tvtropes.org

SOULVARS - TV Tropes

  • ️Sat Mar 08 2025

SOULVARS (Video Game)

Deck-Building RPG of Burning Souls

SOULVARS is an Eastern RPG with deckbuilding mechanics, developed by Ginolabo and published by Shueisha Games in 2023. This game is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Platform/Steam and Epic Games Store.

After humanity discovered how to digitize souls, soul-eating creatures known as SoulDominators appeared by using human souls as a medium. In order to combat this threat, humanity developed a way for humans to be born with alternate souls, allowing them to wield SoulDrivers to fight the Dominators. Yakumo is a freelance Soulbearer taking jobs from the Dominator Disposal Organization in order to earn a living and look for his missing friend, Ibuki. The DDO is opposed by Izanami, an organization of rogue Soulbearers who want to spread Dominators throughout Suzaku.

Steam page here.

This game contains examples of:

  • Assist Character: Shion is a Souldriver engineer who assists the party through a remote Souldriver called Blue. He can use SoulFlow actions to heal the party and grant them buffs, but he can only equip one SoulFlow action at a time.
  • Body Backup Drive: Genzo seemingly sacrifices himself to help the party escape from Suzuku Station, but he later shows up in a new body after the rematch against Kagari and Anna.
  • Bookends: The first fight of the game has the enemy thank Yakumo for killing them. The final fight has Yakumo kill Ikari, who was forced to be the core of the Soulcage, and she thanks him as she dies.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: The members of Izanami are rogue Soulbearers who had their memories altered by the Dominator Disposal Organization in order to act as enemies for the sake of the DDO's publicity and profit. Genzo speculates that the DDO plans on turning Yakumo, Izuna, and Hizume into the next iteration of Izanami.
  • Break Meter: Enemies have a Burst percentage that increases as they take damage, with quick cards and weakness hits being the most effective at this. Once it's full, the enemy is stunned for their next action while taking more damage from all attacks.
  • Cast from Hit Points: If a character runs out of Soulbits, which are needed to perform attacks, they can spend a percentage of their current HP to reload all Soulbits. The cost goes as high as 50% on hard mode.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Kagari and Anna are antagonistic Soulbearers from the terrorist organization, Izanami, which is responsible for opening Dominator Gates in Suzaku City to wreak havoc. After Kagari and Anna are defeated in the Underground area, Genzo takes custody of them and undoes their brainwashing. In a sidequest, they will challenge the party in the Port Warehouse in order to train the latter.
  • Living Battery: The SoulCage is a device owned by the Dominator Disposal Organization, which they use to forcibly open Dominator Gates for the sake of their Monster Protection Racket. In order to power the SoulCage, the DDO trapped Ikari in the machine while she's forced into her AltSoul form.
  • Mercy Kill: Dominator enemies are formed from human souls, and some of them are either unaware of their situation or completely aware and unable to control themselves. The protagonist, Yakumo, promises the first enemy of the game that he'll end their suffering quickly. After the fight, the enemy thanks Yakumo.
  • Monster Protection Racket: After the fight against Kagari's Alt form, Genzo reveals that the Dominator Disposal Organization is actually behind Izanami, the rogue Soulbearer organization, as well as the sudden outbreak of Dominator Gates. These enemies are propped up in order to justify the DDO's political influence and allow them to profit from the Dominator attacks.
  • Optional Party Member: In the postgame, Genzo can rejoin the party if the party goes to the leftmost part of the Port Warehouse at 16:00 to start his quest.
  • Permanently Missable Content: There are four missions that can be taken in the DDO Basepoint, which become unavailable in the endgame when the basepoint becomes the final dungeon.
  • Punch-Clock Hero: Yakumo and Izuna only work for the Dominator Disposal Organization for the sake of money, though Yakumo's primary objective turns out to be finding his friend Ibuki. In either case, the two don't trust the organization and aren't really invested in the safety of Suzaku City.
  • Social Media Before Reason: In the Urban Area, there's a man who is busy trying to record a video with his phone and asks the party to look for his girlfriend. In a nearby node, the girlfriend is also obsessed with recording videos with her phone for social media clout, to the point where she doesn't notice that she transformed into a Dominator. When you return to the boyfriend, he's still focused on his recording's reach on social media to worry about his girlfriend's death.
  • Super Mode: Soulbearers can use the Alternation ability to tranform into a monstrous beast, giving them a full heal, a boost to all stats, and a powerful Soulbit that deals high damage. However, the special Soulbit ends the transformation once used.