Chalgyr's Game RoomChalgyr's Game Room
  • Home
  • About us
    • Staff
    • Cookie Policy (US)
    • Privacy Statement (US)
  • Articles
    • Interviews
    • GamingThoughts
    • Game Of The Year(s)
      • Games of the Year 2021
      • Games of the Year 2020
      • Games of the Year 2019
      • Games of the Decade
      • Games of the Year 2018
      • Games of the Year 2017
      • Games of the Year 2016
      • Games of the Year 2015
      • Games of the Year 2014
    • Jaggy’s Corner
    • Memorable Music
  • Review Database
    • Hardware & Software
    • Retro Reflections
    • Beeps and Beers
  • News
    • News Archives
Search Chalgyr's Game Room
DreamController.com – Affiliate

DreamController Summer Sale
Code SUMMER20

  • Full article feed
  • Contact us
  • Cookie Policy (US)
  • Privacy Statement (US)
© 2022 Chalgyr's Game Room All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Dolmen Review
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
Captain of Industry Preview
June 30, 2022
Mothergunship: Forge is Available for Purchase on Steam VR and Quest 2!
June 29, 2022
Disgaea 6 Complete Review
June 29, 2022
PQube Releasing RPG Sim ‘Potion Permit’ September 22nd!
June 28, 2022
Metal Max Xeno: Reborn Review
June 28, 2022
Aa
Chalgyr's Game RoomChalgyr's Game Room
Aa
Search Chalgyr's Game Room
  • Home
  • About us
    • Staff
    • Cookie Policy (US)
    • Privacy Statement (US)
  • Articles
    • Interviews
    • GamingThoughts
    • Game Of The Year(s)
    • Jaggy’s Corner
    • Memorable Music
  • Review Database
    • Hardware & Software
    • Retro Reflections
    • Beeps and Beers
  • News
    • News Archives
Follow US
  • Full article feed
  • Contact us
  • Cookie Policy (US)
  • Privacy Statement (US)
© Chalgyr's Game Room 2009-2022. All rights reserved.
ReviewReviews and PreviewsXbox Series X|S

Dolmen Review

Platform: Microsoft Xbox Series X|S

Pierre-Yves
Pierre-Yves May 25, 2022
Share
11 Min Read
SHARE

Dolmen by developer Massive Work Studio and publisher Prime Matter—Microsoft Xbox Series X|S review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes


Having originally taken a look at Massive Work Studio and Prime Matter’s Dolmen on the PC during the holiday break, this was one Soulslike that I’ve had on my mind since. Leaving behind the more medieval settings that so many have worked within, this adventure is all about how to survive in a non-dystopian science fiction format.

By this point in time I am definitely no stranger to a Soulslike. Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, The Surge 1 / 2, Salt and Sanctuary / Sacrifice, Ender Lilies, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and several others. Each of these titles, whether from From Software or others, whether I’ve gone through and platinumed on the PSN or not, have continued to build what is now an incredible genre that has begun spanning multiple others for some pretty crazy adventures. 

So it’s within these titles that you can both see the influences and the innovations which is what drew me to Dolmen. After receiving a distress call, you are sent to investigate a planet where the material known as a Dolmen is mined. Not only has tragedy fallen to those that worked here, the walls of reality have blended making everything a surprise for both you, and your navigator. 

So it’s here that I once again find myself but with both prior knowledge of the first stage ahead of me and the thirst to know what comes next. Paving some new ground in order to find out, Dolmen has your protagonist equipped with a Health bar, a Stamina bar and an Energy bar. While health is the obvious one of how many hits you can take, stamina is also fairly self explanatory being how much you can swing your weapons, run around or dodge various enemy attacks.

Energy though is where things got interesting. Channeling the science fiction elements, Dolmen allows for you to equip a variety of futuristic long range weapons such as pistols and rifles over to shotguns for some serious up close, yet still ranged, action. Each of these not only take varying costs of energy, but can also switch between temporary or permanent energy depending on the firing mode. Temporary energy will be restored after a time of not being used like your physical stamina. Permanent usage tends to carry a much higher impact but at the cost of having less overall energy to work with.

Moving into a more melee build, it’s also possible to equip yourself with an element of your choice and channel it into your attacks. Fire, Ice, Acid, these can be swapped between whenever you need to and will act as your primary element when you really need a boost. This boost uses temporary energy so there’s no reason not to use it. It makes the implemented energy system just as useful for melee builds as it does for ranged builds. Finally in regards to elements, not only do these do what you would expect such as fire burning and ice slowing you or others down, but they also add percentage based status effects such as fire also decreasing an enemy’s defense making it a favorite of mine.

Also keeping things interesting is that energy is also used to heal yourself by taking a portion of your permanent reserve. This can be done in quick succession if needed, but once it’s done, like your range weapons, that gauge will wind up pretty empty. So it’s a good thing that like other Soulslikes, you have a specific item that exists for this very situation. The only catch that comes with using this consumable is that it won’t restore your energy completely and it takes time in order to use it. So if you are planning on using it? Make sure you have the time as you often won’t in a boss fight!

Now here’s where I found myself at odds. On one hand, all of these ideas still felt as well thought out as they had back over the holidays when I first took a look. On the other hand, I found myself thinking back to Hellpoint where while the ideas were all there, the execution of these ideas at times had me wondering, is it just me or is it the system? Dolmen for lack of a better term “isn’t easy”. Enemies hit hard, the environment isn’t forgiving and the boss even more so. This is generally what we look for in a Soulslike, but, there is a difference between being hard and fair versus hard and what the hell just happened.

A lot of your enemies won’t flinch and be able to hit you as you hit them. Bosses will oftentime have completely unblockable attacks meaning that if you want to survive, you’ll need to get good at long range attacks or learn to dodge like a pro. Spoiler alert… I did the first one. It’s not that dodging isn’t feasible but if you keep dodging all of these attacks, there’s no stamina left to work with, so I opted for a more ranged build. This build is perfectly within the cards but there are a lot of times that it felt ineffective versus a good old fashioned stick.

So it’s really here that I started to have both a love and a hate relationship as there’s one other element that comes into play. Character gear. For character gear, the first set of these is going to be your armor sets that can be mixed and matched if you want to, or, can all be the same vein of technology in order to get better synergy. The better the synergy, the more bonuses you can expect from the pairings. Also great is that as new gear gets unlocked, or old gear improved, the new pieces may blend technologies allowing even better synergy.

Still on the love side, as you create or modify your gear, you can put in components to increase various statuses and gain bonuses to its physical or elemental resistances. Where I started to form a hate relationship is also here as to create any new gear, not only do you need new materials, you also need to make sure that you have the stats for it. While this sounds par for the course, if you level a chest armor from level 2 over to level 3, you NEED to check the required stats as it will change if you aren’t paying attention the first time. You can’t wear it and will be a lot squishier for the foreseeable future until you can. 

Also, only requiring the materials to create or level up gear can be a chore as it’s luck based if you can even find it. Weapons are not as bad, however, they don’t unlock as frequently as gear often making me wonder when I can get something new because what I have just isn’t cutting it. There are certain better weapons that in a sense are more readily available but you’ll have to fight for them which is perhaps where Dolmen re-won me over. You can respawn bosses to basically farm them for materials to create special weapons. 

This is a feature often not found in a Soulslike. Generally, once a boss has been defeated the next time you see them will be in a new game plus (NG+) and if you got material for a weapon? You need to choose wisely as it’ll be a while before you can again. Being able to respawn bosses was a neat addition but it doesn’t come without a cost. To respawn a boss, you’ll need two things. The first are nanites which is what you need in order to level yourself up. The second are Dolmen shards that you can randomly pickup from enemies. They drop often enough but I would highly advise NOT to go into a new boss fight while carrying double digits. Go spend them first unless you are really sure that you can win.

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.

Score: 6.75 / 10
TAGGED: Dolmen, Massive Work Studio, Microsoft Xbox, Prime Matter, review, Series X|S Review, Soulslike, xbox, Xbox Series X|S
Pierre-Yves May 25, 2022
Share this Article
Facebook TwitterEmail
Share
Posted by Pierre-Yves
Follow:
Manager and Senior Site Administrator—Currently a reviewer for Chalgyr's Game Room covering all platforms
Previous Article Nexomon + Nexomon: Extinction: Complete Collection Releasing Physically Later This Year
Next Article The Show Goes On | Frogwares Announces a new IP!

Stay Connected

Facebook Like
Twitter Follow
Instagram Follow
Youtube Subscribe
Member of
Ad imageAd image

DreamController.com – Affiliate

DreamController Summer Sale
Code SUMMER20

AllKeyShop.com (UK) – Affiliate

You can also check out

Captain of Industry Preview

10 Min Read

Disgaea 6 Complete Review

15 Min Read

Metal Max Xeno: Reborn Review

18 Min Read

SpellForce 3 – Reforced Review

8 Min Read
//

We at CGR are a team from various backgrounds that have come together to bring you what you want to know most about a game. Is it worth it? Or not?

JenEricDesigns – Coffee that ships to the US and Canada

JenEricDesigns Coffee website
Light, Medium and Dark Roast Coffee available.

Renaissance Press

Renaissance Press
Diverse Canadian Voices - Printed, Ebook and Audiobooks available.

Contact us

We try to stay up to date with all gaming news but as you know that can be really hard to do.

So if you think that we could be interested in your title reach out to us at Nick@chalgyr.com!

Chalgyr's Game RoomChalgyr's Game Room
Follow US

© Chalgyr's Game Room 2009-2022. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
Preferences
{title} {title} {title}
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?