Blue Fire

A desolate and abandoned world, only decorated with the remains of life at both its best and worst. Considering the current state of our real world, this game’s setting is nothing short of intriguing. Blue Fire is a 3D platformer game filled with puzzles, combat, and mystery that the player slowly uncovers as they explore the vast and empty chambers of a castle. Developed by ROBI Studios and published by Graffiti Games, this indie platformer has a unique art style that is both mystical and decrepit. Bursting with atmosphere, the castle of Penumbra begs to be explored as you leap, dash, and cut...

While it has occasional frustrating sections and leaves a lot of things up for the player to discover on their own, Blue Fire is a delight of a game filled with secrets to find and a beautiful world to explore. If you like 3D platforming challenges and exploration-based gameplay, Blue Fire is a game you don’t want to miss.

Blue Fire provides an impeccable platforming experience with the just right balance of abilities to master and challenges to test you, making its bleak and corrupted world a joy to explore. Its Zelda-like dungeon experiences may end a bit too soon before it begins relying on overly familiar backtracking, but it doesn’t dull the fun of dashing around obstacles and fighting enemies alike. And even when the pacing of its main path falters slightly, the irresistible lure of its inventive challenge rooms kept me coming back for more.

Blue Fire is the kind of game that initially catches your eye because it reminds you so much of another title you really enjoy. In this case, the inspirations from The Legend of Zelda are immediately clear. The developers themselves, ROBI Studios, don’t even shy away from admitting the heavy inspiration from the early Nintendo adventure and platforming titles. The toughest part about making a game that encapsulates a certain period of time is making sure it has its own identity as well. Too...

Blue Fire is a promising experience with tight platforming let down by ropey combat, a lack of direction, and a range of technical issues.

To say that Blue Fire surprised me would be an understatement. When I started the game it seemed like it was little more than a mediocre 3D platformer trying to emulate a Souls game, with a little bit of Zelda mixed in. As I continued playing though, the platforming got harder, the moveset got more robust and the environments became more and more interesting to explore.

Blue Fire's exceptional platforming isn't enough to distract from frustrating backtracking and lackluster combat.

Blue Fire is a game I wanted to like, but couldn't due to its poor focus and loads of ill-considered design issues. Between the balance issues, bugs, and creeping frustrations, there's a lot stacked against the game.

There are glimpses of brilliance in Blue Fire when completing Voids and making one's way through dungeons, but it's all overshadowed by technical issues and some frustrating design choices. Blue Fire lifts a lot from Dark Souls and Zelda, but is unlikely to appeal to diehard fans of either franchise.