- Publisher: Devolver Digital
- Release Date: Jun 8, 2023
- Also On: Switch
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Jun 8, 2023Bleak Sword DX is all about sword fighting, dodging, suffering and advancing. It is perfect for your Switch or your Steam Deck.
-
Jun 12, 2023I wanted to like this game so badly. I’ve been a fan of Devolver-published games for a while, and I came away from the preview with high hopes. Unfortunately those expectations did not match my experience playing through Bleak Sword DX for real. For all the intensity the difficulty brought, I nevertheless found myself bored at basically repeating the same thing over and over, and found the story to be an active detriment. That’s not to say there’s nothing good here, however. It’s a solid foundation, but where other games would strive to build something on that foundation, Bleak Sword DX unfortunately just leaves it as a slab of concrete.
-
Jun 8, 2023Bleak Sword DX has its moments. Utilizing the parry system and mastering the stages to take no damage after dying moments earlier makes for some genuinely enjoyable moments. Unfortunately, that’s about where my fun ended. The repetitive structure and increasing challenge fueled by a stamina bar that depletes faster than my 12-year-old dog’s weighed on the experience. There simply wasn’t enough reward for the difficulty, and the retro aesthetic couldn’t do enough to keep me engaged.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 1 out of 2
-
Mixed: 1 out of 2
-
Negative: 0 out of 2
-
Aug 16, 2023F un