4 version may have been canceled, as the most recent statement did not list PlayStation 4 among the supported platforms.[32][34][35][36]
During the PlayStation China 10th Anniversary Party in December 2024, Ultizero Games released a trailer revealing that Lost Soul Aside would launch on PlayStation 5 and PC in 2025.[15][37] During the State of Play in February 2025, the studio released a trailer announcing the game's release date as 30 May 2025.[4][38][39] In April 2025, the studio disclosed that the game was delayed to 29 August 2025.[40][41]
Lost Soul Aside has a Standard Edition and a Digital Deluxe Edition for its digital versions.[42] The latter edition adds extra content, namely a soundtrack, an art book, an Arena cosmetic (Golden Blaze), three weapon fragment cosmetics, and two accessories.[42] The game became available for pre-order starting 19 February 2025.[2][43][44] Kaser's initial reveal outfit (The Origin) and a few other items were bonus incentives for pre-ordering.[42] The game is also offered in the Standard Edition as a physical disc version.[42] This includes a voucher to redeem the pre-order bonus content.[45]
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Reception
Reception
Lost Soul Aside received "mixed or average" reviews on PlayStation 5 from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[47] OpenCritic determined that 28% of critics recommended the game.[48]
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