The Relic: First Guardian Is a Soulslike Built Around Bosses and Bite-Sized Stories

The Relic: First Guardian is an upcoming soulslike from a studio that wears its inspirations openly — and IGN got hands-on time with a demo to see where it tries to stand apart. Set in the cursed land of Arsilutus after the destruction of the Great Relic, the game casts you as the First Guardian, tasked with reassembling a shattered world while everything in it tries to kill you.

The most distinctive element so far is how the game handles storytelling. Rather than cutscenes or heavy central narrative, stories are scattered across the world as voiced notes, relics, and environmental fragments — quick snapshots of moments that players piece together themselves. A burning house, a town destroyed by a vengeful father, a group that waited too long to flee — each area has its own small tragedy to uncover. The developer says many of these stories draw on Asian folklore, which gives the lore a different flavor from the usual European-medieval soulslike template. The map is semi-open: freely explorable but structured with high cliffs boxing in the edges, creating a more linear sense of direction that branches periodically. Glowing rune-etched stones called Tibelle's Blessings serve as the bonfire equivalent — restoring health, refilling the healing item called Breath of Esser, acting as respawn points, and doubling as fast-travel anchors. Combat in the demo used sword and shield, and enemies range from basic bandits to twisted creatures called Brutals.

The soulslike genre is crowded, but The Relic: First Guardian is pitching itself on the strength of its world-building and boss density rather than mechanical reinvention. The voiced environmental storytelling approach — described by the IGN previewer as feeling like a playable audiobook at its best — is the clearest differentiator on show. Whether the combat and exploration hold up at the same level remains to be seen from a longer playthrough.

No release date was confirmed in the preview, but the demo was substantial enough for several hours of exploration. Players drawn to lore-heavy soulslikes with a non-Western mythological bent will want to keep an eye on this one.