Summary
- Thymesia's lack of multiplayer and new content has made it difficult for the game to maintain a consistent player base, resulting in a drop-off of players after the first month.
- The game's comparison to Bloodborne was a challenge, as it had a smaller budget and combat design more aligned with Sekiro, leading to mixed reception from fans.
- Despite this, Thymesia's unique Plague Weapons and innovations have potential for influencing the Souls-like genre, and the game is worth another look now that the comparisons to FromSoftware games are less prevalent.
A year out from the release of Thymesia, it is interesting to see what happens after even highly anticipated Souls-like titles come and go through the now bloated genre. However, the promise of the plague doctor aesthetic, alongside a Bloodborne-adjacent gothic style, had difficulty living up to its own hype, even as developer Over Border Games succeeded in many ways.
It can be difficult right now to see the ongoing effect that Thymesia will have on the Souls-like genre, although some might still see the game as a cautionary tale for any attempt at challenging this specific formula. That being said, it was likely more of an issue of understanding where under the Souls-like umbrella this game should fall into, rather than the actual quality of the indie title.
The Impact of Thymesia Without Multiplayer
As a single player experience that hasn't seen new content in the last year since release, it can be difficult for a game like Thymesia to hold onto a consistent player base. That can be seen clearly with the concurrent players on a platform like Steam, where the majority of people jumped on when the game first came out, then were gone after the first month. Considering how quickly players can reach one of Thymesia's various endings, the drop-off of players isn't exactly surprising, since there is no further depth to explore through multiplayer or add-on content.
The lack of multiplayer especially means that Thymesia's Souls-like combat has no ability to draw in fans of the genre's unique style of PVP. As a result, there is little outside of hunting down Thymesia's sidequests or going for an additional ending that might bring players back to the game. While that might on the surface sound like it a confirmation that Thymesia clearly deserved the falloff of hype that came after the initial demo, that may have been more a product of the shadow the game released under than any failings under the developer.
Thymesia as a Sekiro-Like Under the Shadow of Bloodborne
One of the biggest issues that seemed to have plagued Thymesia on release was the comparisons to Bloodborne. Thanks to similar visuals, with Thymesia having a period aesthetic complete with Corvus' plague mask, it was easy for fans of Bloodborne to quickly latch onto this indie title to hopefully scratch the same itch. However, both a smaller development budget and a difference in combat design better suited for Thymesia to resonate as a Sekiro-lite than a Bloodborne 2.
That isn't to say that Thymesia wasn't without its own notable critiques, but the reception that came on the heels of the initial demo and was followed up by an underwhelming release was somewhat muddled by what fans expected. Stiff dodging mechanics made some parts of combat feel sluggish, and the items to be collected throughout the world amounted to little more than fluff for the lore. Still, this might have stung less for players if the game hadn't been anticipated to be a Bloodborne clone rather than Sekiro adjacent.
Hopefully, the future of the Souls-like genre will be able to take some of the best innovations from Thymesia, such as the unique Plague Weapons, and continue to elevate the game's successes. It is too early, only a year out from release, to see how Thymesia might have influenced or inspired other developers to push their own games forward. However, there is plenty of good to find, especially for players looking to see what the game has to offer now that the initial hype has died down, and it has the chance to stand on its own two feet outside the shadow of FromSoftware.
Thymesia is available now for Amazon Luna, PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.