Blades of Fire

When brutality meets cleverness in a soulful metroidvania adventure.

Some games have such unique and engaging formulas that it's hard to put them down so here's Blades of Fire which is one great Soulslike.

Take God of War, Dark Souls and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, put them in a blender along with some new elements such as being able to craft weapons and target specific body parts, and you have Blades of Fire. Its map design can be devious at times, and its enemy placement a little questionable, but overall it's an engaging, and rather epic, adventure.

MercurySteam follow up the career high point of Metroid Dread with a dark fantasy soulslike full of neat ideas. Blades of Fire dares to make the case for weapon degradation being a good thing and succeeds. The fun characters, secret-stuffed level design, and terrific combat don’t hurt either. A really pleasant surprise.

Blades of Fire tries something new with its combat, truly excelling as a result. Those that devote the time to its blacksmithing and weaponry will no doubt have fun slicing and dicing (and piercing and blunting).

There’s no denying that a new soulslike being announced and released isn’t as exciting nowadays as it once used to be, due to how bloated the genre is nowadays. There are new ones coming out pretty much every time I wake up these days. However, Blades of Fire did pique my interest before launch, mostly because it was being developed by MercurySteam, a developer I have a lot of respect for. They are the ones responsible for the flawed but fascinating Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, as well a...

Forged in Frustration

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.

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.

If Blades of Fire manages to strike a chord, it won't be for its narrative, nor its world, but its violence.

MercurySteam's latest project holds a lot of promise, but death by a thousand cuts holds it back from true greatness.

Blades of Fire is a mess of an experience, with many of its elements not working well with other parts of the game. The story feels ripped straight out of game design of two decades ago, with loud, deeply unfunny jokes making up far too much of the dialogue. The weapon crafting and directional combat seems promising, but it doesn’t fit well with the hardcore soulslike action games it tries to emulate.