The Relic: First Guardian Launches July 31 — 80 Bosses, Mixed Reviews, and a Stamina System That Only Guards

Soulslikes don't usually launch quietly, and The Relic: First Guardian isn't an exception — it hit PS5 and PC via Steam on July 31, 2026 promising the genre's biggest boss count yet. Whether the rest of the game backs that number up depends entirely on which review you read first.

TL;DR — what people are actually asking

What is The Relic: First Guardian actually about?

You play the last guardian of Arsilthus, a fantasy realm collapsed into ruin, tasked with recovering lost memories manifested as physical Relics scattered across the world. It's a Korean-developed take on the Soulsborne formula — Project Cloud Games leaning into atmosphere and boss density rather than open-world scale.

The premise gives the Relic-collection loop a narrative justification: every passive effect you equip is tied to a specific fragment of the guardian's own memory, so build-crafting and story progression are the same activity rather than two separate systems bolted together. That's a smaller detail than the 80-boss headline, but it's the kind of design cohesion that separates a soulslike with a real identity from one chasing genre checkboxes.

What's the combat gimmick — and does it work?

The headline mechanic is a stamina system reserved strictly for defense: dodging and blocking consume stamina, but attacking doesn't. That inverts the genre's usual resource tension, where players ration stamina across both offense and defense. In theory, it should make combat more aggressive-friendly without turning it into a stamina-free button-masher, since you still have to manage stamina carefully around enemy openings.

Progression drops traditional XP-and-levels entirely. Instead, you collect Relics — over 70 of them — each granting a passive effect: modified attack tempo, reduced cooldowns, extra defense, or elemental bonuses. It's closer to a build-crafting roguelite layer bolted onto soulslike combat than a classic RPG stat sheet.

Do the 80 boss fights actually deliver?

This is where launch reviews split hardest. The marketing hook — the most boss encounters of any soulslike release — is real, but "most" isn't the same as "best." Early critical consensus, drawing on outlets like RPGFan and Gaming Trend, lands somewhere between "refreshing but unrefined" and "quantity over quality," with several reviewers noting that 80 bosses inevitably means filler encounters propping up the count alongside genuinely memorable fights.

Dualshockers' review was blunter, describing the game as feeling incomplete — pointing to performance issues, bugs, and boss design inconsistency as the reasons it undercuts its own ambition. That's a meaningfully different read than outlets calling it "a solid and refreshing Soulslike."

How does it stack up against 2026's other soulslikes?

July 2026 has been a crowded month for genre-adjacent action RPGs, which makes The Relic: First Guardian's positioning worth spelling out rather than assuming.

The Relic: First Guardian is trying to occupy a specific middle ground: AAA-scale ambition (80+ bosses, full voice cast, multi-platform rollout) at a sub-$50 price point normally reserved for smaller productions. That positioning explains some of the review friction — critics are comparing its scope-to-polish ratio against both ends of the market simultaneously.

What technical issues are reviewers flagging?

Beyond boss-design inconsistency, the recurring complaints across launch reviews cluster into three categories:

• Performance. Frame pacing and stability issues on both PS5 and PC configurations, most noticeable during multi-enemy encounters and larger boss arenas.
• Bugs. Scripted-event failures and enemy AI getting stuck are the most commonly cited examples, the kind of issues that are usually patchable but frustrating at launch.
• Feature gaps. Some reviewers noted missing quality-of-life features — accessibility options and difficulty tuning — that have become standard expectations in the genre since FromSoftware's Elden Ring and its imitators normalized more flexible difficulty approaches.

None of these are fatal flaws on their own, but stacked together they explain why outlets like Dualshockers landed on "incomplete" rather than "rough but promising." Whether Project Cloud Games addresses them quickly will determine if The Relic: First Guardian follows the redemption arc other soulslikes have taken post-launch, or stays defined by its opening week.

Is the 80-boss count actually a selling point?

It depends on what you value in a soulslike's boss roster. Genre veterans generally split into two camps: those who want a smaller set of meticulously tuned, memorable encounters (the FromSoftware model), and those who want density and variety even if it means some fights are simpler filler between the standout ones.

The Relic: First Guardian leans hard into the second camp. Reviewers who enjoyed it tend to frame the sheer volume as a feature — more build variety to test, more encounters to break up exploration. Reviewers who didn't tend to see the same volume as evidence the team spread its design budget too thin. Neither read is wrong; it's a genuine philosophical split in what the marketing promised versus what different players actually want from a boss-heavy soulslike.

Should you buy The Relic: First Guardian at launch?

The honest answer: it depends on your tolerance for launch-week rough edges. Here's the trade-off as reviews currently frame it:

Reasons to buy now:

• $49.99 is a real discount against typical soulslike pricing, and the defense-only stamina system is a genuinely different combat feel worth trying firsthand.
• If you're burned out on traditional leveling, the 70-Relic passive system is a distinct alternative to XP grinding.

Reasons to wait:

• Multiple outlets flagged performance issues and bugs at launch — patchable, but currently present.
• Boss quantity doesn't guarantee boss quality; if the appeal was purely "most bosses ever," reviews suggest tempering expectations.
• Xbox and Switch 2 versions aren't out yet, so cross-platform price comparisons and Game Pass availability are still unknown.

What's next for cross-platform availability?

The PS5 and PC versions launched together on July 31, 2026, but Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 ports are still to come later this year. Perp Games hasn't confirmed exact dates for either, which matters if you're deciding whether to buy now on PS5/PC or wait for your preferred platform.

There's also a practical reason to watch the delayed platforms closely: later ports sometimes ship with day-one patches baked in that address exactly the performance and bug complaints launch reviewers are flagging right now. If the Xbox and Switch 2 versions land after a PS5/PC patch cycle, they could end up being the more polished way to experience the game — at the cost of playing it a few months later than everyone else.

A physical PS5 edition is scheduled for retail on September 4, 2026, roughly five weeks after the digital-only day-one release. For collectors weighing whether to buy digital now or wait for a boxed copy, that gives a concrete date to hold off for if a physical shelf copy matters to your collection — and enough time for a patch or two to land before the retail version ships.

What should you do before buying?

1. Wait for a patch or two if you're sensitive to bugs. Day-one soulslikes with reported performance issues typically get meaningful fixes within the first two to three weeks.
2. Try before you commit if a Steam refund window applies. Steam's two-hour refund policy is enough to test the defense-only stamina system and see if it clicks.
3. Don't buy purely for the "80 bosses" headline. Reviews consistently note the count includes filler fights — go in for the combat systems and world, not the raw number.
4. Check PS5 patch notes before a physical purchase later this year if you'd rather wait for a more stable, potentially discounted release alongside the Xbox and Switch 2 versions.

Related reading

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• Halo: Campaign Evolved launches July 28, 2026
• God of War Laufey — February 16, 2027 PS5 release date
• Order of the Sinking Star — Jonathan Blow's new PS5 project
• Gematsu: The Relic: First Guardian launches July 31 for PS5 and PC
• RPGFan: The Relic: First Guardian review
• Dualshockers: The Relic: First Guardian review

Reviews and figures reflect launch-day coverage as of July 31, 2026. Post-launch patches may change performance and bug findings — we'll revisit if the reception shifts significantly.