Are FromSoftware more than Mechs and Straight Swords? – Déraciné Review

Developer: FromSoftware | Platform: PSVR | Playtime and Platinum: 3:05

There are two branches of FromSoftware fan – the OG fans who are ride and die for the Armoured Core series, or the wider range of young bloods who got involved with the Souls games. Me? I started around the time of the Artorias of the Abyss DLC for Dark Souls 1, going back 12 years now. The point being, it’s interesting to see FromSoftware with its two very distinct dedicated fanbases go on to make an experimental title, exclusive to the PSVR no less. Enter, Deracine. To call it the worst FromSoftware game I had played would be true, but so generalised and sensationalist that it doesn’t do the game any justice, so allow me to elaborate.

You play as a nameless Faerie, represented by a pair of golden hands in VR, who has been summoned to an orphanage/boarding school by a young sickly girl known as Yuliya. The weeks and months you spend with Yuliya and the other children will change their lives dramatically. I write that sentence in flowy advertiser speak because while I know the plot of the game after the fact, comparing what I know with Wikipedia, it’s not very clear in game. It’s a shame, because Deracine’s story is pretty good. FromSoftware games are notorious for having a lot of their lore and backstory hidden away in the subtle environmental details and the text on items, but they still give you the gist of what you’re doing when you play – Succeed Gwyn, Become Elden Lord. Deracine doesn’t really offer you anything like that up front, and it’s made more confusing by its sort of level based structure – that brings us onto how the game is played.

As a Faerie, you exist outside of traditional time and with the two rings you receive – the Blue Ring and Red Ring for left and right hands respectively, you have the power to take and give time (life) to the living. This is mostly used for the narrative, there aren’t many puzzles associated with the mechanic. “Puzzles” is a strong word, the game mostly comprises of collecting items and putting them somewhere new, either taking from the environment or taking from an NPC and giving it to another. Since all of this is done in “Faerie time” (Frozen time) there’s not any kind of challenge to completing the levels.

The majority of the levels are spent within the orphanage, but over different points of a year. Going throughout the same environment with very minimal visual changes makes it hard to follow along with what is going on narratively, doubly so as the story revolves around travelling back and forth throughout time, several times, to alter the events. Even when playing, I could only follow based on events rather than where I knew them to be over the story.

So, the story is a bit obscure and the gameplay isn’t much to write home about, is there any saving grace for Deracine? Well yes, and that comes in something FromSoft never fails in – Atmosphere. The game just oozes a sort of mystery and dread – there’s no fail state, anything to fight or hide from, no jump scares, but there’s always a sense on unease. These 6 children live alone in an isolated orphanage, with no other signs of life. Combined with the games main theme, which sounds a lot like ‘The Hunter’s Dream’, there’s an unmistakable FromSoftware theming.

Certainly not a system seller, but if you have a PSVR I’d say it’s worthwhile on a sale for an easy plat but for me, it’s an interesting piece of FromSoftware history. I can’t see them tackling VR again, which makes Deracine, despite its faults, a one of a kind experience.