Bound by Flame

 PC
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 437 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 219 out of 437
  2. Mixed: 136 out of 437
  3. Negative: 82 out of 437

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  1. Usser
    May 9, 2014
    7
    Its Good Game
    +Its have very good dark story
    +You feel the weight of your hero when you fight
    +Good Graphic on pc

    -Voice acting
    -Sometimes bugs
  2. Bustardo
    May 9, 2014
    7
    No idea why this is getting such low reviews from people. This is a fun RPG aimed at adults. I'm not very far into it, but so far I've found nothing to complain about. Most of the bad reviews seem to stem from strange complaints such as "Well the combat system could have been more like this other game I like... etc." If you're on the fence and you like RPG's definitely give it a try. I'mNo idea why this is getting such low reviews from people. This is a fun RPG aimed at adults. I'm not very far into it, but so far I've found nothing to complain about. Most of the bad reviews seem to stem from strange complaints such as "Well the combat system could have been more like this other game I like... etc." If you're on the fence and you like RPG's definitely give it a try. I'm going to write a better review once I complete it, but so far I've been having fun.… Expand
  3. johnangel
    May 9, 2014
    7
    A nice and fun game, it isn't skyrim or dark souls but it's a nice enjoyable game and good at what it does.
    Could use a patch or two.
    I don't get all the negativity really.
  4. Drogmir
    May 9, 2014
    7
    This game strikes me as something like a B movie version of Kingdoms of Amalur mixed with The Witcher 1.

    Storywise it's a kind of dark fantasy dark that's reminiscent of Dragon Age's you're the chosen one go save the world. Except that your character is a foul mouthed mercenary idiot, so it's kind of funny watching him spout really strange lines completely inconsistent with the    This game strikes me as something like a B movie version of Kingdoms of Amalur mixed with The Witcher 1.

    Storywise it's a kind of dark fantasy dark that's reminiscent of Dragon Age's you're the chosen one go save the world. Except that your character is a foul mouthed mercenary idiot, so it's kind of funny watching him spout really strange lines completely inconsistent with the atmosphere of the game.

    Your companions have enough character to make them interesting but not really that compelling. At the very least though they're more interesting to listen to than your main character.

    The demon aspect is a little underplayed but what is there works well enough.

    Gameplay wise- it's like an inferior version of Kingdom of Amalur's sort of scrappy skirmishing with deadliness more in vein with Darksouls. It's clear that Spiders didn't really take the time to balance it out as the skill trees are only worth investing into the Ranger mode and Pyromancy since their combat's interrupt mechanic makes anything slow a death trap.

    Graphics: They tend to vary from pretty nice to something cheaply off.

    Music: Actually pretty good, the vocals do a really good job without sounding too generic.

    Overall I liked it for what it is, a cheap B-movie worthy Fantasy fare RPG. It's functional but never brilliant. With a larger budget and a better writing team it could have been phenomenal instead of a good time waster.

    In a lot of ways it really does reminds me of the Witcher 1 before it received an overhaul patch which replaced the dialog to make it less silly and tonally weird. I think that's the kind of thing this game needs along with combat re balancing. If they could deliver it in the form of a patch it would go up 1-2 points easily.

    I only paid about $27 for it and I feel that's a fair price. Any higher though and I might have felt ripped off for the quality delivered.    … Expand
  5. robotnist
    May 9, 2014
    8
    i have the game on PS4, its nice to have an actual RPG to play along with the MMO FF14. so here's the deal, i'm a huge RPG fan, so take my score with a grain of salt. my fave RPGs are PSO, elder scrolls franchise, dragon age origins, basically anything bioware etc. i came to metacritic to check out a review right after my girlfriend bought me a copy today and was freaked out to see a 4 outi have the game on PS4, its nice to have an actual RPG to play along with the MMO FF14. so here's the deal, i'm a huge RPG fan, so take my score with a grain of salt. my fave RPGs are PSO, elder scrolls franchise, dragon age origins, basically anything bioware etc. i came to metacritic to check out a review right after my girlfriend bought me a copy today and was freaked out to see a 4 out of 10 from one of my fave sites, Polygon. (but they also gave ESO a 6/10 so guess i'm not surprised).

    i immediately thought to myself, "maybe i shouldn't open the packaging and take it back?"

    im so glad i didn't!!!!

    BbF is a great RPG!!! the GFX don't "scream" next gen, but they're def NOT old gen!!! in fact i'm very anal about frame-rates and textures/lighting/anti-aliasing, what have you, and i'm very happy with all of the above. it also needs to be noted i'm not one of those RPG, or to be precise, "JRPG" fans who complain about western localization/voice-over as opposed to having the japanese voices that are ultimately the most obnoxious aspects of all RPGs, ever, lol. meaning as long as voices are semi-professional i have NO issue what so ever with them. i mean japan INVENTED obnoxiousness, come one. i say that lovingly, it was japan who delivered me to my love of RPGs in my childhood with the likes of dragon warrior, phantasy star and final fantasy!!!

    the story works great. let me elaborate... when i say works, i'm not a story snob as far as games go. so many people hold their nose up at stories that aren't the next "memento" of games... i feel as though if the story has interesting lore, and it supports the game play, it "works". i play games for the fun of the gameplay, the story works for me if it doesn't interfere with the fun i'm having.

    the combat in BbF is so good. i was, again, blown away at how well this aspect of the game was handled. and the way you advance your character lets you choose whether you want him to be a warrior, ranger (rogue) or mage. and depending on how u spend your points, 2 skill points per level and 1 feat per level makes tweaking your character fun. it kind of reminds me of dragon age here, where in DAO ur skills kind of handle some of the esoteric features of gameplay.

    there are so many times i played this game and felt references to RPGs that have come out in the past few years, and here they are, i hope this helps u make a decision to purchase this game if this is what you enjoy.

    i sensed the new game of thrones RPG right off the bat, now i agree that game isn't as good as it could be, but it had great ideas with simply poor execution. where BbF shares any similarities here i said to myself "this is what GoT the RPG, SHOULD have been".

    another game i felt it resembled early on was DA2s weapon type attacks. but bound by flame has all active combat the really trumps DA2, even though i am a huge fan of DA2 (being a bioware game as well)

    and most importantly, i kept getting a nagging feeling about a game from my past that this game really felt like... i couldn't remember and then it hit me 3-4 hours in, this is a new age Jade Empire!!!

    it has map setups just like JE. now i know thats not the most promising aspect here, the maps in bound by flame ARE NOT open world. they're not even as large as Dragon Age Origins, but they are very fun to explore and find loot for upgrading, crafting. there's tons of nooks and crannies and the character/item/skill advancement is SO much fun, the maps don't detract AT ALL!!! in fact, they really are large enough in the cities and wilds to keep the combat to explore ratio perfect!!! and you never tire of either, that's probably the best thing i can say about bound by flame!!!

    so for those of you who made it this far, i just wanted to say, i wrote this HUGE obnoxious review because so many times i have been curious about a new game, and i have come to metacritic and been disappointed by a lack of info in the areas I'M interested in. i don't care how the story of a new game starts, how reviews are so apt to talk about them for paragraphs, i want to know how the game "feels" in my hands.

    hopefully, if your an RPG fan like me and your on the fence, you will have enough info to decide if Bound By Flame is the game for you. either way, i hope this all helped, cheers.    … Expand
  6. sauriolb
    May 9, 2014
    8
    Bound by Flame is much better than the "pros" are leading you to believe. It is not perfect by any means, but it is still a damn good action rpg. The combat takes some practice but it is actually very engaging as has a lot of depth that the reviewers are just not bothering to learn before reviewing. The story is decent, but the english localization does lead to some strange dialogue. TheBound by Flame is much better than the "pros" are leading you to believe. It is not perfect by any means, but it is still a damn good action rpg. The combat takes some practice but it is actually very engaging as has a lot of depth that the reviewers are just not bothering to learn before reviewing. The story is decent, but the english localization does lead to some strange dialogue. The visuals are fantastic, one of the better looking games this year.… Expand
  7. MONG
    May 9, 2014
    9
    Bound by Flame could have easily been just another fantasy RPG clone that we see hit the market every few months, which is honestly what I expected it might be. But it wasn’t, instead it’s flames shined brighter than I could have ever imagined it could. Highlighted by a thrilling story and fun strategic combat, Bound by Flame should be a game everyone plays.

    For a little context, The    Bound by Flame could have easily been just another fantasy RPG clone that we see hit the market every few months, which is honestly what I expected it might be. But it wasn’t, instead it’s flames shined brighter than I could have ever imagined it could. Highlighted by a thrilling story and fun strategic combat, Bound by Flame should be a game everyone plays.

    For a little context, The world in Bound by Flame has been forced into chaos and ruin by the Deadwalkers, an army of rotting, deformed, and downright disgusting zombie-like creatures. The Deadwalkers were summoned over 150 years ago by the Lords of Ice, who are hell-bent on conquering the world. The Lords of Ice are a circle of mysterious immortal necromancers who have been successfully leading their legions of undead in the extermination of all other known races.

    By the time your quest begins, most of the sentient lifeforms have been wiped off the map and have unwillingly joined the Deadwalker army. You enter the story as Vulcan, an upstart human mercenary with a bad attitude and a whole lot of sass. Disaster strikes while protecting a group of mages and Vulcan accidentally ends up on the wrong side of a Demon summoning spell and becomes possessed.

    As the fight against the Lords of Ice and their Deadwalker army wages on, Vulcan is constantly tormented by the Demon, tempting him to give up his humanity in order to gain unheard-of levels of magical powers. You are given several chances either take up the demons offer, or preserve your humanity, which can significantly change the story outcome and Vulcan’s appearance.

    Spiders did a fantastic job at establishing both compelling lore and an awesome story. I found myself talking to every single character, while making sure to investigate all dialogue options so as not to miss any of this rich story. Most of the story is told through these dialogue investigations, so if you decide to skip them you will surely miss out.

    One aspect that sets Bound by Flame apart from other fantasy RPGs is that it doesn’t bother overloading you with thousands of meaningless sidequests. I will admit, I was once a gamer obsessed with finishing every single sidequest in every game just to say I did it, but that is not the case anymore. I simply do not have the time or the patience to spend hundreds of hours completing fetch quests and other throwaway chores for characters you will never speak to again.

    I was able to complete both the main questline and the majority of the sidequests available in just over 25 hours. Even if you take your time and dive even deeper into the story that I did, you will still only clock in about 30-35 hours. This is the perfect length for a great fantasy RPG and I commend Spiders for hitting nail on the head.

    Bound by Flame looks absolutely gorgeous. Spiders built a world of incredibly diverse environments. However, when comparing Bound by Flame’s unique art style to that of other games in the genre, it doesn’t quite compare the the photorealism that many games have achieved in recent years.

    The voice acting in Bound by Flame was far better than what I had expected. But sometimes you will be taken out of the experience because the lip syncing is basically nonexistent. This can be annoying if you are paying close attention to a character’s mouth, but honestly it is not that big of a deal when very few studios actually get this right.

    The most common question I have seen asked about Bound by Flame has been, “What is the combat system like?” Well good news, it is fun. However it can be a little difficult and will require strategy to get through most fights. This is not a game where you can run into a large group of enemies and just hack-and-slash your way to victory with no second thought. In fact, that is the easiest way to find yourself dying quicker than the amount of time it took you to run into them.

    The strategy required to defeat the many different beasts and Deadwalkers increases tenfold when you encounter a boss fight. Spiders did a great job when designing their terrifying set of bosses. Not only are each of them horrifyingly creepy looking, but they also all have completely new styles as well. If you are anything like me, you will find yourself dying several times on every boss encounter until you can finally develop a well-oiled strategy.

    Bound by Flame is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise crowded genre. Spiders has achieved what many developers fail to ever do by creating a beautiful world with an incredibly deep and interesting history while also including a rock solid combat system. I was very glad that I didn’t have to be bothered by all of the silly distractions that are in most triple a RPG’s on the market today. Hopefully this is a step forward in getting rid of fetch quests just for the sake of making a game longer. Bound by Flame was everything I wanted it to be and then some.    … Expand
  8. Masatshi
    May 9, 2014
    7
    I thought this game was crap. Thankfully, I did not listen to the bad reviews and played it myself... okay I admit, the graphics suck, technically its a bit of a mess and the voice acting is really bad sometimes, but I like the gameplay, the story and the characters. This is not a hack-n-slay game, you have to think in battle, otherwise you die very quickly. If you think this plays likeI thought this game was crap. Thankfully, I did not listen to the bad reviews and played it myself... okay I admit, the graphics suck, technically its a bit of a mess and the voice acting is really bad sometimes, but I like the gameplay, the story and the characters. This is not a hack-n-slay game, you have to think in battle, otherwise you die very quickly. If you think this plays like DmC or something, go look elsewhere. This game is like a snack if you are hungry. It will not completely satisfy you, but you will be happy until the next big meal comes along...… Expand
  9. EMG
    May 9, 2014
    10
    I stopped caring when the same reviewers who are bashing this game give the likes of every Call of Duty every year a 10/10 and the likes of Diablo 3 a 10/10 praising it for being....fun. I have played 3 hours so far, and honestly it is a bit rough around the edges and is in no way GOTY but it is FUN for me at least, the game is simply enjoyable if you go into it with the right frame ofI stopped caring when the same reviewers who are bashing this game give the likes of every Call of Duty every year a 10/10 and the likes of Diablo 3 a 10/10 praising it for being....fun. I have played 3 hours so far, and honestly it is a bit rough around the edges and is in no way GOTY but it is FUN for me at least, the game is simply enjoyable if you go into it with the right frame of mind..."professional" reviewers are just people except they either have biased towards a game or were not paid enough :) 10/10 for keeping me engaged.… Expand
  10. kurumbu1
    May 9, 2014
    9
    Great game and fun what is most important

    Gameplay-9
    Graphics-8
    Sound-7
    Length-8
    This game do not deserve a score like 20 or 40!
    Really GOOD game, from me 9 because some pathetic score who think that this game want to be comparison with Dragon age 3 or Witcher 3
  11. Proelio
    May 9, 2014
    5
    A mediocre game in all aspects. Visually it is awful. The music is fine, although the voice acting is painful. The story is absurd, childish and poorly led, on the other hand, it seems that the script is written by a 14 year old boy, full of expletives and cheap swagger like something out of DmC. All characters have a cocky, shameless and sassy attitude, like stupid clones.

    Luckily, the    A mediocre game in all aspects. Visually it is awful. The music is fine, although the voice acting is painful. The story is absurd, childish and poorly led, on the other hand, it seems that the script is written by a 14 year old boy, full of expletives and cheap swagger like something out of DmC. All characters have a cocky, shameless and sassy attitude, like stupid clones.

    Luckily, the gameplay gets saved, thanks to a relatively interesting battleplay but burdened by a rough and robotic movements and animations, plus a bad control. The customization system by crafting is simple but interesting. Partners give a little sparkle to the fighting.    … Expand
  12. zombiekilljoy
    May 12, 2014
    8
    while its lip synching and friendly companion a.i. are not very good, bound by flame is still a fun action rpg with fun strategic hack and slash combat with a great crafting system as well
  13. rlilewis
    Feb 5, 2015
    6
    How any self respecting reviewer can give this game a 2 out of 10 (see "VideoGamer") is mind boggling. After just completing my full playthrough (clocked at 16 hours on steam) I think this game is actually worthy of 6/10 and I can easily see myself doing another run to find how the other alignment or combat styles play out.

    I'd like to confirm that I didn't get a single crash through    How any self respecting reviewer can give this game a 2 out of 10 (see "VideoGamer") is mind boggling. After just completing my full playthrough (clocked at 16 hours on steam) I think this game is actually worthy of 6/10 and I can easily see myself doing another run to find how the other alignment or combat styles play out.

    I'd like to confirm that I didn't get a single crash through this game and very few glitches that are even worth mentioning; I once dodged through a wall but didn't get stuck and it didn't impede my play, that's honestly all I can remember and it happened one time. This in stark contrast to games like Battlefield 4 and Rome 2 Total War, no doubt given 9 out of 10s from these idiot critics.

    This game was clearly designed for a controller but you can play with mouse and keyboard and has rebindable keys. I personally used an xbox style controller for my first playthrough and there are definitely some annoyances in the button mappings, the A key especially on the controller gets used far too often for opening doors, sheathing your weapon, picking up loot and even breaking stealth. On the flip side the B and Y buttons are barely used aside from hotkeys in combat. The keyboard/mouse combo has less shared function keys so I will probably use this for my next playthrough.

    I really don't understand why many are saying the voice acting and script writing are terrible; from these 2/10 professional imbecile reviewers I was expecting something on par with a terrible porn movie yet what I actually got was solid and often times humorous dialogue from unique sounding characters; it's such a breath of fresh air not to hear Steve Blum in a video game!

    The story is cliche and nothing amazing but it's serviceable and got me emotionally engaged on a few occasions, certainly more than I could say for the utter snore fest that was Skyrim.

    This game does seem to have a fascination with cut scenes, which can be very annoying especially if you're playing a stealth character that up till that point had remained undetected before suddenly being thrown into a cut scene and having your weapon switched out and stealth blown for no reason.

    Combat can be frustrating at times, but after learning the quirks of the combat system and speccing my character properly I could go for long periods without dying but if you drop the ball you can be very quickly killed. The boss fights are the real annoyances but at the same time they force you to think up strategies on how you're going to handle them using all the tools and skills available to you. There is definitely room for improvement however as the combat can feel clunky. The ranger for example has a dodge ability but they will only dodge backwards meaning you can often get backed into a corner. It would have been nice to dodge around an enemy or when dodging backwards have the ability to go further back in a single dodge. Also the ultimate ability for the range was terrible and I very rarely used it; it takes far too long to cast, doesn't last long enough and is just underwhelming for an ultimate ability.

    Another sticky point in the combat is the companions of which you can normally only have one. I think the game could have been significantly improved had they allowed 2 companions to cover your weaknesses. It doesn't help that the AI for your companions is about as intelligent as the moron that critic from "VideoGamer" that gave this game a 2/10; mage or archer characters for example will often just stand in a single spot getting repeatedly hit by melee attackers and none of the companions use their skills in an efficient manner, most of the time they will just spam the same skill over and over again despite the type of target they are fighting.

    All in all I thought this was a solid yet ultimately deeply flawed 6/10 action RPG game that I would recommend to fans of the genre although if you are a call of duty addled imbecile you may want to give it a pass.    … Expand
  14. Chaeote
    May 12, 2014
    7
    Ok, first off, the game isn't BAD... just...troubled.

    I'm gonna break it down into sections so you can understand easier. Also, gonna draw a lot of comparisons so you can see where this fits within the genre as a whole. Graphics: Pretty damn good actually, not SUPER realistic, but they fit the fantasy vibe, and the textures are GREAT, I'd put it about half-way between Dragon Age 2,    Ok, first off, the game isn't BAD... just...troubled.

    I'm gonna break it down into sections so you can understand easier. Also, gonna draw a lot of comparisons so you can see where this fits within the genre as a whole.

    Graphics: Pretty damn good actually, not SUPER realistic, but they fit the fantasy vibe, and the textures are GREAT, I'd put it about half-way between Dragon Age 2, and The Witcher 2.

    Sound: The soundtrack is GREAT. A bit repetitive when you spend so much time in one area, but what game isn't?, besides it's soothing. The sound effect are passable, though the fire spells could use a bit more bass-level oomph to em.

    Gameplay: Again, not bad. Repetitive combat? Sure, at times, one way around this is to max one of the Melee skill trees and get really good at dodging (daggers), or parrying (2-hander), It feels like a stepped up version of Dragon Age 2. Simple, but with a few little tricks here and there.

    With one problem: It's stupid hard. No, not just "hard", Dark Souls is HARD, this is STUPID. Enemies can make attacks that you can't, can stun-lock you (being knockdown, pushed back, and then clobbered over the head is just dumb when you cant do the same to the enemies).

    I know it sounds like a cheap way out...but just play the game on the lowest difficulty. There's no reason not to, and it seems to actually put the enemy damage on par with your own.

    The crafting system, is great too, everything is upgradable, and changes appearance with each upgrade. You have to pay attention though, cause certain upgrades aren't available on every piece of armor. So you have to decide if you want the armor that you can upgrade to increase your protections, or do you give some up for a piece of armor with bonus fire damage upgrades?

    Voice Acting/Writing: ...... ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

    Ok... The voice actors themselves, aren't BAD, in fact I've noticed a few recognizable voices in the game too (Felicia Day, Claudia Black, a few others). The actual voice acting is... sub-par, it justs sounds like it's lacking production value, and sounds like it's phoned in a bit. People are harping on the female leads voice actor, and yea, it's weird, sometimes she sounds like Laura Bailey (which i can't confirm if it's her or not), but sometimes she sounds....drunk, is the only way I can put it, there's this weird slur she has in random scenes, that just sounds out of place.

    I'd say the biggest problem though, isn't the voice actors, but the writing.... holy **** A lot of the dialog is just FORCED, with meaningless (and weird) swearing. Right in the beginning of the game, the male protagonist will say "Caught with our asses hanging out", which makes sense... but then the female protagonist says "Caught with our asses in our hands"...uh what? Shouldn't it be "...with our dicks in our hands?", or be the same as the male protagonist?

    There's also a LOT of lines, that I know are suppose to be snarky and sarcastic, but the way they come off, is just weird, like when actors take their roles just a bit too seriously, even though they're playing in a comedy.

    The writing is probably the biggest complaint I have, but honestly, if you can put up with the writing and voice-acting from games like Risen, or Dragon's Dogma (which, let's be honest, the voice acting in those games...wasn't very good...) Then you'll be fine here.

    Speaking of which, I'd say the overall feel of the game, is very much Dragon Age 2 crossed with Risen. If you like those, give this a try, the game isn't perfect by any means, and there's definitely some noticeable... errors, in it's production value, but it's not BAD.

    Besides, except for Dark Souls 2, what other Action RPG/ Dungeon Crawler can youn play right now, until Witcher and Dragon Age 3 come out?    … Expand
  15. OutWithTheOld
    Jun 30, 2017
    7
    It's obviously not a high budget masterpiece, but i enjoyed it a lot.
    -Graphics are fine, apart from the speech animations, which seem to throw me back to ps2 era.
    -Story is decent. The whole demon possession is a great concept. The execution is a little lacking however. Some of the voice acting is a little stiff and the humor is hit or miss. -Combat really saves the game, but its not    It's obviously not a high budget masterpiece, but i enjoyed it a lot.
    -Graphics are fine, apart from the speech animations, which seem to throw me back to ps2 era.
    -Story is decent. The whole demon possession is a great concept. The execution is a little lacking however. Some of the voice acting is a little stiff and the humor is hit or miss.
    -Combat really saves the game, but its not for people who want to bull rush through. You're going to get your ass kicked, especially if you're impatient.

    All in all I'd say it's flawed, but enjoyable. Get it in a sale.    … Expand
  16. natural_45
    Jan 7, 2016
    9
    I'm having a blast playing this game! The combat system on this game is awesome! To me, the combat system reminds me a little of Soul Calibur, which is an awesome thing. I gave it a 9 only because the graphics aren't PS4 quality, but that doesn't bother me. I have a bunch of RPG games that are new and I play this game way more than them. If you have a good sense of humor, you'll laugh yourI'm having a blast playing this game! The combat system on this game is awesome! To me, the combat system reminds me a little of Soul Calibur, which is an awesome thing. I gave it a 9 only because the graphics aren't PS4 quality, but that doesn't bother me. I have a bunch of RPG games that are new and I play this game way more than them. If you have a good sense of humor, you'll laugh your a$$ off at the dialouge and voice acting. Some of the stuff they say are funny. I highly recommend this game as long as you're not expecting the game to be like the bigger bugget companies. If Bound by Flame 2 ever comes out, I'll be the first in line to buy it. Great game.… Expand
  17. AbeMC
    Jul 10, 2017
    5
    Bound By Flame is a checklist attempt by a small studio at a BioWare-style RPG. High level of polish, decent story, and some interesting characters, but claustrophobic level design, low-res textures, unexciting voice acting, and a nonsensical final boss make this a “meh” recommendation.
    Total size on my hard drive: 4.7 GB
    - - I’m putting a negative at the top because it needs to be    Bound By Flame is a checklist attempt by a small studio at a BioWare-style RPG. High level of polish, decent story, and some interesting characters, but claustrophobic level design, low-res textures, unexciting voice acting, and a nonsensical final boss make this a “meh” recommendation.
    Total size on my hard drive: 4.7 GB

    - - I’m putting a negative at the top because it needs to be seen, even if you don’t bother with the rest of the review. The final boss is insanely hard, even on easy mode. Search the forums, you’ll find pages of threads asking for help. It is possible to play the entire game a certain way, and be completely unprepared for the final boss. Craft tons of traps and crossbow bolts, they will help. But be prepared for at least a dozen attempts. Given how easy the rest of combat is in the game, the final boss is nonsensical ****

    + The choice and consequence is real. Several choices are mutually exclusive, and actions taken throughout the game can affect certain story aspects prior to the ending fight. Depending on your actions taken in the game, all ending choices may not be available to you.
    + Incredibly high level of polish. The game may have been made by a relatively unknown developer with small resources, but everything from the menus to the sound effects to opening doors all has a high-quality look and feel. Never had a single crash, either.
    + Clean and clear in-game user interface.
    + The story seems fairly standard at first, but once you delve deeper into who or what is “bound by flame,” the narrative drives itself forward at a good pace.
    + While not deep, there is a nice crafting system for customizing weapons and armors.
    + Outside of combat and cut-scenes, manually save or quick-save anywhere, any time. Also has a good checkpoint system.

    +/- Voice acting is hit-or-miss, sometimes within a single role. The protagonist might have a boring delivery of some lines, then be spot on with the next line (for male or female). Most of the supporting voice-acting is well done.
    +/- The graphics have some excellent god-rays. Otherwise, they’re serviceable but nothing outstanding. They look more like 2010 than 2014 (which is when Bound By Flame released). Not saying that’s a bad thing – some games from 2010 have fantastic graphics – but they definitely don’t look like more recent releases.
    +/- Combat is timing-based. If you try to bull through every situation, you might survive, but you’ll go through consumables fast (and you WON’T survive the final boss, no matter how hard you try). Timing block or dodge correctly allows the use of ripostes / counters.
    +/- Characters are generally well-drawn, even if they fit into adventure story cliches. Attempts at humor mostly fall flat.
    +/- Decent soundtrack by Olivier Deriviere, but the looping ambient tracks are either not long enough (they loop too quickly) or there aren’t enough of them.

    - Short, about 8-10 hours. I have so many hours in the game at the time of writing (47) because I rage-quit and completely started over several times before I figured out the "correct" way to play. (The rage-quits were inspired by the final boss.)
    - Some choices have real consequences, several do not. Temper your expectations.
    - Inconsistent language. “Yeah, whaddaya think?” can be heard seconds after a common soldier says, “By your leave, my lord / lady.” Also plenty of f-bombs thrown around to demonstrate that Bound By Flame is a “serious” game.
    - Enemies are endlessly re-used.
    - Warrior can’t tank damage that well, making Ranger the only viable class.
    - The characters might have potential, but there is never enough time to know them. While the curious will click through the dialogue, there’s little reason to do so.
    - Close, claustrophobic levels. Most of the levels are a series of corridors. Sometimes this works in the game’s favor – one of the them feels like a maze – but that close, confined feeling persists throughout.
    - No facial animations. The mouths move correctly when a character is speaking, but it looks wooden and awkward.
    - The romances are short and add very little to the game. Almost as though somebody was following a checklist of things in a BioWare game. “Dragon Age has romance-able characters? Then we need some, too!”

    And, as previously mentioned, that final boss. That final boss and ending is narratively the best part of the game. Resolve things, make an important choice while some fantastic music plays – but the frustration of dying over and over still lingered and completely ruined any chance the ending had to leave a good final impression. When combined with the numerous game design elements that are close to the mark but fail to hit, Bound By Flame can never reach the height of its aspirations.    … Expand
  18. chaosm4rin3
    May 9, 2014
    8
    This game is better than the reviews it gets. I play on PC, the graphics seem fine, not the greatest, but theres certainly nothing that would hinder me. Its true, that the game isnt easy, but it has a unique combat style, you have to plan the attacks, not just run into them (the AI of the companions is a bit strange I agree with that). It also has a nice crafting system with variety,This game is better than the reviews it gets. I play on PC, the graphics seem fine, not the greatest, but theres certainly nothing that would hinder me. Its true, that the game isnt easy, but it has a unique combat style, you have to plan the attacks, not just run into them (the AI of the companions is a bit strange I agree with that). It also has a nice crafting system with variety, skills enough to make experiments and maybe multiple playthroughs for those who wish it(decisions also affect the game, that could make it interesting too).

    Negatives are the chaos how side missions are handled (very little instructions on how to do them), and the map is also hard to figure out sometimes. Characters (at least the protagonist) sometimes wants to be too lazy. I also missed in deep character customization, as I think its vital for a good RPG, to feel the char. as my own.

    All in all, I think its worth a shot, and if its too hard, just drop the difficulty or try to refine your combat mechanics and strategies.    … Expand
  19. op8
    May 9, 2014
    10
    I felt I had to write a user review to shed some truth about this game. (FYI, I've played for 13 hours, not finished yet tho).

    With influences from The Witcher (but with better combat and the ability to walk through doorways without any issues) and with a third of the budget, it manages to string together a very enjoyable dark fantasy. The combat is fast and tactical, not at all like    I felt I had to write a user review to shed some truth about this game. (FYI, I've played for 13 hours, not finished yet tho).

    With influences from The Witcher (but with better combat and the ability to walk through doorways without any issues) and with a third of the budget, it manages to string together a very enjoyable dark fantasy. The combat is fast and tactical, not at all like the Souls games but can be quite punishing on the hardest difficulty.
    The skills and leveling up gives you the satisfying feeling you are getting stronger and more powerful. The crafting (upgrading) and loot is decent and suits the game. It has a good musical score and the voice acting is actually pretty damn good, apart from a couple of unimportant characters (tho the script is a bit dodgy sometimes).
    The only thing that doesnt work well is the lip syncing, but I don't care too much about that. You could say the art style is similar to Dark Souls, and the graphics are fine and exactly what you'd expect from a mid budget game.

    Honestly, its an above average ARPG, and if you luv this type of game you should enjoy this.

    The ultra low scores given by some of the gaming press, are shameful and disgusting considering the stupidly high scores they give out to shoddy AAA games all the frigging time.

    *solid* 7/10 (taken budget into consideration)    … Expand
  20. Stevensan
    May 11, 2014
    9
    I am not a paid journalist, or a member of the programmers, but i can tell you, this is an awesome game.
    We have a very inspired and engaging storyline, and on the top of that, this is the first game after the Mass Effect trilogy, where you starting to care about your teammates. The game is quite challanging even on normal difficulty, so you need to fight with cool head, or you will die    I am not a paid journalist, or a member of the programmers, but i can tell you, this is an awesome game.
    We have a very inspired and engaging storyline, and on the top of that, this is the first game after the Mass Effect trilogy, where you starting to care about your teammates. The game is quite challanging even on normal difficulty, so you need to fight with cool head, or you will die within seconds. I am satisfied with the enemy variations, you need different tactics to win against each type. Sometimes you meet some really evil combinations of them, and... you will die. And die again...

    But i think, it is worth it. I like the graphics style, it is exacting, we have a good look overall, however you can see some glitches sometimes. I am very very impressed with the sound design. The voice acting is great. All of the sounds are good, and the game itself sounds very good. But the Music. Okay, it is very subjective, but we have some really great score here. Absolute professional, and very good, in my opinion. This music has so much tension within, and works very well in all combat, exploring, and cutscenes.

    So i am very impressed with this game. The fights are quite challanging, the story is interesting, and the companions are a real individuals with great personalities, imo. The game has a great "feeling".

    It has its fails compared to an AAA product, but hey, it is a 40 USD game, and it is worth it in every aspect. Its defenitley not for the boring COD fans. I like RPG's i played all the BG,IWD,NWN and DA games, and have to say it is a good and interesting RPG for the price, with nice replayability. It is at least one instant replay after you finished.    … Expand
  21. CasualPCGamer
    May 12, 2014
    7
    In Bound by Flame you play as Vulcan, a Mercenary of the Freeborn Blades possessed by a 'Flame' Demon.

    The story is quite well thought out and was compelling enough to keep me playing till the end, now on my second play-through. With a few large-impact decisions to make, the game adds a quite a little replay value to it. There are also a horde of optional side-quests for you to    In Bound by Flame you play as Vulcan, a Mercenary of the Freeborn Blades possessed by a 'Flame' Demon.

    The story is quite well thought out and was compelling enough to keep me playing till the end, now on my second play-through. With a few large-impact decisions to make, the game adds a quite a little replay value to it. There are also a horde of optional side-quests for you to complete; which I completed all that I could find, i probably clocked around 17-18 hours of gameplay. I will not elaborate on this any further for risk of spoilers, but it does keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what's going to happen next.

    The graphics is beyond a doubt, quite beautiful, despite minor glitches, such as NPCs (Non-Playing Characters) disappearing prematurely or even whilst talking to them, but we have to keep in mind their limited budget for this game and it isn't exactly game-breaking. The layout of the map isn't always convenient or elegant, but it's not too linear or dull either. My only complaint is on Act III, when you find yourself in a labyrinth of corridors and continuously running up and down to reach your destination, having no town portals or anything related to quick-travel. Having to constantly check your map to navigate to certain areas can give you a small headache. Luckily, Act III appears to be the shortest.

    With a compelling and engaging storyline and decent graphics, comes the game's downfall: Gameplay and Combat. Despite the default and standard UI (User-interface) which is pretty easy to understand, the combat and camera can be just dreadful at times. With a lock-on system that annoyingly seem to miss some targets after one is killed, having to keep locking on can be tedious. Among that keeping an eye on targets can be difficult with the way the camera controls. It can take some getting used to, especially for those without patience; but after about 2 hours you'll be dodging and parrying like a pro; which can be repetitive at times but still; the addition of slow-motion effects for critical hits makes up a little. The Warrior Stance seems to be completely useless as it feels so slow and out of place I immediately switched to Ranger. Annoyingly, dodging is also limited to the Ranger's class, which makes the Warrior Stance an even more bad choice. In my experience, the Crossbow is also irrelevant as later on it does very little damage, even after upgrading it. The game also suffers from some imbalances, as just after the Prologue I was shooting fireballs like there was no tomorrow, one hitting all enemies from close range through Act I and even most of Act 2. I was able to get most of the Pyromancer spec just by playing the Prologue. Despite these quirks and issues, once you get the hang of the Combat it can become mildly addictive and fun.

    The game has quite an elegant crafting system, in which you can use ingredients looted from enemies and chests to craft exploding traps (which i rarely used), bolts for your crossbow, and health and mana potions. You can also combine certain ingredients which can then be used to upgrade every piece of equipment you own, except your helmet afaik. Gear can also be dismantled for certain ingredients, which I personally felt was more fruitful than selling them. Upgrades on gear are also seen visually on your character. All in all a nice addition to the game.

    NPC's are a huge part of the game, as it should be in an RPG. Hundreds (if not thousands) of voice-recorded dialogues are available should you care to listen to them. I, of course with my OCD, exhausted nearly every option there is. Companion NPC's don't exactly have the highest DPS, but they serve as a decent distraction which can sometimes allow you to get in that killing blow from behind. They have their own spells which they cast autonomously, some heal and some damage. You have the ability to configure their behaviors somewhat, but I found that it doesn't really matter all that much.

    The soundtrack, if I'm not mistaken, changes between Acts, although if you listen to every dialogue like me, listening to the same ambient sound can drive you mad. So a little repetitive, it still captures the environment to a point of satisfaction.

    I would have hoped for a longer and more concise ending cinematic, but considering all the other cinematics throughout the game I can't complain too much. The animations in the cinematics are really good, seeing Vulcan busting out some Bruce Lee moves is really entertaining to watch. The speech animation is awful, however. I find that every time someone speaks I'm yelling "Enunciate!!". Still the rest of the animations are pretty decent.

    So despite some quirks and problems with the Combat system, Bound By Flame throws you into an entertaining and beautiful world with a decent plot and quite memorable characters. If you are an RPG fanatic like me, and still waiting for Dragon Age: Inquisition, I would definitely recommend Bound By Flame.    … Expand
  22. mberserk
    May 12, 2014
    10
    Bound of Flame is a mix of The Witcher, Dragon Age, Kingdom of Amalur.
    These low scores do not match Bound By Flame.
    The only problem with this game is coming at the wrong time. To go up against Dark Souls II is difficult. The graphics are very good as well as sound and music (dubbing a bit weak). The gameplay stands out for crafting system. The fights are cool too. We can not take    Bound of Flame is a mix of The Witcher, Dragon Age, Kingdom of Amalur.
    These low scores do not match Bound By Flame.
    The only problem with this game is coming at the wrong time. To go up against Dark Souls II is difficult.
    The graphics are very good as well as sound and music (dubbing a bit weak).
    The gameplay stands out for crafting system.
    The fights are cool too. We can not take the merits of the game by making comparison to the Kingdom of Amalur combat system, since the proposal of the game is much higher than that of Amalur.    … Expand
  23. Jason999
    May 12, 2014
    8
    Pros:

    Combat - whether it's with your 2-hd. weapon, or daggers, it's a riot to parry/riposte, or block your enemies. Crossbows, traps add some variety to the melee and of course the Pyromancy skills are good fun to use. Dialogue - love it, there's a lot of humour in this game and the voice acting is actually well done. Music/ambience - love it, sets the mood nicely. Thankfully    Pros:

    Combat - whether it's with your 2-hd. weapon, or daggers, it's a riot to parry/riposte, or block your enemies. Crossbows, traps add some variety to the melee and of course the Pyromancy skills are good fun to use.

    Dialogue - love it, there's a lot of humour in this game and the voice acting is actually well done.

    Music/ambience - love it, sets the mood nicely. Thankfully there's no rock/roll or hard metal crap, to get in the way of a good game.

    Cons:
    Camera - at times, the targeting and/or camera can be a little wonky, however it's brief and you'll manage and worth with it. I'm sure patching could help here. Minor actually.

    Maps - Ok, could use some more variety here just to change things up. Although pretty in areas, at the same time, it can be bland.

    Graphics - this game has it's own art style and while the aliasing could be better, you'll have so much fun with the combat you won't really notice. The character modelling is pretty good. Yet the rocks/ground etc. could be touched up.

    -Keep in mind, I got a decent sale on this game, to bring the price down a good notch and considering I've spent over 30 hrs. thus far, I also expect to do another play-through using a different fighting style.

    -Give it a try, I'm sure you can find a discount somewhere. Like I said the combat and dialogue,ambience is really good.

    Ignore those who score the game incredibly low, they're either just trolls, or they live and breathe every video game ever created, and hold this game accountable for every minor flaw. And believe me - the flaws are minor.
    I hope they make DLC or another Bound by Flame sequel, I enjoy it that much.    … Expand
  24. L00nie
    May 15, 2014
    8
    I hoped that this game was going to be good, but didn't dare... I was positively surprised by Spider this time. The game is not a AAA game, so if you were expecting that you need to look elsewhere. If you are a person that can look past a few tech faults like lip-sync then this is the game for you.

    The characters are fun, the voice acting is moderate but good for a game of this    I hoped that this game was going to be good, but didn't dare... I was positively surprised by Spider this time. The game is not a AAA game, so if you were expecting that you need to look elsewhere. If you are a person that can look past a few tech faults like lip-sync then this is the game for you.

    The characters are fun, the voice acting is moderate but good for a game of this caliber. The story is interesting, the impact of having a Demon inside you and how much of your humanity you want to sacrifice for power is well done, and you will die a lot more that you first thought you would. It's not evil to its players like Dark Souls, but it doesn't make it easy for you, tactical combat becomes important.

    I like RPG games and this has annoyed me in later years since there are som many being pumped into the marked and most of them are mediocre to appalling. This is NOT one of those games.
    I had great fun playing it and i think most of you will enjoy playing Bound by Flame.    … Expand
  25. hazzzen
    May 10, 2014
    9
    First off I'd like to say that the critics seem to be viewing this game all wrong. It's not meant to be a triple A title. It's made and sold by a studio that isn't a huge power house developer. Mars War logs got bad reviews, but was unwarranted also it was very good for what it was.

    Now BBF is made very well game. I would describe the game to be a low-budget Witcher 2. I'm not the    First off I'd like to say that the critics seem to be viewing this game all wrong. It's not meant to be a triple A title. It's made and sold by a studio that isn't a huge power house developer. Mars War logs got bad reviews, but was unwarranted also it was very good for what it was.

    Now BBF is made very well game. I would describe the game to be a low-budget Witcher 2. I'm not the first to make this comparison, so you can imagine it's relatively accurate. I'm playing on the PS4. While it does have some issues with its graphical fidelity; it still stands out as being a very beautiful and detailed game. The fighting system could have been better if a combat roll had been introduced, but even without that the game still excelled at what it is.

    If I had to put a numerical evaluation of the game I would say 7.5 - 8. I say that, qualifying it first by giving my score of the Witcher 2 as a basis. (8.5 - 9) so take that for what it's worth.

    Before you pass judgment for the game, go out and try it for yourself...    … Expand
  26. Anionix
    May 10, 2014
    10
    These so called professionals are starting to become a bad influence and are ruining the gaming industry with their dismissive and arrogant analysis. A lot of good small developers are getting hurt by these reviews, as you can see by the user score 7.1 is a good score, and to the critics who give it a 4 out of a ten really are a joke and haven't got a clue obviously what a fun game is andThese so called professionals are starting to become a bad influence and are ruining the gaming industry with their dismissive and arrogant analysis. A lot of good small developers are getting hurt by these reviews, as you can see by the user score 7.1 is a good score, and to the critics who give it a 4 out of a ten really are a joke and haven't got a clue obviously what a fun game is and always looking to try and be clever and balanced, but instead come across extremely pretentious and fussy, ridiculing something if it's not up to their so called expert standard.

    I wish people wouldn't trust their opinion so much, as like with this game, people are missing out on a lot of fun. That is why we play games is to have fun right? Trust me this game has its flaws, but it's also has a lot of good in it. We're not reviewing a new strategy to successful language learning or finding ways to combat road congestion. we're talking about a game, which you play in your spare time. Don't let these reviewers ruin your fun people, check out some YouTube videos and speak to people and judge for yourself because these gaming critics can no longer be trusted to do something so easy as writing a game review.    … Expand
  27. cizzlebot
    May 9, 2014
    7
    It's disappointing to see so many negative reviews, which clearly stem from a lack of patience and unrealistic comparisons to other, higher budget games. Bound By Flame is it's own game, with plenty of fun and charm. When you go in with an open mind and enjoy the game for what it is, you'll be happy you did.

    The story is interesting and not entirely unoriginal, like many would have you    It's disappointing to see so many negative reviews, which clearly stem from a lack of patience and unrealistic comparisons to other, higher budget games. Bound By Flame is it's own game, with plenty of fun and charm. When you go in with an open mind and enjoy the game for what it is, you'll be happy you did.

    The story is interesting and not entirely unoriginal, like many would have you believe. There is nothing dull or stale about it. You feel like you want to stop the bad guys, because it's important. What's even more interesting is HOW you stop them, based on decisions that will impact your character, and the story itself.

    The variety of NPCs and companions is also really nice. There's a huge range of personalities and the unfiltered conversations/banter is refreshing. Some of the voice acting leaves something to be desired, but overall it's done well enough, and seems more realistic in it's raw, unrefined state. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments, which I highly appreciate in these types of games. A little humor goes a long way.

    The combat is fluid and feels "right" when you get the hang of the controls. Don't expect to blindly button mash your way through the game -- you'll die, a lot. The three skill trees are all useful, but definitely consider going heavier in one over the others for your main play style and damage output. The more you play and develop your skills, the more you'll feel like you're actually getting stronger.

    The music in this game is actually one of my favorite things about it. It's absolutely beautiful, and gives the game a very good vibe.

    The graphics are good. They're nothing crazy or jaw dropping that will push your PC over the edge, but it would be somewhat trivial to ask for anything better. There is plenty of variety in environments, characters, equipment, and weapons -- plenty to look at and enjoy.

    Overall, I simply do not understand how anyone can think this is even remotely a bad game. If they gave it a real chance and took their time playing, I believe they'd have a very different opinion after a few hours. Anyway, if you're still on the fence and ABSOLUTELY need some kind of comparison, I'd say it's like a mix of Risen, The Witcher, and Dragon Age 2. Although seriously.. It really is it's own game, and it's a lot of fun! Don't let the bad reviews scare you away. I truly think it's worth the purchase, especially if you can get it at a discount, which we all know there are plenty of these days. :)    … Expand
  28. trollkiller
    May 9, 2014
    8
    Game is fun for RPG fans. Music is amazing....still, the game has a lot of faults--perhaps the most bewildering is Spiders decision to have major characters talk like drunkn frat boys with bewildering frequency. Combat is hard, but not in a good dark Souls way. Just poorly designed. And yet...its clear Spider loves the spirit of RPGs and really tried to infuse this game with as much RPGGame is fun for RPG fans. Music is amazing....still, the game has a lot of faults--perhaps the most bewildering is Spiders decision to have major characters talk like drunkn frat boys with bewildering frequency. Combat is hard, but not in a good dark Souls way. Just poorly designed. And yet...its clear Spider loves the spirit of RPGs and really tried to infuse this game with as much RPG love as they could. Personally, I'm enjoying it.… Expand
  29. lowlife
    May 10, 2014
    10
    I guess new trend is giving low scores to non AAA games. Yes, it's not a great game, there are some problems but NO WAY it deserves a score like 40-50. Graphics, musics, dialogs are fine, not great but fine. Characters and story are not bad too. Ofcourse after playing Dark Souls 2 you don't like combat system but how many games features a combat system like Dark Souls? None, Dark SoulsI guess new trend is giving low scores to non AAA games. Yes, it's not a great game, there are some problems but NO WAY it deserves a score like 40-50. Graphics, musics, dialogs are fine, not great but fine. Characters and story are not bad too. Ofcourse after playing Dark Souls 2 you don't like combat system but how many games features a combat system like Dark Souls? None, Dark Souls have the best combat system and most of the RPG games including games like Witcher and Skyrim is bad at combat too. I mean Skyrim, it sucks at combat, Bound by Flame's combat system is much better than Skyrim's and no one talks about Skyrim's combat. Don't get me wrong, Skyrim and Witcher are great games, GREAT GAMES but they have their flaws too.

    Usually i really care about reviews but this time i ignored those and bought this game and i'm glad i did. Don't worry about reviews, if you like RPG games, buy it. Ofcouse it would be better if you wait a little after playing Dark Souls.    … Expand
  30. PEnchan707
    Mar 23, 2020
    6
    I've mostly enjoyed my time with this game. Though it's ambitious, overstretches its reach in places and also rough around the edges, it's still one of the better rpgs out there.

    The graphics are decent enough to provide a good atmosphere, with a more adult, gritty feel than say, Kingdoms of Amalur. Animations are good as well as the combat effects, magic etc. The voice acting is    I've mostly enjoyed my time with this game. Though it's ambitious, overstretches its reach in places and also rough around the edges, it's still one of the better rpgs out there.

    The graphics are decent enough to provide a good atmosphere, with a more adult, gritty feel than say, Kingdoms of Amalur. Animations are good as well as the combat effects, magic etc.

    The voice acting is inconsistent with a handful of decent ones and the rest ranging from bad to mediocre. The script itself is also of varying quality, but is good enough to be genuinely funny at times and also of a decent enough level of quality to keep yo engaged when it matters most. The style is more Game of Thrones than Lord of the Rings though, so be aware there's bad language to be heard everywhere.

    The soundtrack is, overall, very good, with some atmospheric ambiance tunes as well as some decent pieces of more dramatic music.

    The combat system itself is above average, with two main fighting styles supplemented with traps and magic (again, somewhat like The Witcher) and requires you to switch between them based on the type of enemy you are facing and their numbers. You'll probably need to play a higher difficulty setting to enjoy this facet fully though since an easier setting will allow you to simply click your way through. As with the rest of the game though, it can be rough around the edges.

    There's an upgrading system for weapons and armour which is nice and adds some customisation both in effects and visualisation but it's not particularly deep. Still, it adds rather than takes away from the game so it's definitely good to have.

    The U.I and menu's are straightforward and easy to use.

    The story is a blatant melange of a currently popular fantasy tv show and other recent movies but is delivered sincerely enough, with enough heart and backstory to hold your interest, even if it doesn't last long in the mind. The choices you make also feel as though they matter, even if the actual impact within the game world isn't particularly strong.

    The more I write, the more I realise how much it reminds me of the original Witcher in terms of game mechanics, style and ambition. It's a game which is very good despite needing a bit of forgiveness for some of the design elements and uneven quality, though it must be said I still enjoyed the original Witcher substantially more.

    Surprised at some of the really low, 4/10 or worse, reviews out there. I'll be cheeky and make an assumption and say that if it was a game from a big publisher you could add 2-3 points to those low scores.

    As for myself, I couldn't find a way to do decimals and 7 seems just a bit too low. A 7.5 rounded up then :)    … Expand
  31. Death0fLove
    May 10, 2014
    9
    In an industry that is anything but shy a few fantasy adventure/rpg games, its nice to see a developer still willing to do something different. While Bound by Flame is not anywhere near perfect, its a nice refreshing game offering new elements while still feeling like something familiar.
  32. ParasiticYoshi
    May 10, 2014
    7
    I'll admit I had some high expectations for this game to be honest. It didn't deliver to them at all
    Pros!: Funny dialog, I had some funny moments in this game, some moments your siting there and just laughing so hard at the stupidity of it you just cant help. (I played this with 4-5 other people at the same time.)
    Demonic morality mechanics: This is where it had the most fun with my    I'll admit I had some high expectations for this game to be honest. It didn't deliver to them at all
    Pros!: Funny dialog, I had some funny moments in this game, some moments your siting there and just laughing so hard at the stupidity of it you just cant help. (I played this with 4-5 other people at the same time.)
    Demonic morality mechanics: This is where it had the most fun with my friends, we would vote for every choice to make, and some funny things happened some no so... and the whole turning into the demon if your evil enough is quite fun.
    Now the cons:
    Romance: it would have been better to just not include it. for me it was kinda random, one moment I'm looking that this relic of power talking with my companion and the next thing i know I getting a make out scene and then a fade to black. I didn't even think i was romancing my companion!
    Combat: For the love of god this has to be the biggest killer for the game in my opinion, The warrior stance tree is useless, You have no back step or anything similar, Ranger stance tree is nothing but just mashing back-step and tapping right click for uncharged heavy attacks. Pyromancy tree its only useful with the Ranger stance, Your fire skills aside from flaming weapons and the fire armor skill are useless for the most part.
    Graphics: They look pretty good. I'd compare them to Mass Effect 2 as far as quality goes. Though there's a big problem with the quality of the maps structure, mapping and attention to detail, The first 2-3 areas are wonderful looking. (The mountain side, Swamp, and parts of the frozen city.) Then there are other places that are just copy and pasting of props and such.(Blackfost Domain)

    But in light of all of its short comings If you can get your hands on it for 20-30 bucks its worth checking out, Its a type of dragon's age/kingdoms of Amalur cross over with some demon morality mechanics.
    It;s a good game to play in your off time with a bunch of friends to play around with, Don't take the game seriously or you'll be let down.    … Expand
  33. ukrScorpion
    May 9, 2014
    9
    Игра не шедевр, но очень хороша.
    Из плюсов
    + Не плохой сюжет и диалоги + Просто отличный саундтрек и музыкальное сопровождение. + Хорошая графика и оптимизация. Из минусов - Управление, мягко скажем так себе - Интеллект напарников, несмотря на широкий спектр возможностей по управлению напарником, их AI оставляет желать лучшего и требует доработки. - AI врагов далек от идеала. В    Игра не шедевр, но очень хороша.
    Из плюсов
    + Не плохой сюжет и диалоги
    + Просто отличный саундтрек и музыкальное сопровождение.
    + Хорошая графика и оптимизация.
    Из минусов
    - Управление, мягко скажем так себе
    - Интеллект напарников, несмотря на широкий спектр возможностей по управлению напарником, их AI оставляет желать лучшего и требует доработки.
    - AI врагов далек от идеала.
    В общем всем любителям Ведьмака, DA и Fable рекомендую, игра определенно стоит вашего внимания, но особых чудес от нее ждать не стоит.    … Expand
  34. Langor
    May 9, 2014
    8
    Story: If you are into lore and a good story with twists in the plot this game is for you. I would say the story is on par with Dragon Age 1/Witcher 2. You will not be able to see any of these twists or make choices that effect your world until chapter 2 of the game. With that said, it takes a bit to really start the story. The characters scripts are adult themed with cursing. TheStory: If you are into lore and a good story with twists in the plot this game is for you. I would say the story is on par with Dragon Age 1/Witcher 2. You will not be able to see any of these twists or make choices that effect your world until chapter 2 of the game. With that said, it takes a bit to really start the story. The characters scripts are adult themed with cursing. The interactions between hirelings interrupt and talk to your character occasionally during dialog moments with NPC's. Choices you make effect your hirelings and can also change the story. 9/10 for the lore junkies.

    Hack and slash: Well, if your main focus is a Diablo like game you wont like it. There are plenty of monsters to fight but it is story driven. The monsters do respawn over time in zones and reset when you zone. But it will get very repetitive if you are a person who skips the dialogue and just want to run through quests and kill monsters. 3/10 I just want to kill ♥♥♥♥.

    Strategist: If you like playing the game on the hardest difficulty this game is for you. It is very bland if you play on normal or below. When you up the difficulty when you get hit, you get hit hard. Soon you will have to learn how to counter each attack and have to learn what each monsters attacks are. The bosses are unique and have unique attacks also and will take a few retries to figure out how to kill them. If you are a person who spam attacks you wont make it in this difficulty. How you spend your skill points will matter here. 8/10 I will analyze your every attack and figure out how to counter you or your group.

    Combat: There are plenty of attacks and class swaps to keep you busy on the hardest difficulty. But if you play on easy none of this is needed. The controls feel very fluent and smooth. Most of it makes sense. You can lock view on targets but it is not required to hit them in melee. Animations are decent and feels polished but nothing ground breaking. 7/10

    Explorer: The game is extremely linear at the first chapter minorly opening up in chapter two. You are following a story line. In chapter two starts to be many side quests which lets you go back into zones to finish them following the main story lines quest. In chapter two I think its about 3 or 4 zones big. If you want to explore far off distances and run around in an open world this is not for you. 2/10 for my explorer's.

    Character: There is only one of me is not the case in this game. Character creation is very vague and doesn't give you many options. But you can be a male or female. Along the tree line there is only three skill trees with not soo many skills inside them. Most of the points you get will be you upgrading these skills instead of unlocking them. It only really matters what you do towards the beginning of your journey. After that, it is more forgiving to putting points into something you are not specialized in. 6/10 I want to be a unique play style ranger or warrior.

    Loot ♥♥♥♥♥: If your main focus is running around and finding new armor sets and weapons you will find your self getting bored quickly. There are a variety of items but you come by them slow. Most of these are from merchants, quests and crate finds. The uniqueness of these items come from how you imbue them, which they call crafting. Most of the loot you find off mobs are ingredients to imbue your items to make them more powerful. These imbues are not unique like Elder Scrolls, they have preset stats and names for each imbue type. But each piece you imbue does in fact give the item a new unique appearance on that spot of the item. 5/10 for items.

    Crafting: Crafting is very linear. Every mob you kill has a chance to drop components. These components you use to make imbues for your items. You will have to combine these components to make different components for your imbues. If you do not have the components you can automatically buy the base ones from your inventory with gold. It is much easier and cheaper finding them. You can not craft weapons or armor, you can only imbue them to change there stats. You can also craft things like bolts for your crossbows or traps you may lay out and have your enemies run over. Or you can buy them from a merchant, along with potions you can craft. The only real unique thing about the crafting is that each piece you imbue on an item changes its looks. You will not be able to create a unique imbue. Each item as a preset of imbues you can choose from. You only need to find the ingredients or buy them from your inventory and make them for the imbue. If your looking for something like elder scrolls crafting system look away. 3/10 I just upgrade my items when I need to whether it be instantly purchasing the ingredients or finding them.

    Graphics: I will say this is not ground breaking. It is much better than Dragon Age 2 but quite a bit less than Witcher 2 (for pc). It doesn't feel like you are playing an old game but it definitely is not going to awe inspire you. 8/10    … Expand
  35. Thadmedved
    May 12, 2014
    10
    Как жаль ,что такой отличной задумке и потенциалу игры не хватило денег. Обладая бы "Spiders" большим бюджетом BBF смогла бы переплюнуть и Witcher 2.Темная фэнтези с гнетущей атмосферой и потрясающей музыкой.В некоторых местах сложнее чем DS.Всем любителям RPG обязательно к ознакомлению.Самое главное начать и дальше игра вас не отпустит.
    Большое спасибо Spiders!
    10/10.    Как жаль ,что такой отличной задумке и потенциалу игры не хватило денег. Обладая бы "Spiders" большим бюджетом BBF смогла бы переплюнуть и Witcher 2.Темная фэнтези с гнетущей атмосферой и потрясающей музыкой.В некоторых местах сложнее чем DS.Всем любителям RPG обязательно к ознакомлению.Самое главное начать и дальше игра вас не отпустит.
    Большое спасибо Spiders!
    10/10.
  36. Travie
    May 11, 2014
    8
    I read these reviews (the professional ones) friday but decided to get the game anyway. I'm SO glad I did. Most of these professional reviews do not even relate to the game I just played, to an embarrassing level.

    After playing I'm forced to conclude that the reviewers gave most of the game a token glance while staying on the rails of the main quest, or copied off each other, that is    I read these reviews (the professional ones) friday but decided to get the game anyway. I'm SO glad I did. Most of these professional reviews do not even relate to the game I just played, to an embarrassing level.

    After playing I'm forced to conclude that the reviewers gave most of the game a token glance while staying on the rails of the main quest, or copied off each other, that is the only explanation as to how he could get such a false impression. Everything from the crafting system to the combat to the story and dialogue is engaging and fun. Heck, I started friday and I hardly put it down since. It's one of those games that will keep you up till 2 am and you'll think it's still 10 o'clock. Honestly, if I hadn't set an alarm I probably would have missed picking up my mom on mother's day.

    At high difficulty levels the combat is challenging and rewarding. Whenever I died or had to load it felt like it was my fault, not bad game design, but at the same time getting through especially tough fights felt like an accomplishment. Exactly what a good RPG should do. Learning how to parry and riposte properly is the difference between success and frustration.

    The thing they got right on their negative reviews (and I mean the ONLY thing) is that this game didn't have a AAA budget and it shows. Dialogue that sometimes doesn't add up due to not having the budget to re-record, areas that are a bit too small, and all the other little things that come with not having a 20 person QA department. What these guys did with a small budget is extremely impressive. It's a solid 7/10 game, but I'm giving it 8/10 for doing so much with so little money. I'm going to go dive back in for another playthrough.    … Expand
  37. aidan0
    May 18, 2014
    8
    Once you get used to the combat system, this game is a solid 7, an 8 if you get into it. I would recommend to start out at the least difficult setting to get into it, because combat can be very frustrating if you don't know what you are doing. Last boss is a troll boss, be prepared to do a 180 in how you have handled fights up till then.

    - Gender choice, big thumbs up. - This games is    Once you get used to the combat system, this game is a solid 7, an 8 if you get into it. I would recommend to start out at the least difficult setting to get into it, because combat can be very frustrating if you don't know what you are doing. Last boss is a troll boss, be prepared to do a 180 in how you have handled fights up till then.

    - Gender choice, big thumbs up.
    - This games is not a very long game I did 2 full runs (good/evil) and I'm at 27 hours (short), I did find it very fun though. Second time I just blasted passed enemies.
    - Voice acting is on par with other games (not that great), but I didn't mind it much.
    - Crafting is as it should be, it's solid.
    - The companions aren't useless, they are your tanks and healers. They make those 4 against 1 fights manageable.
    - This could have easily been a very larger and longer game, but it was worth the $40,- At least for me. Nice game, good rpg's are few and far between these days and this is one of them. I'm thinking of doing a third run. Mostly for story reasons.    … Expand
  38. ududy
    Jun 4, 2014
    8
    A very decent CRPG. Writing and voice acting vary wildly in quality, but the main conceit with the hero's inner demon is quite well done, if not original, and combat and crafting are satisfying. Exploration could be better developed with more complex maps and movement abilities.
  39. Matseb2611
    Mar 23, 2015
    8
    This is the 3rd game I've played by Spiders Studios. Just as the other two, I greatly enjoyed this one. It might've only lasted for about 13 hours, and there were a few issues and grievances along the way, but all in all this was great fun.

    The story is nothing too original. It's your typical dark fantasy setting with humans facing off the armies of undead, but I was quite impressed    This is the 3rd game I've played by Spiders Studios. Just as the other two, I greatly enjoyed this one. It might've only lasted for about 13 hours, and there were a few issues and grievances along the way, but all in all this was great fun.

    The story is nothing too original. It's your typical dark fantasy setting with humans facing off the armies of undead, but I was quite impressed with the overall presentation and delivery of it. Most of the companions were quite interesting, though some of them could've been developed a bit better, and the main character and the demon inside of him were very solid in the lead.

    The combat aspect is a bit of a mixed bag. It was incredibly fun in some ways. The moves and abilities made each battle feel epic, especially with the use of superhuman dodge skill, which created some 'wow' moments as you see your character narrowly avoid an enemy swing. However, despite finding it fun, I have to agree with many of the criticisms by other players. The lack of roll command was something I could not understand at all. And the whole interruption mechanic was extremely annoying, because it was easy for enemies to interrupt you mid-swing, not to mention knocking you down on the floor and getting some cheap free hits whilst you're waiting for your character to get back up.

    The difficulty in general was way too high, even for the Easy difficulty setting. For a game that has such a strong focus on story, the Easy mode shouldn't have been this hard. This was made worse by some parts of the game having unpleasant difficulty spikes. In general I thought chapters 1 and 2 were brilliantly done and the flow was perfect. There were many sidequests, and the action bits were balanced out with storytelling.

    And then chapter 3 came along, and the game was ruined by constant non-stop battles with identical enemies and some horrible level design that forces you to walk through monotonous twisting corridors and too much backtracking. And the final boss was way way way too hard compared to the rest of the game. To make it worse, if you wish to go back and buy more stuff and grind, you can no longer do it, so you have to load an earlier bit of the game. I ended up doing that so that I could buy 40 health potions (and no, that isn't too much).

    Combat frustrations aside, the game was still fun and worth playing. The crafting system was done well, and the levelling of skills was reasonably good too. There are 3 mastery trees in total: Warrior, Ranger, and Pyromancer. You can mix and match and invest in any of those as much as you wish. I personally went heavy on the warrior tree. Too bad in the second half of the game I realised that going Ranger stance with daggers was proving to be much better (and seems many other players agree), making Warrior tree quite underpowered compared to the Ranger tree. As for Pyromancy, I found most fire abilities useless, aside from weapon enchantment with fire, which was a single most useful skill in the game.

    I'd definitely recommend this game, though BE WARNED that it is HARD and unfair, and you will be getting killed a lot even on Easy mode. If that's something you do not mind, then most likely you'll enjoy the game.    … Expand
  40. MadclownJack
    Jun 15, 2014
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Oh man...It's them again...I mean, what's there left to be said? Should i talk about the squandered possibility for a good game, hell, a coherent plot to emerge from all of this? Maybe about the lackluster graphics, the weird, rigid battle system and confusing menus? Same as "Of Orcs and Men" and "Mars War Logs", the story gets lost in stupid, STUPID dialogue. The characters are boring and possibly bipolar, their voices void of any semblance of emotion, but somehow chock full of unnecessary curse words and something that can only be described as unwarranted "gritty epicness". They constantly spew exposition and make you feel like you're on the outside of a really fun, engaging inside joke. There's a really ridiculous moment, when your character is possessed by an unknown force and manages to beat a huge boss, after which they go from deathly frightened and confused to cocky in two lines of text. Spiders should seriously try and get better voice actors. I don't believe preschoolers read this badly. The plot is basically every fantasy RPG you've ever played. There's some GoT elements here and there, a little Dragon Age, Witcher, in short, it's appears to be a love letter to current popular trends with the purpose of reaching a wider audience and confusing all of them. You should play this game as just for the sake of experiencing it. It's like a B movie that you can play.… Expand
  41. poexania
    Jun 7, 2014
    10
    Very enjoyable game with nice graphics, a must see for rpg fans. To bad that the professional reviewers rate it so low, that may stop some people from even trying it. We need to support such rare rough diamonds or else we are doomed to play more and more simplified versions of the rpg genre.

    Pros: Nice graphics Very smart and interesting dialogues Well worked and deep    Very enjoyable game with nice graphics, a must see for rpg fans. To bad that the professional reviewers rate it so low, that may stop some people from even trying it. We need to support such rare rough diamonds or else we are doomed to play more and more simplified versions of the rpg genre.

    Pros:

    Nice graphics
    Very smart and interesting dialogues
    Well worked and deep characters(including your companions)
    Decent leveling system
    Good crafting system
    Fast, and at the same time deep and complex battle system that its not all about mashing keys
    A great variety of weapons armor etc
    Interesting quests that bounds well with the time and place of each area and with the main scenario
    Your char has to do with a number of moral decisions throwout the game
    Big booty ****

    Cons:

    Small variety of enemies
    Small variety of different environments
    Not possible to customize the gear of your companions
    The maps are a bit simple( and strictly quest oriented so the game looks a bit too linear some times(more or less like witcher 2 but better than dragon age 2).

    Influenced by:

    Witcher 2
    Mars war logs

    End of line: Give it a change    … Expand
  42. SilverStone
    Jun 25, 2014
    6
    Deleted it after I finished it. It's an OK game which gets even interesting at a certain point. It feels like they've done the beginning, the middle (loved it, but only the gameplay not the story) and the ending is....well. I didn't feel that it was the ending.. felt like something is gonna happen after. However the closure is there and it is acceptable. You know there are games whichDeleted it after I finished it. It's an OK game which gets even interesting at a certain point. It feels like they've done the beginning, the middle (loved it, but only the gameplay not the story) and the ending is....well. I didn't feel that it was the ending.. felt like something is gonna happen after. However the closure is there and it is acceptable. You know there are games which you beat and leave on your PC just because.. this I deleted instantly. One time game. Said for an RPG.… Expand
  43. Namor1111
    Jul 12, 2014
    10
    I really don't understand people who rate this game under 5, it's a solid 8 for me.
    I'm having more fun than I thought I would.
    The highlights being the dynamic combat feel and atmospheric music.
    Well done Spiders for a solid effort with a small development team.
    I look forward to bigger and better games to come.
  44. R6ex
    May 11, 2014
    7
    Oh, I was so hungry for a decent RPG game ... and the sudden appearance of Bound By Flame was a pleasant surprise! I'm in the midst of my 2nd playthrough, and having the kind of fun not too dis-similar to my past new-game-plus for Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. Sure, this is an Indie title, nowhere near as polished as the aforementioned AAA titles, but I'm enjoyed the story and amOh, I was so hungry for a decent RPG game ... and the sudden appearance of Bound By Flame was a pleasant surprise! I'm in the midst of my 2nd playthrough, and having the kind of fun not too dis-similar to my past new-game-plus for Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. Sure, this is an Indie title, nowhere near as polished as the aforementioned AAA titles, but I'm enjoyed the story and am still having fun building my character to both have romance and conquer the world! :) For $33, I learnt to ignore the poor facial character animation and focus on what positives it had offered - absorbing soundtrack, a decent story that catches my attention, sweet NPC options I can romance, pretty nice graphics at 1080p60fps on my PC and engaging tactical battles. Its nice to have this title to tide me over till DA:I hits in October, but for others who're less keen on RPGs, this title may be worth only $20 to you. For me, it was $$$ well-spent as it gave me a good time when I needed it. While this title is probably a 6.5/10 in reality, I think the effort and timing of the release of this kind of title deserves more support.… Expand
  45. player321321312
    May 11, 2014
    8
    I buy Dark Souls 2 and hate that **** game on many ways. Really bad sound effetcs etc... I buy this and get over 20 hour gameplay now when im on act 3.

    For me this game is good! The story is interesting even for me some dont care so much about story in games.
  46. janki
    May 12, 2014
    7
    The game has a lot of potential bud sadly a lot has been rushed. Biggest issues include, bugs, under developed npc companions, clunky combat at times. The story is decent and could be developed into something better. ACT I is really good but the game just goes downhill from there.

    I feel the game is decent. SPIDERS is a small studio so I wasn't expecting a game like the Witcher or    The game has a lot of potential bud sadly a lot has been rushed. Biggest issues include, bugs, under developed npc companions, clunky combat at times. The story is decent and could be developed into something better. ACT I is really good but the game just goes downhill from there.

    I feel the game is decent. SPIDERS is a small studio so I wasn't expecting a game like the Witcher or Dragon Age. It's enjoyable. Only that.    … Expand
  47. breathfan
    May 13, 2014
    10
    This game just works for me. I really like it. The good things are much much much more, than the bad things. I think 8 is a fair valuation for this game.
  48. elManicho
    May 10, 2014
    5
    The goods: + awesome crafting system, equipment can be upgraded on the fly and change visually with every upgrade. + nice music + good UI + bugs are few and non game breaking, nothing that can't be easily squished with a patch or 2 + 3 skill trees, mix and match for some customization.
    The bads:
    - Generic story, predictable and unoriginal. Lore and motivations of different factions are    The goods: + awesome crafting system, equipment can be upgraded on the fly and change visually with every upgrade. + nice music + good UI + bugs are few and non game breaking, nothing that can't be easily squished with a patch or 2 + 3 skill trees, mix and match for some customization.
    The bads:
    - Generic story, predictable and unoriginal. Lore and motivations of different factions are not developed. Nothing to write home about.
    - poor dialog and voice acting
    - average gameplay, clunky combat consisting of mashing 2 buttons from start to finish with the occasional flame spell and trap thrown in, lack of tactics as all encounters plays the same.
    - bland "hero", one liners that felt forced and lack of charisma made me indifferent about the protagonist
    - companions are useless in combat, forgettable, and have no depth and characterization. You can solo the game and not miss anything of note.
    - lack of a credible antagonist, just witless undead, no Irenicus or Saren here, move along.
    - unpolished, stiff animations, but can't ask more from a relatively small studio.
    - plastic graphics that breaks what little immersion I tried to have. again Bound By Budget.
    - Ending is rushed and quite frankly as insignificant as the rest of the game.
    - short campaign with no replay value (13 hours on highest difficulty, with all side quests done, most are fetch quests)
    Overall not impressed. Can hold some interest if lower your expectations, you don't mind spending $40 on an average game and have nothing else to play.    … Expand
  49. RedDestiny
    May 10, 2014
    6
    Overall (6/10): Combat starts off challenging, then certain upgraded traits make them a cakewalk. Enemies only increase in HP, not in tactics or difficulty. Crafting is upgrades-only, no actual equipment is made, but only found. Story is straight-forward, but unfortunately with no surprises. Most characters aren't well-developed, with some bad-voice acting making it worse. Wait for theOverall (6/10): Combat starts off challenging, then certain upgraded traits make them a cakewalk. Enemies only increase in HP, not in tactics or difficulty. Crafting is upgrades-only, no actual equipment is made, but only found. Story is straight-forward, but unfortunately with no surprises. Most characters aren't well-developed, with some bad-voice acting making it worse. Wait for the price to go down, or for the next RPG to come out. Bound by Flames is a decent RPG experience, somewhere about 30-40 hours to complete.

    Story (6/10): We don't get closure on all characters, a certain sorceress is notably missing in the epilogue, and some members of your initial mercenary group are unaccounted for. There are WILD leaps in logic during some story segments, most notably the one by your Captain near the end of the 2nd act (the Elven City), and character development is spotty with most of the characters, with the Knight (Randval) being the worst. The ending is, sadly, disappointing.

    Gameplay (7/10): The beginning is harder than the end, where it boils down to attack-attack-dodge-attack. Once certain traits are upgraded, you can follow that pattern ad nauseum. Enemies don't change tactics when you increase the difficulty, nor do they have much variety. In the end it's a matter of wearing down their HP bars (and those bars get HUGE in the last act). The crafting system is quite simplistic, with upgrades to equipment allowed, but crafting actual gear is not. Instead, gear is found and can then be upgraded.

    Visuals/Audio (7/10): Music fits the atmosphere, but is generic, and forgettable. Visuals remind me of a cross between Dragon Age Origins/2. Hilarious glitches where a character constantly/suddenly changes between standing/sitting, and having companions stand idle in the background while you fight a boss, are quite entertaining, but immersion-breaking. The voice-acting is serviceable in most of the game, but with some hilariously-bad exceptions.    … Expand
  50. avil172
    May 9, 2014
    10
    this game is awesome...and i really dont care about what gamespot,ign ...etc have to say about this game..all i know is they dont know to write reviews because they give dark souls 2 10/10 and skyrim 10/10....with those crappy combat and no cinematic but when it comes to bound by flame which is better than those two in all aspects they give it so poor score....
    if you are a dragon    this game is awesome...and i really dont care about what gamespot,ign ...etc have to say about this game..all i know is they dont know to write reviews because they give dark souls 2 10/10 and skyrim 10/10....with those crappy combat and no cinematic but when it comes to bound by flame which is better than those two in all aspects they give it so poor score....
    if you are a dragon age/witcher game fan then you will surely love this game...i bought this game and i can say it was worth it    … Expand
  51. AthanasiosT
    May 31, 2014
    8
    I enjoyed playing this very much. Nice ethical choices that lead to different game twists. Graphics and gameplay are more than decent and character evolution and abilities are very satisfying. All in all a very good fantasy action RPG.
  52. expellite
    May 12, 2014
    7
    This is not a 10/10 game, undoubtedly and I just want to help the game but be sure that it's more than a 7/10 game. This time I agree with Gameinformer which gave it 8 out of 10. I just installed the game and played it for a few minutes and guess what! I loved the atmosphere of Vertiel. I like everything except voice acting which can be neglected for a low budget game.
  53. ninokonan
    May 15, 2014
    10
    It is not like the professional reviews are telling! Don't trust them!
    This game has a enormous potential, it's like a jewel in these days of poor games that show us only graphics and CG.
    Well... This game doesn't have a perfect graphic, but is good enough. It's light and works very smoothly on a simple GTX 660 Ti in the ultra settings with 45~60 FPS. I have a SLI GTX 670, but i've    It is not like the professional reviews are telling! Don't trust them!
    This game has a enormous potential, it's like a jewel in these days of poor games that show us only graphics and CG.

    Well... This game doesn't have a perfect graphic, but is good enough. It's light and works very smoothly on a simple GTX 660 Ti in the ultra settings with 45~60 FPS. I have a SLI GTX 670, but i've tried to run it with only one GTX 670 and works really well on ultra settings: 50~60 FPS.

    The combat is better than The Witcher 2 and is very fun. You will never be tired of slashing your enemies.

    The storyline is what really make this game awesome, thanks to dialogues options that has an impact in the relationship with your followers and your Captain, and, of course, the Demon inside you!

    I think it's worthy for RPG lovers. This game is a great jewel and surprise me very much!    … Expand
  54. kahow1107
    Jun 27, 2014
    8
    This game is actually pretty good. It's like a mix of Mass Effect and Skyrim but you can tell the devs are an indie group.
    The dialogue is a little awkward, the voice acting could have been done better, the customization is not very impressive. That's all the negatives.
    The game is a solid 14-20 hours of an interesting story and a fun combat system (seriously, very different combat    This game is actually pretty good. It's like a mix of Mass Effect and Skyrim but you can tell the devs are an indie group.
    The dialogue is a little awkward, the voice acting could have been done better, the customization is not very impressive. That's all the negatives.
    The game is a solid 14-20 hours of an interesting story and a fun combat system (seriously, very different combat system). The graphics aren't bad, not that anyone really plays a game solely for graphics.    … Expand
  55. LD9000
    May 10, 2014
    9
    Awesome for an action RPG. Typically I dislike the genre, because most games are too light on the RPG side. Here I found a quite in-depth RPG system, augmented by crafting. There are 3 paths available: warrior, rogue and mage. A combination of these is needed to fight through most encounters. Equipment can be upgraded, there are plenty of skills and traps to deal with enemies.

    Enemies    Awesome for an action RPG. Typically I dislike the genre, because most games are too light on the RPG side. Here I found a quite in-depth RPG system, augmented by crafting. There are 3 paths available: warrior, rogue and mage. A combination of these is needed to fight through most encounters. Equipment can be upgraded, there are plenty of skills and traps to deal with enemies.

    Enemies are tough, so mastering the combat system results in satisfying fights

    While the game does not have an open world, and the levels feel like console, I found that enemies and battles are pretty fun.    … Expand
  56. ElricWolfhart
    May 13, 2014
    10
    Another user here that created an account just to counter the blasphemy "professional" reviewers are spewing on about this game. It may not be the biggest hit this year (and we all know their budget wasn´t that big either), but it certainly is a very good game that at times borders on brilliance.

    First and foremost, the combat! It is my favorite combat system in the past few years,    Another user here that created an account just to counter the blasphemy "professional" reviewers are spewing on about this game. It may not be the biggest hit this year (and we all know their budget wasn´t that big either), but it certainly is a very good game that at times borders on brilliance.

    First and foremost, the combat! It is my favorite combat system in the past few years, within the ARPG genre mind you (Im a 36 year old gamer, and have been since the Atari days. RPG´s are my thing).

    Just like in the Souls series, what I find fascinating about the fighting is that it drives the gamer to adopt a truly balanced approach to each encounter, but in a very organic manner. It doesn´t feel like there´s an omniscient game developer forcing you into this playing way though; the balance is achieved from having to put equal effort into attacking as well as defending.

    Motion captured (what seems like...) animations add to the system as they carry the flow of combat almost into choreographed territory. Counter parries, flurries, stabs and slashes, they all look realistic by human ability standards, which is also something I like a lot, even in a fantastical setting.

    The story is typical fare in terms of fantasy. Yet that is exactly why I like it. No need to reinvent the wheel, just make it spin well. Honestly can´t see it being any worse than Skyrim´s or Dragon´s Dogma´s, and I´ll even go as far as saying that the story in Bound by Flame is by far more ambitious than what you´ll find in the aforementioned.

    Just like I felt when playing the Witcher 2, I would love for the world to be a bit more open, if only for the sake of exploration, which is where I feel the game is lacking since you really cant do much of it. I´ll admit that after 10 hours I haven´t advanced into the second half of the game yet, but from what I can gather so far, levels have a clear linearity to them in a very fable-like way, offering very little in the way of alternate paths or secret areas.

    Ive read elsewhere that later on the game opens up a bit more. We´ll have to wait (hope) and see.

    Moving on to more of the typical stuff these reviews have to touch upon, the soundtrack is very good too. It is evident the music was meticulously written with each specific area of the game well understood, and it makes the gaming experience feel cohesive in ways only the Divinities and Gothics (all of them made by small european developers) of old managed to achieve... in my opinion at least. With this i am not suggesting these are the most significant soundtracks in the genre, but they were very good and had similar budgets behind them (in context of course).

    Keeping up with the trend, I´ll say the graphics (at full detail) are also quite good. The art style is dark and gritty, and even when the subject matter it deals with could be deemed as generic, it manages to bring enough personality to stand on its own. Hate the cover though.

    I play on a powerful gaming PC, so honestly the experience has been very trouble-free from a technical perspective. No bugs so far; something which many so called "triple A" developers can´t say about their products at launch, yet many manage to scratch a 9 or an 8.5 out of the top leading gaming sites on the net.

    As a gamer, I am repulsed by the unfair bashing Bound by Flame is receiving. It is truly a very good game, and one that I am sure will build up a loyal, if not perhaps cult-like fan base (myself included) that will support this effort and defend it passionately....and I truly understand why; it has a charm that´s missing from many if not most of the games it competes with. A charm that can´t be produced by million dollar investments....an artists charm.

    If you consider yourself a gamer who amidst the horde of review sites on the net, still has the ability to form his own opinion, then by all means do yourself a favor and check this game out. You might just find something that surprises and eventually stays with you even after the controller is put down. I give it an 8.5.    … Expand
  57. JC_Denton86
    May 20, 2014
    10
    It's actually a very good game. Resources and gold isn't abundant so it requires some sensible management. Side quests are the most fun I have seen in an RPG. They are not boring or tedious. The combat system is probably the strongest selling point and the crafting is done quite well. Haven't finished playing yet but I can't seem to stop. And that's from someone who has been gaming forIt's actually a very good game. Resources and gold isn't abundant so it requires some sensible management. Side quests are the most fun I have seen in an RPG. They are not boring or tedious. The combat system is probably the strongest selling point and the crafting is done quite well. Haven't finished playing yet but I can't seem to stop. And that's from someone who has been gaming for years and easily gets bored by even so called triple A games. Don't know why it's got many negative reviews on other sites. I highly recommend. I created an account on metacritic just to let you guys know it's actually a very good game. Try it for yourself.… Expand
  58. scoobers
    May 9, 2014
    10
    I feel many of the reviewers didn't even want to give it a chance or just flail around wondering why things feel clunky. When you are doing things right everything feels very nice so much so I would say that I feel like I am playing another game than the one they did.
    People need to stop mashing buttons and click as animations are ending for a nice barrage of attacks and time dodge/parry    I feel many of the reviewers didn't even want to give it a chance or just flail around wondering why things feel clunky. When you are doing things right everything feels very nice so much so I would say that I feel like I am playing another game than the one they did.
    People need to stop mashing buttons and click as animations are ending for a nice barrage of attacks and time dodge/parry not just hold it or mash. Timing it gives counterattacks.
    So far the game has been a blast. Combat is very fluid and animations are really nice if you slow down and don't spam. This game asks you to really use all your tricks to stay alive. You need to make the weak companions attack from a distance, go defensive and heal.
    -The graphics are great and too many people are spoiled. This indie studio pulled off some pretty nice work.
    -Voice acting was really good but indeed awkward in many spots.
    -The sound track is very nice and really set the mood for the game.
    -Character customization is fairly limited but you do get different looking armor and you may begin to look more demonic depending on what you did.
    -It also has a nice tutorial as you go that you can disable if you like and you can hide the mini map from the ui too.

    Impressed from the leap they mad in game play since previous titles. A great rpg to have in my collection and for the 19 dollars on gmg I am more than happy. Even then for 33-39 dollars I would have been happy still.    … Expand
  59. partyintheback
    May 9, 2014
    10
    Bound by Flame is a nice and challenging RPG. Detailed graphics in 1080p, fun and strategic combat, and a good amount of loot and exploration to be had.
  60. Dancuka
    May 10, 2014
    8
    Man I dont get why ppl are so keen on hating this. Professional reviews are just crap in most sites these days anyway so I suggest everyone to theyr own research and try games out them self to get the real taste. This game us not a masterpiece or anything, but its solid. The combat is ok and similar to Witcher. Story is ok too and the graphics are way above average. Yea the dialog is kindaMan I dont get why ppl are so keen on hating this. Professional reviews are just crap in most sites these days anyway so I suggest everyone to theyr own research and try games out them self to get the real taste. This game us not a masterpiece or anything, but its solid. The combat is ok and similar to Witcher. Story is ok too and the graphics are way above average. Yea the dialog is kinda cheesy and weak from time to time but hey this is not a full price game anyway. This game does not deserve scores under 5 in my opinion at all. I played this for 6h now and Im gonna play more for sure.… Expand
  61. SanctumRevel
    May 10, 2014
    8
    Well for a action rpg it s not bad it s more like kingdoms of amalur mixed with the witcher graphics normal as well as expected combat is well made once you get the hang of it music is average throught the story it has it s flaws but it manages to leave a spark
  62. Razor66
    May 18, 2014
    10
    Is it really difficult to enter the twisted mind of professional reviewer. This time I really can't understand why they felt the need to bash such a nice and entertaining game. Bound by Flame is a nice, very nice action RPG that everyone should try.
  63. Nataraja
    May 11, 2014
    5
    General Impression: Bound by flame is a decent skill based action RPG. It won't set the world on fire (no pun intended) but it is still a decent game that is mostly hindered by its rush to market and limited funding. It is very underdeveloped but is most interesting for its entry as a new IP (great atmosphere), combat mechanics, difficult but not unfair rule set (yes, you will die AGeneral Impression: Bound by flame is a decent skill based action RPG. It won't set the world on fire (no pun intended) but it is still a decent game that is mostly hindered by its rush to market and limited funding. It is very underdeveloped but is most interesting for its entry as a new IP (great atmosphere), combat mechanics, difficult but not unfair rule set (yes, you will die A LOT), and decent but not incredible graphics rendered by the proprietary Silk engine. I should also mention that if you played Mars War Logs and either liked or hated that game, your reactions to this game are bound to be identical as they are VERY similar.

    Character Development: 1 - One of my biggest issues with the game is that Vulcan (they always refer to him as Vulcan, just like Commander Sheppard is always Sheppard) is NOT a likable character no matter what you do. He is, frankly, a complete **** no matter what. I suppose that is a design choice but a very poor design choice in my mind, as when I act as a hero my actions need to reflect that role. In Bound by Flame that is not possible. That may be due to the demon that is your new room mate, but if I am struggling to keep my humanity it needs to be worth my time to do so and that means being a person that I can like - a decent human being. Otherwise I may as well just be demon and let it take over and blame being a complete **** on my new found soul possession. This is where Spiders really missed the boat.

    Story: 4 - This is where I care the most and unfortunately I found that I didn't care about the story because I hated my character. The story is full of cliche but has moments of originality. The conversation trees are occasionally interesting and the lore is pretty expansive. Vulcan was such an over the top **** that I just wanted him to shut up and stop with awkward and painful dialog. Overall the story is okay and not earth shattering by any means and suffers from inconsistent writing and dialog.

    Voice Acting: 5 - The voice acting is extremely variable - ranging from cringe worthy to above average even within a single actor's performance. The Captain is the best of the voices followed by Randval but the rest of the cast is uneven at best. For example Vulcan, the main character, is at times spot on but when the dialogue is awkward, which is more often the case than not, his (I played the male version) voice acting makes it even more awkward with a tone of "you really want me saying this?" under the poorly written and painfully delivered lines. Sybil is the WORST voice with a slight Valley Girl inflection and is so amateurish that I found it painful to complete dialog with the character.

    Combat: 7 - The combat system is interesting in its reliance on the three varieties of skills and you MUST become proficient, at a minimum, with 2 handed weapons dual wielding. The game is NOT forgiving for button mashing in a Diablo-esque manner and requires timing like Ryse or in some sense Dark Soul 1 & 2. Patience is REQUIRED. You cannot button mash through encounters, particularly boss fights. If you do you WILL DIE, repeatedly until you change your tactics. In that sense it is very much like Dark Souls and you are left with knowing that it is not the game that unfairly killed you but your own mistakes that killed you.

    Game play systems: 7- The lock on targeting is awkward and at times will drop off completely for no reason or will switch to an off screen enemy making it frustrating to work with. Companion NPCs are varied in their usefulness but are clearly meant to complement your main playing style. Traps are useful and add a great strategic twist to the game when dealing with groups of enemies. Conversation trees are a nice touch though not well developed.

    Crafting: 7 - Crafting matters and plays a role in the game as it is the edge that you will need to overcome certain encounters. The crafting system is well done but the resource access errs on the side of being too scarce.

    Customization: 5 - Very limited character creation but crafting provides a decent level of customization.

    Sound: 7 - Decently developed sound but not incredible.

    Soundtrack: 9 - The best part of this game is its soundtrack (with the exception of the intro score that I did not care for) is excellent and the best part of the game.

    Overall score: 5. If Spiders had more resources and spent more time in development - particularly writing and voice acting - this game could have easily hit good instead of passable and been in the range of an 8. I do think that Spiders has tremendous potential as a company and with better access to capital and other resources could become a strong indie developer.    … Expand
  64. daskind
    Sep 12, 2014
    10
    i´ll give this a 10 because of all the strange votings around here - somehow you have to keep the score balanced ..

    however, i like this game. i even like it a lot. no - it is no AAA title. but the story is a lot better than most of the critics say. the gameplay is not polished, but hard and fun. frustrating sometimes, but always rewarding, when you finally master a difficult scene ..    i´ll give this a 10 because of all the strange votings around here - somehow you have to keep the score balanced ..

    however, i like this game. i even like it a lot. no - it is no AAA title. but the story is a lot better than most of the critics say. the gameplay is not polished, but hard and fun. frustrating sometimes, but always rewarding, when you finally master a difficult scene .. voice acting is ok - at least in english - the german one is horrible. however, i truly recommend this game. as i said - i give it a 10 to raise the score. in my opinion it is a clear 8/10    … Expand
  65. NaMJaG
    Sep 9, 2014
    10
    I really don't understand why so many people didn't enjoy there play, because this game has everything a good game has to have. Maybe it is short, but for me as a hard core gamer it was a lot of fun to play this game. In my opinion it is good that not every game is like a AAA title or in this case like Skyrim, It would be boring if all games would be the same.
    In short this game is worth    I really don't understand why so many people didn't enjoy there play, because this game has everything a good game has to have. Maybe it is short, but for me as a hard core gamer it was a lot of fun to play this game. In my opinion it is good that not every game is like a AAA title or in this case like Skyrim, It would be boring if all games would be the same.
    In short this game is worth the money and worth the time!    … Expand
  66. Wivvix
    Jun 29, 2014
    4
    I persevered with this game a lot longer than I thought I would, and a lot longer than I SHOULD have.
    I reached level 25 and now I've pretty much given up on this game, because what little it has going for it, is just overwhelmingly drowned out by the disastrous combat mechanics.
    The combat is terrible, slow, clunky and imprecise. The AI is utterly dreadful. Your companions are    I persevered with this game a lot longer than I thought I would, and a lot longer than I SHOULD have.
    I reached level 25 and now I've pretty much given up on this game, because what little it has going for it, is just overwhelmingly drowned out by the disastrous combat mechanics.

    The combat is terrible, slow, clunky and imprecise. The AI is utterly dreadful. Your companions are virtually useless in combat and you have remarkably little control over them, also probably because the AI is just terrible.

    The graphics are dated. The voice acting is mediocre. The RPG elements are superficial at best, and the 'choices' presented to the player largely don't have any agency whatsoever on the progression of the story.

    Probably the biggest let-down is the story. It's basically all filler. Complete and utter guff.
    The amount of coherent lore in this game could be squeezed, succinctly, onto one sheet of A4 paper.

    At times this game reminded me of Dragon Age 2, but in retrospect that's really unfair on Dragon Age 2. This game is so much worse, I personally wouldn't pay $5 for it, having played it.
    It's possibly the worst RPG I've had the misfortune of paying good money for.

    My advice is to save your money and play Skyrim or Witcher 2 again. You won't find anything good here.    … Expand
  67. WillG027
    Nov 14, 2015
    8
    I like what 'Spiders' bring to the RPG genre, and they seem to be building upon what was successful in past games.
    Like most of their other titles, the dialogue writing is horrendous, and the voice acting could be better, but it has solid graphics (good atmosphere), and a solid RPG system. Story is OK.
    Giving it an eight.
  68. Stalker2033
    May 16, 2014
    9
    the game is overall is good and enjoyable but it always have annoying feeling that it could have been better . i hope they patch it soon to improve the AI or companion interaction .other than that the game is fun to play .the grapchic are very good really the game play is decent .overall its very fun game to play . its will be hard for her to be goty.. but agin who care .don't takethe game is overall is good and enjoyable but it always have annoying feeling that it could have been better . i hope they patch it soon to improve the AI or companion interaction .other than that the game is fun to play .the grapchic are very good really the game play is decent .overall its very fun game to play . its will be hard for her to be goty.. but agin who care .don't take reviewers seriously at all specially those who are from IGN. they would a recycled game like cod 9 or 10 ....but they gave games like bound by flame or outlast wistleblower dlc low score for being "repetitive" ..i guess they didnt get paid enough ...if u liked games like the witcher you will diffidently like this one… Expand
  69. Ingrod
    May 18, 2014
    5
    I played through all the game and definitely this is a not buy.
    The combat can be fun but at times it will get frustrating, some of the hitboxes or FX of some of the spells of they enemies are horribly displayed, archers can and will fire when you are right behind them facing away from you which I found stupid.
    Lip sync was horrible, in the end I would just read the subtitles rather than    I played through all the game and definitely this is a not buy.
    The combat can be fun but at times it will get frustrating, some of the hitboxes or FX of some of the spells of they enemies are horribly displayed, archers can and will fire when you are right behind them facing away from you which I found stupid.
    Lip sync was horrible, in the end I would just read the subtitles rather than look at the character models wiggling their mouths in weird ways.
    Huge amount of backtracking from one quest to another without the world being open or adding a decent amount of optional quests to make up for it.
    Graphics were enjoyable, lightning was good, I really enjoyed the music but I must say the changes from tracks at the final area with the final boss were really bad and confusing.    … Expand
  70. cyprian
    May 21, 2014
    8
    Good game , bad rap... definitely a well used format no argument there, but I liked it.
    It ain't no Skyrim or Witcher but should be given honest due....One of my favorite movie reviewers gave The Big Lebowski ( one of my all time favorite movies) a thumbs down when it first came out and since then I've givin' up on taking reviewers opinions as the final word don't be a sheep try    Good game , bad rap... definitely a well used format no argument there, but I liked it.
    It ain't no Skyrim or Witcher but should be given honest due....One of my favorite movie reviewers gave The Big Lebowski ( one of my all time favorite movies) a thumbs down when it first came out and since then I've givin' up on taking reviewers opinions as the final word don't be a sheep try it out for yourself.    … Expand
  71. DarknessDragon
    May 23, 2014
    8
    Everything says that this game is a piece of crap, but i played it and i liked. It isn't the most original game of the market, but it has a lot of things that i liked. I really enjoyed it and i liked the abilities, and the personality of Vulcan. I prefer other games, but this game surprised me a lot, and i encourage other users to play it.
  72. Joshdad
    Jun 18, 2014
    8
    I fail to understand why the official critics are bashing this game. It offers solid fun gameplay - somewhat reminiscent to Dark Souls series in that button mashing gets you killed fast and strategic approach reaps wonderful rewards. I am not saying this game is on par with Dark Souls (no fantasy game ever is, period!), just that it offers solid hours of fun challenge and even more funI fail to understand why the official critics are bashing this game. It offers solid fun gameplay - somewhat reminiscent to Dark Souls series in that button mashing gets you killed fast and strategic approach reaps wonderful rewards. I am not saying this game is on par with Dark Souls (no fantasy game ever is, period!), just that it offers solid hours of fun challenge and even more fun exploration with multiple hidden routes. Turn off the map to elevate the sense of adventure and excitement of the unknown, and invest some time talking to various NPCs which often lead to hilarious conversation. Oh! did I mention fun trap setting to blowing the oblivious enemies? A delightful surprise game of the year!… Expand
  73. kospan
    Dec 30, 2014
    8
    Very good combat system. An interesting protagonist with double dealer personality. The interaction between the soldier and the demon is a prototype idea for RPG game.Other NPC do their job in the story giving quests and helping protagonist in combat. A good story not something of high quality.Graphics are great.
    Very good music and also very atmospheric environments and monsters.It is a    Very good combat system. An interesting protagonist with double dealer personality. The interaction between the soldier and the demon is a prototype idea for RPG game.Other NPC do their job in the story giving quests and helping protagonist in combat. A good story not something of high quality.Graphics are great.
    Very good music and also very atmospheric environments and monsters.It is a game with difficult boss
    battles sometimes.If you don't give up easily then you are defeated repeatedly early in the game then you
    will enjoy this game in later levels.A good and not boring game.    … Expand
  74. GennadyS
    Dec 12, 2015
    10
    This is the case when negative evaluations caused by a lack of budget. The game is wonderful in everything, and flaws SHOULD be forgiven. On the background of standard stamps many another RPG-games.
  75. Archulysses
    Dec 12, 2016
    4
    Story - The general synopsis of the game was interesting at first but such execution of the story was bad, rushed and became ridiculous at times. The summary of the story follows: The event starts during the time the land of Vertiel is in war against a number of immortal necromancers known as the Ice lords. The protagonist (nicknamed as Vulcan) is a bomb specialist working for a knownStory - The general synopsis of the game was interesting at first but such execution of the story was bad, rushed and became ridiculous at times. The summary of the story follows: The event starts during the time the land of Vertiel is in war against a number of immortal necromancers known as the Ice lords. The protagonist (nicknamed as Vulcan) is a bomb specialist working for a known mercenary group named Freeborn Blades. The Freeborn Blades mission is to protect the Red Scribes in their ritual to what could be their only hope to fight and defeat the Ice lords. Upon the occurrence of unforeseen events and accidents, Vulcan was possessed by a demon and together they should work to defeat the powerful enemies of the game. The question now is how, should you use your own power and reject the demons temptations or use the power of fire to obliterate your foes. Really, the story is good at first set up, but fails to perform well since first, the dialogue's are bad and overuse of swearing and profanity ingame. Next the characters are all uninteresting and looks like bad carbon copies of notable Bioware or CD Projekt Red characters and the storyline is bad overall cause its short and the decisions you make even in sidequests doesnt even affect that much in the ending or in the game. Therefore, a poor score of 4/10 deserves this bad performance.

    Gameplay - The Gameplay likewise has its ton of problems. If you will describe it...it is like a poor result of the mixture of arkham's freeflow system and witcher's fighting mechanics. The cons are many: first, the enemy difficulty are unbalanced in that regard that they can easily kill you in one or three hits even on the lower difficulties. The controls are slow to react. The stances of the dagger and sword are unbalanced in that the dagger is obviously the superior ones and the fact that your enemies heal in full health if they go out of their aggro zone...even if you intended it or just an accident. due to this factors this game gives you uneccesary difficulty not in the dark soul kind of way but due to the bad gameplay mechanic itself.However not all is bad like the crafting being simple and easy to do and the system where you can upgrade and personally craft your armors and weapons parts to make them look good aesthetically and better. Considering all those factors, this part deserves a score of 3/10 again.

    Graphics - considering that this game also has a platform in the last gen consoles. I should expect that bigger improvements could be seen in the current gen consoles but alas, it is not so. The environments are all small and the graphics despite being good if you consider the style they use to be comical but regardless as an overall, it is still poor if not below average. The character design and movement are likewise bad and the stages are all short, narrow that exploration is not really a significant part of the game. Overall, a score of 3/10 will do.

    Music and sound - Ill give a good news and bad news on this part. first is the bad news, voice acting and the sound overall is bad but i can see some effort in this regard. for the good news however (Which is the only silver lining of the game) is the music, its soundtrack is amazing and pretty to listen too, however ingame it is dissapointing though to only hear like 2 or 3 music used despite its quality being good. A fair score of 6/10 i will give.

    Overall average = 4.00

    Budget game or no this kinds of game shouldn't even be released in full price. I can see the effort the developers did in making this game and imo i think they have somewhat creative minds in making good story and settings, however maybe due to some other factors like money, time and number of people working are also in place in making the game that it results in poor execution. Regardless, as a gamer, i have right to criticize their bad performance. I hope Spiders can learn from these and do better in their next work. Thanks.    … Expand
  76. Katlos
    May 10, 2014
    8
    good.
    A nice and fun game.
    strategic combat
    lore and a good adult story...

    bad
    Visually it is awful
    worst dubbing the dialogues
    no open world........
  77. Dunge
    May 17, 2014
    9
    Just like other games by Spiders, if you can get past the chunkiness of the character movements you'll find a very detailed world and that give hours of nice entertainment. Gameplay is good and and story is very complex and interesting.
  78. Faust-RSI
    May 12, 2014
    10
    Before I begin I must say the critics score for this game is just ridiculous. 50 or even 20?! Really?! It's just sad, not that I ever trusted them much, but from now on I just don't care and will strongly recommend everyone to stop even reading ones like VideoGamer (and Hardcore Gamer Magazine gives it 40, when it gave 90 to DS 2 crappy PC version?!).
    First, let's look at the technical    Before I begin I must say the critics score for this game is just ridiculous. 50 or even 20?! Really?! It's just sad, not that I ever trusted them much, but from now on I just don't care and will strongly recommend everyone to stop even reading ones like VideoGamer (and Hardcore Gamer Magazine gives it 40, when it gave 90 to DS 2 crappy PC version?!).
    First, let's look at the technical side. What can I say - it's near perfect. The game runs very smoothly, no bugs, no fps drops, no nothing. And it looks gorgeous. Maybe not on Witcher 2 level, but come on, my PC couldn't handle Witcher 2 maximum graphics, yet it handles maximum of Bound by Flame with ease, so guess which looks better for me in the end. Many have already mentioned music, and I can only agree it's really good. Though I also like vocalization, don't know what it is others don't like about it.
    Gameplay. Well, it's classic ARPG, except fighting is really tough, tactical and makes you think instead of spamming right-click. It's not Dark Souls hard, but it is hard, and I like it much better than DS, because in this game you will actually become stronger and really FEEL it. In DS you can still die to any low-level mob anytime which I personally find frustrating. Also crafting - I thought it would be too complex after some trailers, but in reality it's not, it is very interesting, like a mini-game and helps you to create a very unique look and properties you need.
    Story-wise there are some flaws, but it is still interesting. You have plenty of unique companions and so far I can say (I'm in act 3) your choice matters. In fact it matters in such a way it can give you some unpredictable results, so be careful ;)
    All in all, very good game, first real RPG after so long (I don't really consider DS an RPG), not perfect, but I just must give it 10 to compensate for some biased reviews (yes, people, it's perfectly normal everyone keeps calling you Vulcan despite the name you put in yourself, it is explained that Vulcan is you NICKNAME, please pay attention before complaining).    … Expand
  79. GreenGoblin215
    May 13, 2014
    10
    I will start by saying that I love this game a lot. I bought "Bound by Flame" Day 1 for my PS4 and started playing it. I loved the story it was a B-movie plot and had some great characters like B-movie's have. The music selection was Superb in all regards and the gameplay and RPG elements were very well done I thought.The Boss battles were executed perfectly. The only gripe I have is theI will start by saying that I love this game a lot. I bought "Bound by Flame" Day 1 for my PS4 and started playing it. I loved the story it was a B-movie plot and had some great characters like B-movie's have. The music selection was Superb in all regards and the gameplay and RPG elements were very well done I thought.The Boss battles were executed perfectly. The only gripe I have is the AI companions can be crap a lot of the time but sometimes they do alright they are best put into tank mode to take a beating while you kill enemies. I don't know why all the negative reviews I believe it's because it is definitely a hard game when put on normal or above. I beat the game on normal and it took me just shy of 17 hours to beat and I try to beat games quickly. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys RPG's that don't hold your hand in any way.… Expand
  80. ShadowPixel
    May 13, 2014
    10
    Great atmosphere, diverse characters, interesting storyline with fun choices. Really smooth combat! It feels like Witcher 2 and Reckoning came together and had a baby. A bad ass baby, that knows how to have fun! It's not a perfect game, but for some reason I really like it. It's somewhat linear, but that has the positive effect of making the story told much tighter.
    I recommend anyone who    Great atmosphere, diverse characters, interesting storyline with fun choices. Really smooth combat! It feels like Witcher 2 and Reckoning came together and had a baby. A bad ass baby, that knows how to have fun! It's not a perfect game, but for some reason I really like it. It's somewhat linear, but that has the positive effect of making the story told much tighter.
    I recommend anyone who likes fantasy RPGs to try it out. There is a lot of satire in the dialogues, so make sure you bring your sense of humor.    … Expand
  81. mselene
    May 11, 2014
    9
    That this game is getting mixed reviews is just a sign of how ridiculous, out of touch, bought-and-paid-for, and OLD the majority of video game reviewers are. This whole game is really solid, looks amazing even on lower end hardware, has good active combat, all the rpg elements you'd expect (including full voice acting)... the only problem with Bound By Flame is that it's too short!That this game is getting mixed reviews is just a sign of how ridiculous, out of touch, bought-and-paid-for, and OLD the majority of video game reviewers are. This whole game is really solid, looks amazing even on lower end hardware, has good active combat, all the rpg elements you'd expect (including full voice acting)... the only problem with Bound By Flame is that it's too short! Hopefully they'll create more installments / addons or whatever, I would play a sequel and then some. If you love RPGs (ie you don't -only- play the "AAA" titles that worst-company-in-america-2-years-in-a-row EA puts out), you will get your money's worth out of this title.

    To put it more succinctly: just look at the review distribution. Critics: 2 positive, 14 mixed. Users: 120 positive, 16 mixed.    … Expand
  82. Hermes_tri
    Jun 26, 2014
    9
    I decided not to inflate the scores for games to compensate for lower scores. I just give them what I thibi they worth. This game is a solid 9. Dont underestimate it - it is a quality game, you could even mistake it for bioware game. Seriously.

    See, you are a mercenary, hired to protect the group of mages performing a ritual, in the world being slowly consumed by the undead. Enjoy    I decided not to inflate the scores for games to compensate for lower scores. I just give them what I thibi they worth. This game is a solid 9. Dont underestimate it - it is a quality game, you could even mistake it for bioware game. Seriously.

    See, you are a mercenary, hired to protect the group of mages performing a ritual, in the world being slowly consumed by the undead. Enjoy fully voiced dialogues and characters of each npc, member of your company and your hero. See, as a mercenary, you talk like one, behave like one and fight like one! You feel like a "sellblade" in this game. You feel right in the game from the moment you start playing. You can alsonplay as a female, and this adds another layer to your interaction with other characters.

    Fights are glorious - you choose your stance, either tactical, powerful and on the slow side warrior - with two handed swords and axes, crushimg shields and interrupting attacks, or fast jumping in and out with crazy fast dagger attacks - choose what you like most! I advise playing the game at least twice to try these both distinct styles of play. You cN also augment your attacks with Pyromancy - think flaming weapons, fireballs and even summoning the fire spirit. Graphics are beautiful, brave devs even nailed the jungles - hardest environment to do in such games due to all the rendering on leaves and grass.

    So, if you are looking for an RPG game, driven by a strong narrative, with the fast reactive combat, crafting and loads of weapons - look no further. This game builds on the foundation laid by Spiders previous RPG - Mars: War Logs(decent game, but overshadowed by this one). Great effort. 9/10.    … Expand
  83. jintapia
    May 12, 2014
    10
    juego infravalorado siendo este un muy buen juego, le faltan algunas cosillas pero aun así esta de diez. Me gustaría que tuviera éxito comercial para una secuela
  84. deathweeper
    Jun 22, 2014
    10
    This game is great, not good but great. The combat is challenging and fun. Enemies are varied and interesting. The story is good, and the graphics are pretty great other than the rare bug. The character development is a lot better than most reviews claim. The game does a really good job developing the main character and that's all that is all that really matters. It would be really boringThis game is great, not good but great. The combat is challenging and fun. Enemies are varied and interesting. The story is good, and the graphics are pretty great other than the rare bug. The character development is a lot better than most reviews claim. The game does a really good job developing the main character and that's all that is all that really matters. It would be really boring having to listen to your sidekicks life story.
    The voice acting in this game is great. Unfortunaetly some people criticize the voice acting as soon as they hear an acent even if it is done well. Other people critice voice acting immediatly just because they want to say something negative and blaming the voice actors is universal thing that they can always say is bad. So for the record the voice acting is great(lip sync is still bad), and everything is voiced so you don't ever need to read volumes of text.
    So people say that the game is overambitious but I say that it is important to be ambitious. If games where not ambitous then we would never get any good games. Overall I think the game is an 8.6/10 but I gave it a 10 to help balance the scales.    … Expand
  85. 223kazin
    May 9, 2014
    4
    I went directly from Dark Souls 2 to this so do keep that in mind for this review. I rated it higher than I felt I should based solely on that reason. Bound by Flame is an indie game that isn't trash, it's rough around the edges but it delivers a promising experience that could have easily been a nice treat inbetween big game releases. Sadly it made the mistake of releasing within DarkI went directly from Dark Souls 2 to this so do keep that in mind for this review. I rated it higher than I felt I should based solely on that reason. Bound by Flame is an indie game that isn't trash, it's rough around the edges but it delivers a promising experience that could have easily been a nice treat inbetween big game releases. Sadly it made the mistake of releasing within Dark Souls 2's time frame. The combat it simplistic but "tactical", which is an odd mix. I don't care for it much but others might find it more welcoming, it just feels shallow some how and enemies seem to take longer to kill than they rightfully should(on the second difficulty). A critical flaw with the game is that cutscenes cut(pardon me) into the pacing a lot, I read that the story was pretty poor but I wouldn't know because I was hammering that skip button so hard it might have been gentler to use an actual hammer. I'm surprised the B on my 360 controller didn't get ground into atoms. To cut it all short for those ADHD readers: The music was a solid A+, I enjoyed it very much, but the gameplay and combat were lacking, the graphics were acceptable for an indie game, but pretty visuals and nice music alone a game does not make(In this gamers opinion).… Expand
  86. farshal
    May 9, 2014
    6
    Dull dialogs, bad vocalizations, bad map designs, not an open world , bad combat , unnatural animations etc. etc. etc.

    The year 2014 , and we have a 6-7gb files of this game ... Don't expect too much...
  87. jakoby
    May 17, 2014
    10
    This game is far too underrated. Sure, it isn't perfect, but it is still better than some of the 'great RPGs' like Gothic 3 or Gothic 4. The soundtracks and sound effects are great, the gameplay has its flaws, but it is enjoyable. The story isn't that special, but it isn't dumb either. 9/10 for me.
  88. 0hope
    May 12, 2014
    6
    First of all most ppl compare Bound by Flame to Mass Effect or some other more famous game which is kinda wrong considering difference in budget of those game. If it can be compared to anything it is to its predecessor Mars:War logs and must say that there are some improvements like bit better story telling and actually bearable voice over.

    But regarding combat game have same issues    First of all most ppl compare Bound by Flame to Mass Effect or some other more famous game which is kinda wrong considering difference in budget of those game. If it can be compared to anything it is to its predecessor Mars:War logs and must say that there are some improvements like bit better story telling and actually bearable voice over.

    But regarding combat game have same issues which leads me to believe it has to do with their game engine. Controls are bit clunky at times but once you get used to them game is actually enjoyable. And while talking about combat there comes next problem, difficulty curve is static with rather nasty jumps at certain points in game but it starts rather high on beginning of game regardless of difficulty that you chose.
    Which has probably turned off most ppl but once you get few levels, upgrades and what not, game becomes better if you manage to hold your interest in it that long.

    I have finished the game twice and actually had fun with it but it would be a lot of better if they rebalanced game as there are balance issue in skills as well. Especially underpowered feels warrior stance because its slow thus making you easy to interrupt.

    Other then that i only wish that 'world' maps ware bit bigger as they are used for all side/main quests in area but at least the recycling part of old maps is not as bad as in Dragon Age 2. Basically you clear one area do some progress in story and then move to another. Main story does it job serving as distraction so the feeling of deja vu does not lurks around of every corner.

    My score is 6/10 with some rebalance patch that could easily be 8/10 so if you love rpgs and even more Bioware type of rpgs then its worth buying or at least waiting till its on sale or something.    … Expand
  89. Witcharob
    May 20, 2014
    5
    I pre-ordered this game expecting it to be fun, it had a lot good ideas (not original, but good). I normally don't buy a game before I see a review and this game has reinforced doing that practice. What a disappointment!

    Every single aspect of it is poorly executed: the characters, the voice acting, the development of the story, the GAMEPLAY! This game is the definition of mediocre at    I pre-ordered this game expecting it to be fun, it had a lot good ideas (not original, but good). I normally don't buy a game before I see a review and this game has reinforced doing that practice. What a disappointment!

    Every single aspect of it is poorly executed: the characters, the voice acting, the development of the story, the GAMEPLAY! This game is the definition of mediocre at it's best. One thing that particularly annoyed me was that fact that the theme track keeps playing over and over, both in menus and in game.

    If you want an immersive, flexible, good story, good gameplay western RPG, play Kingdoms of Amalur instead. Bound by Flame is pretty much a failed version of it.    … Expand
  90. Deccoy
    May 9, 2014
    3
    This game is so bad, don't waste your money. In Short: bad voiceacting / dialogs, unprecise combat, absurd and unclear doging/blocking mechanisms or not even there (dodgeroll), unimersive world (when you put in your name everybody goes ahead and calls you vulcan).
  91. Bamboozled
    May 22, 2014
    1
    I was excited about this game but now it just pisses me off. The environment ist bland and most of the time you are staring at walls. Feels like a corridor FPS. The combat is floaty as hell. The difficulty is far far far too high on the easiest difficulty level (my biggest complaint). The animations and character models just stink. The NPCs and the ambition behind this game are the onlyI was excited about this game but now it just pisses me off. The environment ist bland and most of the time you are staring at walls. Feels like a corridor FPS. The combat is floaty as hell. The difficulty is far far far too high on the easiest difficulty level (my biggest complaint). The animations and character models just stink. The NPCs and the ambition behind this game are the only redeeming points.
    I'm almost at the end of it. Then I can finally wipe it of my drive and forget about it.
    At least it's not buggy...    … Expand
  92. CharcoalBurst
    May 11, 2014
    4
    This is an action RPG that focuses a lot on combat. Problem is, the physics engine is a huge disaster. Just go behind your opponent and stab him in the back several times with the ranger style and you're done.
    Graphics are OK, sometimes. Some places don't feel as polished as others. It goes from al most nice to plain ugliness. No refresh rate settings in the video options. Kinda cool in    This is an action RPG that focuses a lot on combat. Problem is, the physics engine is a huge disaster. Just go behind your opponent and stab him in the back several times with the ranger style and you're done.
    Graphics are OK, sometimes. Some places don't feel as polished as others. It goes from al most nice to plain ugliness. No refresh rate settings in the video options. Kinda cool in 2014 to play in full screen 24HZ when you have a R9 290X and a TV...
    This game lasts about 10 hours and to me it is just not Worth it. What it lacks most is identity. It really feels like a bad copy of Kingdom of Amalur/The Witcher 1 in a world where heroes have no charisma at all... a huge disappointment... You'd rather play those old games if you haven't by now. They're way better and cheaper.    … Expand
  93. Simperheve
    May 22, 2014
    2
    Horribly clumsy combat, robot like movements, the same annoying sound at the beginning, and visuals that really don't represent next gen. I played about 2 hours and then put it back in the box and sent it back. The only reason i even scored it a 2 is because i rented it. If i had bought it, i would have scored it a 0.
  94. mongolrising
    May 9, 2014
    3
    This game is so bad. Awkward unplayable combat, terrible dialogue, cheesy characters (objectified females of course), subpar graphics. It is a huge wast of money and not worth getting at all. The worst part is all the obnoxious fanboys swearing up and down how amazing this game is. This game is bad, don't waste your money.
  95. Jitomate
    May 22, 2014
    10
    Completed the game a couple nights ago. Overall a pretty good game, and definitely significantly better than most of the idiot "gaming media" and a lot of these idiots in here would have you believe. Don't listen to the nonsense. Try the game for yourself, with an open mind. I did, and I enjoyed it a lot as a result.
  96. Blackdragonbird
    May 15, 2014
    2
    What to say? Simple horrible. The combat system is ridiculous cheap and broken, not challenging like DS. The animations, camera, lore, story, pathetic sexual content only help to bury this thing in a barrel of ****
  97. IE33
    May 11, 2014
    2
    I was really dissapointed when I saw the score on metacritic. I was not sure if I should give Bound by Flame chance or leave it and finally I decided to give it a go.

    The first impressions of game: The voice acting is really bad, optimization is also not the best tried to run it on ultra settings on high end PC and all I got was 20-40 FPS (which is a joke since I could run 2x BF4 maxed    I was really dissapointed when I saw the score on metacritic. I was not sure if I should give Bound by Flame chance or leave it and finally I decided to give it a go.

    The first impressions of game: The voice acting is really bad, optimization is also not the best tried to run it on ultra settings on high end PC and all I got was 20-40 FPS (which is a joke since I could run 2x BF4 maxed on my machine and still I would have some free resources), lowering few options from Ultra to High did the job and I got solid 40-60 FPS. The combat system in this game is just nightmare, it feels so uncomfortable not to mention that blocking enemy attacks is just nearly impossible and it takes ages to kill group of enemies even on LOWEST possible difficulty. Graphics are not bad but game looks ugly in some areas. Companions in this game don't do anything besides dying and trying to kill single enemy... in that case they fail too.

    + Graphics
    + Boss design

    - Optimization
    - Voice acting
    - Combat System
    - Lore
    - Companions / Generic Enemies
    - Difficulty levels    … Expand
  98. nima1990
    May 20, 2014
    6
    Bound By Flame is an ok RPG that comes handy at these times of RPG cravings. No dark souls II is not an RPG. Voice acting, the ending, narrative, everything is mediocre at best, but combat is fun and some visuals are stunning. overall it was a pleasing experience for me that could even top dragon age if the ideas were executed properly and the game was no notoriously short.
  99. fawert1
    May 11, 2014
    5
    Dark Souls II makes this game look like total garbage. The visual is decent but that's it. Combat mechanic - bad; Voice acting - terrible; Story - didn't get it. Overall, wouldn't recommend this as an action RPG (or any game genre this piece of trash is considered to be)
  100. e1evN
    May 9, 2014
    2
    In Short: bad voiceacting / dialogs, unprecise combat, absurd and unclear doging/blocking mechanisms or not even there (dodgeroll), unimersive world (when you put in your name everybody goes ahead and calls you vulcan). And some things more, which made me stop playing this game for the moment and once again showed that you should not prepurchase anything.

    Some things extended: I guess    In Short: bad voiceacting / dialogs, unprecise combat, absurd and unclear doging/blocking mechanisms or not even there (dodgeroll), unimersive world (when you put in your name everybody goes ahead and calls you vulcan). And some things more, which made me stop playing this game for the moment and once again showed that you should not prepurchase anything.

    Some things extended: I guess coming from Dark Souls franchise, esp. the latest DSII which i played a lot, from the trailers and dev. interviews i expectet a "casual" Dark Souls and i was proven wrong. So the voiceacting, the dialogs, the graphics are not very good and the story is quite predictable some hours in to the game, but what threw me off the most is the "clunkie" combat, its not precice and feels unresponsive, meaning you take damage but you can not see or hear form where or maybe it was the smash to the ground 10 meters behind you which you didnt hear as well. So as said im used to hard combat but it has to be fair. Also the dodging/blocking mechanic is unpleasant, you can only jump back and block, but you have not a shield, whish there were more options and clarity on how to block / doge things.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

48
#48 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
66
#66 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
56

Mixed or average reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 42
  3. Negative: 13 out of 42
  1. CD-Action
    Jul 25, 2014
    65
    There is potential in Bound by Flame but I can’t review this game without using some harsh words. It’s linear and clichéd, combat should be better and many elements could be more complex. Still I believe that with more money, people and time Spiders would be able to play in the major league. [07/2014, p.54]
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Jun 12, 2014
    70
    French indie developer tries to engage adult audience with this RPG. Too bad the world is generic and script is dull as a wooden blade. If you show a few tits and curse like a sailor, that don't translate to a game for adults. On top of that the game mechanics are dull and repetitive. You don't challenge Witcher with this kind of setup. [June 2014]
  3. Hyper Magazine
    Jun 7, 2014
    30
    Ugly, stupid and riddled with cliche, Bound by Flame has car crash fascination but little else to recommend it. [Issue#249, p.62]
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