Blades of Fire

Blades of Fire stands out with its unique sword-based combat and surprisingly deep forging system.

All in all, Blades of Fire is a remarkable action RPG, and it executes its themes, combat, and presentation in a balanced, synergistic manner. While it hammers out its best aspects with force and confidence, it unfortunately suffers from pacing issues that hold back its endearing, attractive plot. Despite its stunning presentation and sophisticated location design, the adventure’s scale feels a bit too long for its own good sometimes. Nevertheless, if RPGamers seek fiery and engaging combat, well-designed progression systems, and an exquisitely crafted world, Blades of Fire offers an experience players will want to brush up their smithing skills for.

Blades of Fire has some elements that feel original and compelling, but it ultimately falls short of the bar set by other AA adventure games of recent years.

Blades of Fire left us with a bittersweet taste in our mouths. It's a title that does many things right and has some interesting ideas, but it also stumbles with each of its successes. We loved its weapon forging system and it's by far the best part of the game. The combat system can be a bit clunky, but it works well, is challenging and well-designed, and the scenarios are full of secrets that encourage exploration. However, its story and characters aren't engaging in the slightest, there are certain situations that can be somewhat frustrating for the wrong reasons, the backtracking isn't very well balanced, and there are too many moments that make us go around in circles that don't add anything. All in all, if you're looking for a demanding action-adventure with its own ideas and you don't think its flaws will dampen your enjoyment too much, here you'll find an entertaining and very complete production that might be worth checking out.

Blades of Fire is a great return to the genre for MercurySteam. With great exploration and a unique combat system, Blades of Fire should have been a sure hit. Unfortunately, the situations you encounter feel completely unfair, and the mechanics sometimes work completely against you. Even still, Blades of Fire is a fun game that harkens back to the old school action-adventure titles, where exploring its world reaps the best rewards and game experience.

At its best, this blacksmith action adventure endears with great characters, engrossing action, and retro simplicity. Attempts to chase industry trends often hold it back.

Blades of Fire is a well-made and lengthy action adventure romp that will test your combat skills, provided you can see it through. Taking inspiration from some of gaming's greatest hits, it never quite manages to reach those lofty heights itself, let down by a generic setting and lacklustre art direction. Still, it offers some interesting concepts, with combat and crafting mechanics that remain satisfying throughout.

While Blades of Fire brings its own unique twist to the action RPG genre and manages to be entertaining, there is still room for improvement. Its main concept—weapon forging—needs a more intuitive execution, along with some gameplay adjustments. That said, it remains an interesting title, featuring a deeper story than it initially suggests and a methodical combat system that punishes mistakes.

Blades of Fire is a fun action-adventure game that boasts its unique features well but unintentionally shows off its many flaws.

Blades of Fire offers some compelling and exciting ideas, particularly with its reverence for weaponcrafting and rewarding forge mechanics. But its love of steel and violence can only take it so far; its combat is enjoyable at first, but wears out its welcome across a lengthy campaign that is filled with too-chatty characters and a world that’s very frustrating to get lost in. Even with those caveats, its eye-catching fantasy world and weapons that pack a punch still have enough charm to see it through. Not every one of its big swings lands, but as they say, “you miss all the shots you don’t take”, and Blades of Fire at least gives the action RPG genre a solid crack with a unique point of view.

An action-adventure that is guilty of a lot of naivety and tries to do too much, without really concluding anything. Too bad, because the potential was all there.

Blades of Fire is a pretty decent, average game. It looks good graphically and works just as well. Unfortunately, it can be irritating and even boring at times.

Medieval swordplay plays a big role in Blades of Fire, where combat is the strongest part of the game.

Good ideas hindered by poor execution keep Blades of Fire from being the sharpest tool in the shed.

A flawed but interesting attempt at a mash-up of everything from God Of War to Dark Souls, but where crafting weapons is often more fulfilling than using them.

I cannot gel with Blades of Fire. Whilst the combat feels decent, the smithing and weapon durability make for a complicated marriage. Weapons seem to break just often enough and the rinse and repeat grated on me. Locations are packed with enemies and some dungeons can be difficult to navigate through. I think Adso and Aran's relationship is very forced and, whilst they do flesh out the world effectively, the combat banter feels a little out of place. Over the course of a long journey, all these niggles add up.

Blades of Fire is built on a foundation of genuinely inventive concepts—melding the intricate weapon‑forging mechanics you’d expect from a crafting system with the punishing combat loops of a Soulslike. Unfortunately, these ambitions never fully come to fruition: the crafting and upgrade systems feel under‑polished, the balance between exploration and combat is uneven, and the result is a jarring disruption to the game’s intended flow. What could have been a seamless fusion of strategic forging and relentless challenge instead sputters, leaving the pacing disjointed and the overall experience less satisfying than it ought to be.

Blades of Fire has two faces – at first the game irritates with nearly every little thing, but after a while the pieces seem to fit quite nicely. I wanted to discover new mechanics (that were extremely poorly explained) and really get to know the game. But that does not change the fact, that it is tiresome and demands frequent breaks.

Artificial difficulty spikes and needlessly obtuse level design can lead to a lot of unnecessary frustration, and that frustration can quickly overshadow the game's greatest strengths. Blades of Fire had all the right materials in front of it, but it forged an uneven blade that keeps accidentally wounding its wielder.

Blades of Fire presents some good ideas, especially in its strategic combat and forging system. However, the attempt to offer a 3D Metroidvania experience ends up being compromised by combats positioned in inappropriate places, making the experience frustrating and resulting in a game well below what we've seen previously from MercurySteam.

I consider myself a MercurySteam fan, and even after gleefully closing the game when I saw credits (and deciding the lengthy, extended final quest for the true ending was not for me), I remain a fan. Blades of Fire feels a bit like the developer’s attempt at bringing something new to what has now become the overpopulated Souls-inspired genre. It was unsuccessful in this instance, but some of its ideas around combat and the world it created are exciting. They just couldn’t overcome the parts that made me want to give up on the game.

Blades of Fire brings a fresh combat system and addictive weapon crafting, but its unconvincing story and poorly designed levels with excessive backtracking wear players down. At 60 hours, it's far too long for what it offers, with technical issues adding to the frustration—but its colorful visual style and engaging combat might still appeal to Action RPG fans.