(We’re sorry about the review’s title, but someone had to say it)
Title: DOLLS NEST（ドールズネスト）
Genre: Action
Platform: PC
Developer: NITRO PLUS
Publisher: NITRO PLUS
Release date: 24 April 2025
Official website: https://www.nitroplus.co.jp/game/Dolls_Nest/
Dolls Nest is the first full 3D action title by Nitro Plus, best known for being a veteran in visual novels, having put out beloved classics like “Hello, world.”, Saya no Uta, Zanmataisei Demonbane, and Sumaga. But though Nitro Plus ventured slightly into third-person mecha action with the combat in Kishinhishou Demonbane in 2006, and tried their hand at various mini-games and such over the years, there was nothing to suggest that they would – or could – foray into full action games.
Dolls Nest thus comes as a huge surprise, in how competently it executes the exploratory tension of the Souls series with the action and mecha customization mechanics of Armored Core, resulting in the “Armored Souls” From Software fans had been speculating about in the years when the AC series went silent while the Souls series made its huge break – combined with a dash of the “mecha girl” genre.
The comparison to From Software’s games is not speculatory – the creators have openly cited Armored Core as a reference. But at the same time, the game obviously borrows heavily from the Souls series as well, with the world and progression structure being clearly based on that of Demon’s Souls: Four distinct zones accessible from a central hub, each made up of multiple stages, with the player ping-ponging between zones to progress.
There are also entire stages which are clearly inspired by Souls areas – and amazingly, even though some are clearly inspired by some of the most miserable elements Souls has to offer, the added mobility and mechanics make them actually fun to play. Nobody who has played Dark Souls 2 would believe that the Shrine of Amana could ever be good – yet Dolls Nest’s iteration of it is a visually appealing, fun to explore zone that turned out to be this reviewer’s favourite in the game (and for the record, yes, this reviewer does hate the Shrine of Amana).
Even the equivalent of a poison swamp with a sniper taking potshots at you, and a pitch-black Gutter/Tomb of the Giants-like area where nothing is visible manage to be not just challenging but actually fun – mobility makes navigating the poison area to get to the sniper thrilling, and being able to carry and throw around items which light up the environments make exploring the pitch-black depths of the world a fascinating experience.
But where the Souls series relies on measured melee, however, Dolls Nest commits to high-speed ranged combat – tight, twitchy, and built around careful ammo and cooldown (reload) management. Without shields, rolling, or parries, the player instead has to rely on classic AC-style dodging, jumping around to dodge enemy shots or boosting to close the distance before they can get shots off.
A standout mechanical twist is the game’s ammo system: All weapons draw from a shared bar, which runs dry very quickly when using powerful weapons, but can be restored with healing items (though you can only carry a small amount). This means that the player has to manage ammo and engagements while exploring, lest they completely run out of ammo to fight enemies with, and in boss fights has to look for opportunities to take the time to resupply (in addition to a slow Souls-style heal for the health gauge).
Exploration is also extremely satisfying, with verticality, secret routes, and hidden items, not to mention multiple solutions to some NPC quests that require the player to explore and find certain things, with different outcomes for each solution. The verticality is a particularly fascinating twist in Dolls Nest: Controlling an AC-like character that can jump and hover while still keeping movement smartly limited opens up interesting traversal options. The player character cannot exponentially boost upwards for as long as their energy allows for it like in some Armored Core games, and this strikes a great balance in giving the player far more mobility than a Souls game without just letting them fly wherever they want, which keeps exploration interesting.
Bosses are generally well-designed, never too challenging but mostly not too easy, but while the good ones push the player hard, requiring one to remember their moves and deal with them accordingly, there are a few which are absolute pushovers, and some of them being late in the game result in anticlimactic letdowns.
There is also a clear imbalance in equipment: Some simply completely outclass others, and once you’ve found a strong setup, there is typically very little reason to experiment other than for the novelty value of trying out something new.
That being said, the large amount of equipment has no overlap in the cosmetic department, and when combined with the option to freely change the colors of your character and equipment, fans of the mecha girl genre can find hours of content in just mixing and matching equipment to make cool-looking builds.
Another issue is how the item wheel feels somewhat clunky mid-fight and doesn’t support fast cycling between items. And while buying consumables isn’t a huge issue – since currency isn’t used to level up and healing items are extremely cheap, it’s nowhere as bad as it was in Bloodborne – it does add a bit of friction without any real upside.
True to many Nitro Plus works, the writing leans into being rather bleak (in terms of vibes it feels like it could fit in right next to, say, Kikokugai). As for how the narrative is delivered, however: The player is dropped in with little context and immediately thrown into the service of a broken deity, trying to recover her stolen pieces scattered across the ruined world, and the crumbling megastructures, item descriptions, and occasional exposition from NPCs hand the setting and story of the game to the player in cryptic little pieces to be put together in a Souls-like manner.
These two aspects – the generally bleak and pessimistic narrative DNA and From-style environmental storytelling – mesh very well together, and as a result this does not feel like visual novel writers awkwardly trying to write for a game of a different genre at all. Dolls Nest manages to get it perfectly right, and the result is a cohesive world that tells you almost everything indirectly.
Regarding performance, as of the time of writing, while the game seems well-optimized, it does crash somewhat often regardless of hardware specs (the common crash seems to be a bug tied to the assembly menu, however, which means that the player will never lose progress from it since they will have touched a save point right before). The game looks rough graphically – it generally looks like an early PS3 or late PS2 game – but rough does not translate to aesthetically displeasing: The fantastic art direction makes the game very interesting to look at. That’s without turning on the garish post-processing effects, however, which can make the game look plain horrid.
Music is sparse, but what tracks are heard stand out greatly. Voice acting is also excellent, with an especially fantastic performance for Nehma.
The game is far from perfect: Its onboarding is close to nonexistent, some of the stage layouts can be obtuse and confusing, and some balance issues, several weak bosses, and a lack of volume hold it back. But it’s also a creative, confident game that manages to assert a strong and unique identity in a space that has been otherwise overcrowded with subpar derivatives. The fact that it costs $20 is plain absurd: It easily justifies double that, and this reviewer honestly feels that it would have warranted a full price tag if it just had a few more stages.
Dolls Nest is one of those rare games where you feel the devs made exactly what they wanted to play, with no marketing committee smoothing out the edges. And if you wanted to play that same thing (Armored Souls, or better yet Armored Souls with mecha girls), you’d be hard-pressed to find anything else that will scratch the itch as good as Dolls Nest does.
The Good
- Amazing gameplay that borrows from Souls and Armored Core, yet is completely unique in its blend
- Excellent worldbuilding, with writing that complements environmental storytelling
- Dense, interesting level design that rewards exploration
- Beyond fantastic value for price
The Bad
- Somewhat clunky item and healing system
- Equipment balance is all over the place
- Weak onboarding, with essential mechanics never sufficiently explained
- Some bosses underdeliver
- It’s so good you’re left wanting more
Conclusion:
A stylish and memorable hybrid of Souls and Armored Core, Dolls Nest stands out not just for what it borrows, but for what it reimagines. Don’t let the price tag fool you- this is one of the most refreshing action games in years, and possibly THE best non-Fromsoft Souls-like.
