Should you forge your way through this action RPG?
From the award-winning studio MercurySteam, comes a new action-adventure where you forge your own weapons and face fierce enemies in a unique combat system. Join Aran de Lira on his journey to find the real purpose of his fate!
Blades of Fire is a game that has kind of flown under the radar, which is surprising considering it’s from MercurySteam. They have been on fire with their remake of Metroid II and Metroid Dread and they did make some fairly decent Castlevania games with their Lords of Shadow series. But now let’s see how they can handle a new IP?
The story is pretty decent and does enough to motivate you. Combat is definitely Souls-inspired, but forging your weapons is the big meat of the game. Trying to craft a weapon that is more effective against an area of enemies is challenging but rewarding if you can master it. If Aran dies, he will respawn at the nearest “Anvil” but will drop the last weapon he was using where he died. So, you need to be very careful where you die.
Combat itself is decent and while a Souls-like, still manages to carve its own way forward. There is a bit of backtracking here and there, but it’s hard not to expect it from a studio that has literally been making both Metroid and Castlevania games.
The visuals are decent. Locations are nicely detailed, and the character models are animated well. The framerate is steady, and the soundtrack is also impressive. Voice-acting is pretty good as well.
The Verdict
Blades of Fire is a departure from MercurySteam. It’s not their typical type of game, but they have made a decent action RPG here and it’s definitely worth your time to not let this slip you by.