Blades of Fire review: A solid average, but nothing more

Blades of Fire impresses me to some extent. MercurySteam managed to bring a breath of fresh air to the Action RPG genre through its combat and a system for creating your own weapons. These are definitely the strongest aspects of the game, which is not without flaws. The plot feels a bit like a teen drama series, and the game world gets tiring after a while, probably because it's too drawn out.

Welcome to the world of steel encased in stone

Blades of Fire lets us know right from the start that we know as much about the story as the main characters do. If they don't encounter a given opponent or character, we will never know about their existence. Unfortunately, the main character Aran de Lira, despite being experienced in life, knows absolutely nothing. His younger friend, who we saved from trouble right from the start, has to explain everything.

Adso writes notes, so he even fills in myths that bring the lore of the universe closer. Once upon a time, the Forgers dominated, forging not only weapons, but also advanced machines. Soon, the Thaumaturges appeared, seeking to gain power through the use of spells. A bloody war broke out, which ultimately no one won, and both sides disappeared from the surface, or at least it seemed so.

A queen, who turned out to be evil, ascended to the throne, and our quest is to defeat her. The main objective sounds like a fairy tale, where a brave knight has to overthrow the dark witch from the throne. On the way, we encounter her minions, and the whole time, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was like a movie or TV show for teenagers.

To counter the queen's magical powers, we received a powerful artifact: one of the seven hammers belonging to the Master Forgers, who have become heirs to the legacy of the Forgers. Thanks to it, we teleport from place to place and forge weapons that serve us in combat.

But going back to the vibe of the teen show: some serious issues are brought up here. But at the same time, there are gags that contrast with the seriousness of the situation. On the other hand, the world doesn't really get involved that much. Despite conversations with the characters, we don't learn specifics. Everything is in the notebook, and even our companion refers us to it at some point, saying that if we want to find out something, we should read it. This is a rather unusual way of conducting narration for me.

Long playing time doesn't help either. The first chapter takes 20 hours, and the whole game takes about 60. For Blades of Fire is quite a lot, and I started feeling tired already a third into the game. A cool combat system unfortunately didn't save the situation. It's a shame, because it's a new approach to the latest fashion in Action RPGs.

Time of hammer and anvil

Clashes are the most interesting element of Blades of Fire, next to crafting. In the game we're talking about, the four controller buttons correspond to hits from different directions: left, right, up, and down. This matters because opponents can wear different equipment, and, for instance, a blow to the head may be more effective than one to the arms. Furthermore, if the boss is invulnerable from the waist up, we have to attack below to hurt him.

On top of that, there's the weaponry, as we have three types of attacks: blunt, slash, and thrust, and different enemies are more or less vulnerable to each. That's why it's necessary to create the most diverse arsenal to deal with everything that Blades of Fire throws at us.

I had a blast fighting, even though some of the opponents had really annoying skills, and beating them felt more like a relief than satisfaction. I was happy with one mechanic, which unfortunately only applied to one enemy - the troll. So, you need to take away one HP bar from the troll and then it starts turning into stone. Then you should use a strong attack to cut off the limb to stop the transformation into stone and prevent regeneration. This is a really cool approach to deg fights. However, besides the troll, there is no other use of this mechanic.

Equally enjoyable as combat is the process of gearing up the character. There are no armors, helmets, or amulets. We only have weapons, and we have to create them ourselves. We can discover new fighting tools by defeating a certain number of enemies who use them. We use materials obtained during travels to create weapons and discover new elements, such as longer sword blades or strengthening the shaft of a pike.

All of this affects how strong your weapon is, how much stamina it uses, how durable it is, and how many hits it can block. You need to find the right balance for the weapon you create to be effective in combat. However, that's not all, because the weapon literally has to be forged. The protagonist sketches the weapon, and then we have to forge a piece of metal in a mini-game to match the pattern. The better we do it, the more stars we will get, each of which represents one fix. All the gear has an expiration date, and we can exchange used weapons for parts with the NPC.

Combat and forging are unequivocally the best elements of Blades of Fire. Thanks to them, the game really stands out from the competition, and I wouldn't be surprised if it gained a loyal fan base who would be eager for a sequel or another game in a similar style. There's definitely potential here, and it would be a shame to limit the idea to just one game.

Long journey...

In RPGs, exploration is important. As I venture out into the game world, I want to feel the excitement of exploring new places and be motivated to discover more. Blades of Fire has its moments, but more often, I found myself turning off the game not because I had been playing it for too long, but because it was starting to tire me out.

The world building in Blades of Fire is reminiscent of what we know from FromSoftware games. Mainly linear spaces with shortcuts to unlock. However, the further you go, the worse the map designs get. The first chapter looks good. But from the second stage, it's getting worse. Labyrinths and narrow platforms with opponents who can easily push us off are slowly becoming the standard.

Besides, the design of certain stages is simply bad. Firstly, the checkpoints are poorly located. I'm entering a new area, checking it out a bit, and I found a new checkpoint and a shortcut in the form of a gate or ladder. What do I find after going through it? Previous checkpoint. Why there are so close to each other? This solution makes no sense at all, especially when in other cases there's only one checkpoint over a large area, and dying means a long walk.

One moment in the second act, when we reached a small section of the city with an arena and opponents, was particularly memorable for me. There are two monoliths around there shooting green fire, and if they hit us, we're sent back to the center of the arena and have to defeat a few enemies to continue exploring. The issue is that there's literally a monolith right next to the door we need to open. So, when we open them, we'll get hit, then we'll go back to the arena, and after returning to the door, there's a ladder behind it that we need to climb to continue the story. I don't anymore how much time I spent trying to climb that damn ladder. I was starting to think that it might be a dead-end, because I couldn't believe that someone could mess up a crucial element of the main story so badly.

Besides, the game sometimes poorly informs about what needs to be done. On the first map, at some point, we follow a little skeleton and eventually end up in a room. Everything gives the impression that we were supposed to follow the skeleton to the very end, but it's not clear what should happen next because there's nothing: no interaction, no cutscene. There isn't, because that's not what it was about. You had to walk around the nearby shelves to find the ladder hidden behind the desk on the second floor.

Audiovisual pleasures

I wrote that fighting and crafting are the best things about Blades of Fire, but there's more to it than that. Both musically and visually, the game looks really good. The sound of the weapon being forged is really cool, especially when those sounds come from the DualSense controller. The music is also catchy, although the soundtrack isn't all that rich, and certain tunes, even if cool, are scrolled through several stages in different chapters, which kills the uniqueness of the maps.

And when it comes to the maps, they are really different from each other, which is definitely a pro. Even within one chapter, things are unique, and you can see that right from the beginning of the game. We start from the burnt settlement, through the marshes, the old fortress, the cemetery, and end at the castle. Everything looks really good and above all, consistent. I didn't get the impression that any element didn't fit with the rest.

This also applies to opponents. I found one type that doesn't quite fit the lore in a certain area, but other than that, I didn't have any objections. Especially since the combat was fun. Of course, this wouldn't have been possible without animations.

These are really well made and it's fun to move around with a character that's so responsive. Overall, throughout the whole game, I couldn't shake the feeling that Blades of Fire is kind of like a more polished version of Lords of the Fallen 2 from 2014, where the movement of the main character really stings the eyes with its slowness, as if he was always ankle-deep in tar. However, in Blades of Fire, they really nailed the jumping mechanics by adding a dedicated action button when you approach the edge, which prevents accidental falls (but doesn't mean you can't still fall off).

The dialogues are poor, though. Sometimes lines sound as if they were read from a sheet without any expression. Moreover, the characters usually just stand in one place and move their mouths. Even during cutscenes.

Blades of Fire runs well, but not without issues

In of performance, Blades of Fire runs very smoothly most of the time. This is crucial in a game that requires an appropriate response to the opponent's moves. The only moment when the frame rate definitely dropped was during dense fog on the ground. For some reason, it visibly affected performance.

Apart from that, long loading screens are really bothersome. Teleporting from one checkpoint to another usually involves a few seconds of loading, which can be annoying, especially if we just moved to craft a weapon, returned to the visited arena, and ed that we had to craft something else or need to move to another map. We'll be staring at loading screens again because nothing here loads quickly.

Besides, there is a bug with characters getting stuck on some textures. The main character can get stuck on a pile of books, and if we're not careful, he might get blocked and have no chance of escaping from a horde of enemies waiting to tear him apart. However, these are elements that updates can fix.

A solid average, but nothing more

In the overall reckoning, Blades of Fire is a pretty decent, average game. It looks good graphically and works just as well. The devs also managed to find something of their own and unique, which distinguishes the game from the competition. And this element has been perfected. It is not just an empty shell, but a solid element around which the entire gameplay is built.

The map layout is mostly good, but there are a few areas with cramped elements that make exploring tiring and even annoying. All the more so, because the story isn't engaging enough to motivate further progress.