PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: 22ND MAY
From developers MercurySteam, the folks behind Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Metroid Dread, Blades of Fire adds a unique twist to the now-standard Soulslike mechanics to create a game that feels familiar yet quickly turns out to be very different to what you might expect. Set in a long-forgotten land ruled by giants that has now fallen into ruin, players take the role of Aran de Lira, a man with a mysterious past who is tasked with killing Queen Nerea for reasons that aren’t immediately apparent but become clear as you progress through the story. Aided by his companion, Adso, and a handful of helpful characters he meets along the way, the fate of the land is in your hands as you guide Aran along his journey to the Royal Palace.
Blades of Fire does share a lot of Dark Souls‘ DNA – there are similarities in the way that you often need to learn enemy attack patterns so that you can dodge and parry their attacks effectively, and resting (at an anvil, rather than a bonfire) does indeed replenish your health flasks and bring non-boss enemies back to life. You also drop your currently equipped weapon when you die, but it’ll never disappear even if you die again while on your way to retrieve it. There’s also a Souls-y focus on exploring the world to find secrets and shortcuts, which is easier said than done in this vibrant world filled with hidden passages, underground caverns, labyrinthine corridors and, of course, monstrous enemies. The game’s overall difficulty is much more forgiving, though, providing a decent challenge without being obnoxiously punishing, making it much less stressful than full-on Soulslikes.
BoF really sets itself apart with its weapon forging and combat systems. Your attacks are assigned to the four face buttons on your controller, targeting the head, torso and arms of your enemies. While the unusual control scheme can take some getting used to, the combat feels great when everything finally clicks – smaller weapons allow for fast slashing attacks, while larger hammers and longswords are slower to swing but feel satisfyingly hefty when their attacks connect. There’s some excellent squelchy sound effects and copious amounts of blood spurting all over the place as body parts are liberated from their owners, and the dodge and parry mechanics work flawlessly.
You’ll need to use the most appropriate weapon to deal the right type of damage (blunt, slashing or piercing) to your foes, who are helpfully highlighted by a coloured outline to indicate which body part you should target and whether your current weapon will actually deal any damage. Using the right weapon ensures that your blade lasts longer than it otherwise might do – if you swing away willy nilly at a heavily armoured enemy, your weapon is likely to break in no time at all. And while any damaged weapons can be repaired, there’s a limit to how many times you can do this before the weapon becomes completely useless…
All of the weapons you use in the game have to be forged by the player, using materials that are collected from defeated enemies or picked up along your journey. By accessing the Forge from any anvil, you’re able to create around 30 different weapons by simply choosing a blueprint and selecting your materials. Then you’ll need to hammer your new creation into shape, with a rather unintuitive process that asks you to strike parts of the weapon to move a series of bars up and down until they fit the outline of the weapon as closely as possible. The closer you get to the recommended shape, the more stars your weapon will receive, dictating the amount of times the weapon can be repaired before it breaks forever. Defeating specific numbers of enemy types will unlock new blueprints, and stronger materials become available as you progress through the game, giving you something to work towards as you aim to create stronger and more durable weapons.
While the combat might be a success, the game stumbles slightly when it comes to navigating its world. After leaving one of the early main areas, a message on the loading screen says “we’ve left behind the Crimson Fort. What a relief”, and it isn’t wrong – at times, it can be so tricky to figure out where you should be going that you can easily wander around the same for far too long. Even when using the option in the pause menu that highlights your objective (annoyingly, the marker disappears when you eventually find what you’re looking for, so it needs to be constantly re-enabled every time you need it), some of the paths are so strangely constructed that it can be incredibly easy to miss the way forward.
In many ways, Blades of Fire feels like the sort of game that was much more prevalent in the mid/late 2000s, a time when it seemed like developers were more comfortable with the idea of experimenting with established formulas to see what they could come up with. The character and world design are very evocative of that era, as is the storyline, and the gameplay certainly adds its own twist to familiar mechanics that players have become accustomed to over the last couple of decades. Despite the unwieldy forging minigame and confusing navigation, anyone looking for a quirky, unusual and more forgiving take on the Soulslike formula would be well advised to seek this one out.
