Blades of Fire

Get past the slow early game, and Blades of Fire really opens up into an interesting and highly satisfying souls-lite action adventure game. Though the defining forge mechanic could still use some work in my opinion, it still sets the game apart from other titles and makes for a very personalized ARPG experience.

Blades of Fire may not be remembered as the most original action-adventure game of this generation, but MercurySteam's latest effort is still well worth playing for fans of the genre. While its convoluted level design can be confusing at times and the well-crafted combat system doesn't evolve much throughout the journey, the engaging smithing mechanics and the touch of grounded realism in the fighting, without overcomplicating things, make Aran and Adso's quest to slay the queen an enjoyable adventure.

Blades of Fire tortured me physically, but that is my problem. I could not get in grip with the controls, I had trouble with the outline colors, and I could not get my muscle memory to get used to the control scheme. However, if we take all these personal issues away, Blades of Fire is a sleeper hit that will find its audience, even though it was not me.

Blades of Fire tries something new with its combat, truly excelling as a result. Those that devote the time to its blacksmithing and weaponry will no doubt have fun slicing and dicing (and piercing and blunting).

If you're a fan of Souls-like games, Blades of Fire is a must-play. It introduces unique mechanics that may not suit everyone, making it a very specific experience. It's not as accessible as God of War, but also not as punishing as traditional Souls titles—landing somewhere in between. While it may not look like it at first glance, this is very much an RPG at heart, not just a hack-and-slash.

Blades of Fire offers rough yet engaging combat. The game’s concept and combat system are compelling, though some parts of its progression and a few older design choices might not appeal to everyone.

A beautiful, grand adventure featuring intriguing characters and a great combat system, but also unnecessarily annoying blacksmithing mechanics.

Blades of Fire has a great merit: it is a game that innovates. And it does so with audacity, from the first minutes of the game, with a technical combat system and a crafting that requires strategy and attention to resources, statistics, enemies and progression. This is certainly the component around which the rest of the game was developed. And it shows: the care put into everything else is clearly less. Or rather, it is not always up to the ambitions of the game: to propose an epic story lasting 60-70 hours, with a combat system different from all the others and a crafting system that is never boring. Mercury Steam has not failed: it has simply only partially achieved the objective.

Blades of Fire can be great fun, but it definitely overstays its welcome.

Blades of Fire is an ambitious and refreshingly unconventional title. While its developers clearly lacked the resources to polish every aspect to perfection, it remains a bittersweet experience. Its creative spark and unique ideas are inseparably tied to its design flaws, making it a game that's easy to admire, but just as easy to be frustrated by.

Blades of Fire turned out to be an emotional swing, which is why the joyful moment is followed by complete disappointment. We have received a masterpiece that is not understood by the world.

Blades of Fire suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. Had it been just a tad bit more focused, or if MercurySteam had trimmed the gameplay fat just a little, this could've been something really special.

Blades of Fire should be applauded for the new and exciting systems it brings to the Soulslike genre but sadly, the rest of the game is a little below par. A noble attempt, but one that just misses the mark.

With its weapon-building systems and deliberate, targeted combat, Blades of Fire has a lot of fresh-feeling ideas. Its control scheme is strange and will force you to press each button with care. Its granular forging system makes you consider every weapon in your arsenal. But however differently it approaches them, the game only offers the same thrills as other action games of its ilk. Blades of Fire feels unique, but just can’t get weird enough.

All told, Blades of Fire is a mixed bag. I by and large enjoyed my time with it, warts and all - but I'd be hard-pressed to recommend the game in its current state. Worse, without some heavy retooling of the map I don't know if I ever could recommend the game at all without significant caveats. On the bright side, the game's PC port is rather good with a notably good HDR implementation. It's even playable on Steam Deck, if you can bother to get the Epic Games Store running on yours. I definitely appreciate any game that doesn't have traversal or shader compilation stutters these days, and from a technical standpoint MercurySteam has delivered a very good experience.

Despite complaints, the core of Blades of Fire remains hot, with enough individuality and fun in its boss fights to prevent it needing to be reforged. However, it's hard to shake the feeling that if a bit more focus was put on any element of the game, it could have been very good. Its hodgepodge mix of being a combat-focused, story-heavy Soulslike that relies on breaking and making weapons feels like it was an attempt to get as many keywords in as possible without polishing them enough to shine.

Despite its promising concept, Blades of Fire is ultimately just a shot in the dark. We would have liked the opportunity to test the forge system, to push the center of gravity management of our spear to its limits to tackle a specific problem. But MercurySteam lacks radicality in its proposal and we quickly tire of the overly quirky castles, the overly redundant enemies, and the overly simple weapons. Enough to give up due to disinterest after a few hours.