Certain enemy attacks that Lute can halt give you small opportunities to combo a series of attacks into. The demo's final boss fight is a gauntlet of enemies and attacks that you need to interject button presses into your normal combat routine in order to survive. In the 40-minute demo I played, Lute was essential as a long-range attacker, sending out attacks and deflecting incoming projectiles. Briar has a ghostly sister named Lute that sits on her shoulder much like the pods. Soulstice isn't a copy of games like Bayonetta, but it's deeply inspired by them and it shows. It even cuts to different camera angles as you lead main character Briar through its grimy, dark fantasy locations.
It's a fast-paced action game that briefly stalls every time your weapon collides with an enemy, whose bodies go flying as you swing your massive weapons around its open combat arenas. Despite the name, Soulstice is not anywhere close to a Soulslike.
