In 379 BC, Duke Kang of Qi died and, after him, the control of the kingdom passed to Tian Yinqi, who would later become known as King Wei ofIn 379 BC, Duke Kang of Qi died and, after him, the control of the kingdom passed to Tian Yinqi, who would later become known as King Wei of Qi. This is an historical fact. A fact probably unknown to most Westerners, because it concerns a specific event of the Warring States period of Chinese history, and little or nothing is studied in western schools about that.
However, Kang's death is not only a piece of China’s history, it’s also the triggering event for the story told in Bladed Fury. This video game, created by NEXT Studios and published in 2018 on different platforms (PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One; Nintendo Switch was added in 2021), proposes to mix Chinese history and folklore. The main character of Bladed Fury is the young Princess Ji, daughter of Kang, who finds herself implicated in the murder of her father - in which occult forces are involved - and is forced to escape from the palace, while her older sister, Princess Shu, is captured by Tian. In her search for the truth, Princess Ji has to face soldiers, undead and evil spirits, but she can also count on the help of some supernatural creatures.
It’s not easy to follow the story carefully. The dialogues are few, they consider many things already known and – at the beginning of the game – they are just a flood of names and events that a Western player has probably never heard before. It isn’t an insurmountable problem, considering that the story is not the fulcrum of this video game. However, a little more attention in this direction would have helped.
A centrepiece of Bladed Fury, instead, is the group of visual stylistic choices. The characterizations of the characters and enemies are very inspired, generate curiosity, manages to convey a sense of ancient myth, but having at the same time suitable contemporary trait. The levels, although with little internal differentiation, are all clearly identifiable and sometimes are capable to offer some important hints, as when they fill the space with room dividers and panels that hide and reveal at the same time, with the shadows of the enemies behind them. This is perhaps a point where are also recognizable some traces of another NEXT Studios work: the puzzle-adventure Iris.Fall. Visually, one of the most interesting parts is composed by the group of static images that accompany some brief narrative moments. These images show tapered figures, wrapped in fluttering draperies that further emphasize the wavy characteristic of their bodies.
And so we have bodies that appear in motion even when they stand still. And Bladed Fury is a video game in constant motion, for its hack&slash nature. Princess Ji moves with grace along the two-dimensional levels of the game, fighting enemies with her two weapons, which correspond to the traditional division between quick attacks and heavy attacks, more or less ubiquitous in this genre of video games. Alongside these attacks, which offer a limited but sufficient number of combos, Ji can dodge, parry and activate some special powers. By defeating some strong enemies, she can summon them in battle. Some of these powers, such as cobwebs that slow down opponents' movements, add a good variety but at the same time make the game even easier than usual. Excluding the higher difficulty, in fact, Bladed Fury proceeds without particular challenges. Enemies release healing spheres, Ji can heal herself with “potions” and there are the support summons. Even if the player isn’t a champion of dodging and parrying, the end of the game can be easily reached.
About that, emerges another aspect of Bladed Fury: its shortness. In an absolute sense, this isn’t a negative factor. There are already too many unnecessarily diluted video games. Compared to them, Bladed Fury is much more compact and direct, without frills and waste of time. However, sometimes there’s a perceivable desire of something more. The levels – albeit evocative – are few and rather short. At least, the possibility of returning to explore them at a later time, with new powers, would have helped. Some secrets are present, but nothing relevant. Equally few are the unlockable skills. Outside of the special powers released by defeated enemies, everything is limited to a couple of extra attacks and upgrades for parry and “potions”.
In conclusion, Bladed Fury remains a good morsel, but it can only be enjoyed quickly and superficially. Both due to the difficulty of getting to the bottom of its history, and because it doesn’t have sufficient depth of content. Everything there works well, the experience remains more than enjoyable, but always with the sense of an underlying deficiency.
7.5… Expand
