Blades of Fire

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.