Review Of The Relic: First Guardian On Xbox X/S And Play Anywhere

The Relic: First Guardian arrives on Xbox carrying the heavy ambitions of an indie studio trying to carve out space in a crowded dark-fantasy ARPG landscape. Developed by Korean outfit Project Cloud Games, it promises brutal Soulslike encounters, build experimentation, and a mythos steeped in twisted Korean folklore. Underneath the hood, there is the skeleton of an enjoyable action game, but its console release is crippled by severe technical shortcomings and rough design choices.

The game’s standout quality is its combat engine. Shunning traditional character stat-grinding, progression is tied heavily to gear, weapon masteries, and modular relic skills. The five core weapon disciplines feel genuinely distinct, and the defensive rhythm is surprisingly sharp. When you are locked into a tense duel, timing parries to deplete a monster’s unseen stagger meter, the feedback is visceral and immensely satisfying.

Several of the sprawling boss encounters are visually creative and demand genuine tactical awareness rather than brute-force button mashing. Furthermore, the grim spin on classic folk tales delivers sporadic narrative intrigue, giving the ruined world of Arsiltus an eerie, distinctive backdrop.

Unfortunately, those bright spots are buried beneath an avalanche of technical unreliability. On Xbox Series hardware, performance is wildly inconsistent. Dense environmental fog, aggressive resolution drops, and frequent frame-rate dips during mob fights turn encounters into frantic slideshows. Boss arenas regularly suffer from chaotic camera clipping against debris and walls. More frustrating is the single-checkpoint save structure; crashes and loading glitches can roll back substantial chunks of progress.

Outside of boss arenas, the semi-open zones quickly descend into a slog. The environment is awash with repeated assets, generic ruins, and vacant settlements that lack visual identity. Compounding the tonal disconnect is the audio design: dialogue is delivered through flat, unconvincing AI-generated voice acting that frequently fails to match lip sync or emotional cadence.

Final Thoughts

The Relic: First Guardian has moments where its combat shines, but its current Xbox port feels unfinished. Until Project Cloud Games delivers substantial performance patches and bug fixes, this is a guardian best left in stasis.