Bound by Flame marks a pretty big step in the history of French developer Spiders. After two downloadable RPGs, some work porting other people's games, and a region locked title co-developed with Cyanide they were finally given the resources to make their first full retail release and capitalize on all that potential they had shown in the years prior. Unfortunately, this would not prove toBound by Flame marks a pretty big step in the history of French developer Spiders. After two downloadable RPGs, some work porting other people's games, and a region locked title co-developed with Cyanide they were finally given the resources to make their first full retail release and capitalize on all that potential they had shown in the years prior. Unfortunately, this would not prove to be their breakout success. While the increased scale of the project compared to their previous efforts allowed them to show off their strengths to a wider audience than ever before, it also made it harder to forgive the areas where they came up short due to the higher price tag.
The story is a little derivative of other works of fantasy such as Game of Thrones, but it really shines when it comes to choice-and-consequence. The tone is very bleak with the stakes only becoming more desperate as you progress. Some decisions will cause allies to turn on you no matter what you choose and you're constantly being tempted by the demon that occupies your brain in the beginning of the game. Not all of the endings are fulfilling as you can tell Spiders didn't put much effort into some of them, but you do get to feel like you had a definitive impact on the fate of the world before the credits roll.
In theory the combat should have just as satisfying. You're given multiple skill trees to invest in, several different fighting styles with their own perks and trade-offs to switch between on the fly, and variety of gear to come across. All of which allow you to have just as much flexibility in defining your character as a fighter as you do in defining them as a person. The problem? Most of the time battling is more frustrating than fun, especially early on.
Spiders tried to go for that Dark Souls level of difficulty where one slip up can spell your doom. They mistook cheapness for challenge though and the whole thing suffers because of it. It's simply impossible to dodge multiple attacks coming at you at the same time from every direction, and Bound by Flame likes to swarm you with enemies in cramped locations that do just that. Your AI controlled companions are basically useless as the tend to die in a few seconds. Except in boss batlles where they become oddly resilient out of nowhere. While you do genuinely feel yourself getting more powerful as you level up, making hunting down the side-quests a worthwhile effort, most of the time exploiting the one-hit kill stealth system by taking out a single foe at a time and then running away so the rest of the group forgets about you is often the only way to avoid unfair deaths.
Some padding designed to stretch out the length near the end of the game is the only other really major flaw I can think of. You're literally forced to fight the same boss four times in a row as part of the main quest. This comes only a few hours after having faced it once already. Also, if you stumble onto part of a side-quest while exploring the environment before officially being given it by one of the characters the dialog option to accept the task will still be available after you complete it. Selecting that option in conversation will cause them to give you the quest again, only now it's uncompletable. Not a huge issue by any means, but an oddity I felt worth pointing out nonetheless.
Bound by Flame is a good RPG in need of better action. It's no replacement for Dragon Age or The Witcher, but those who have enjoyed more flawed series like Risen or Two Worlds should find plenty to enjoy here. Spiders' ambition just once again outweighed their ability in a few key areas.
7.5/10… Expand
Bound by FlameYour Score0 out of 10User Score
