When I sat down to play developer MercurySteam's latest project, Blades of Fire, I initially anticipated a modern take on their Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series, perhaps with a dash of the recent God of War style. However, as I delved deeper, it felt more akin to a Soulslike game, albeit one where the focus was on weapon stats rather than traditional RPG character development. By the end of my three-hour hands-on session, I realized that Blades of Fire was both a blend of familiar elements and a fresh take on the action-adventure genre, creating a unique experience despite its well-trodden influences.
At first glance, you might mistake Blades of Fire for a close cousin of Sony Santa Monica's God of War. The game shares a dark fantasy setting, powerful combat strikes, and a third-person camera that keeps you intimately involved in the action. There are numerous similarities, from the exploration of a twisting, treasure-filled map to the companionship of a young ally who assists with puzzle-solving. Together, we sought a woman of the wilds who lived in a house mounted on a giant creature. While these elements can feel a bit too familiar, especially with the inclusion of FromSoftware-inspired anvil-shaped checkpoints that both refill health potions and respawn enemies, Blades of Fire manages to carve its own path.
Blades of Fire features some deeply strange enemies that feel like dark cousins of Labyrinth's puppets. | Image credit: MercurySteam / 505 Games The game's world exudes a nostalgic 1980s fantasy vibe. Imagine Conan the Barbarian mingling with the game's muscular soldiers or Jim Henson's Labyrinth characters bouncing around on bamboo pogo sticks. The narrative also has a retro feel, revolving around an evil queen who has turned steel into stone, and it's up to you—as Aran de Lira, a blacksmith demigod—to vanquish her and restore the world's metal. While the story and characters may not stand out as particularly compelling, reminiscent of many Xbox 360-era games, the game's mechanical prowess is where it truly shines.
Blades of Fire boasts a combat system that utilizes directional attacks linked to every face button on the controller. On a PlayStation pad, you'd use the triangle to aim for the head, the cross for the torso, and the square and circle to swipe left and right. This system allows you to break through enemy defenses by reading their stances carefully. For example, a soldier guarding their face can be defeated by aiming low and striking their gut, resulting in satisfyingly visceral effects as blood gushes from their wounds.
The combat system's depth is evident in encounters like the demo's first major boss fight against a slobbering troll. The troll had a secondary health bar that could only be damaged after dismembering it, and the limb you targeted depended on your attack angle. A right-handed strike could sever its left arm, effectively disarming it. Even more intriguing, you could remove the troll's entire face, rendering it blind and flailing until it regrew its eyes.
Your weapons in Blades of Fire require constant attention, more so than in most games. They dull with use, each successive strike dealing slightly less damage, necessitating sharpening with a stone or switching stances. The edge and tip of your weapons wear down independently, adding a tangible sense of wear and tear. Additionally, every weapon has a durability meter that depletes over time, requiring repairs at anvil checkpoints or melting them down for new crafting opportunities.
The game's most innovative feature is its extensive weapon crafting system. Rather than finding new weapons in the world, you start from scratch at the forge. You begin by choosing a basic weapon template, which Aran sketches on a chalkboard, then tweak and modify it. For example, when designing a spear, you can adjust the pole length and spearhead shape, which affects the weapon's stats and stamina demands. Once your design is complete, you physically hammer out the metal on an anvil in a minigame that involves controlling the length, force, and angle of each strike to match an ideal curve. Overworking the steel can weaken your weapon, so precision is key. Your efforts are rated with stars, determining how often you can repair your weapon before it's lost forever.
The forging minigame is a great idea that feels a little too obtuse. | Image credit: MercurySteam / 505 Games While I appreciate the forge's concept and its skill-based approach to crafting, the minigame felt frustratingly obtuse after several attempts. I hope future updates or a better tutorial will refine this feature, as it's a cornerstone of Blades of Fire.
The forge's concept extends beyond the demo, with MercurySteam envisioning a deep bond between players and their crafted weapons over a 60-70 hour journey. As you explore and discover new metals, you can reforge your weapons to enhance their properties, adapting them to new challenges. The death system further emphasizes this bond; upon defeat, you drop your current weapon and respawn without it, but it remains in the world for you to recover. This mechanic, inspired by Dark Souls, adds a meaningful layer to the gameplay, as you can reforge and reconnect with weapons from hours ago.
MercurySteam's adoption of ideas from Dark Souls and its successors is unsurprising, given FromSoftware's impact on the genre. Blades of Fire is also seen as a spiritual successor to Blade of Darkness, a game developed by MercurySteam's founders and considered a precursor to the Souls series. The studio is building on its past work while incorporating advancements made by others during their hiatus from the genre.
Aran is joined by his young companion, Adso, who can help solve puzzles and comment on the world's lore. | Image credit: MercurySteam / 505 Games Throughout my playtime, I felt the pull of MercurySteam's influences—the brutal combat of Blade of Darkness, the innovations of FromSoftware, and the world design of God of War. Yet, Blades of Fire transcends these influences, crafting its own unique recipe that sets it apart from its gaming touchstones.
While I have some concerns about the game's generic dark fantasy setting and the potential lack of variety (having fought the same miniboss multiple times in the demo), the depth of interaction between your forged blades and the enemies you face is genuinely intriguing. In an era where complex and challenging games like Elden Ring and Monster Hunter have found mainstream success, Blades of Fire has the potential to offer something fresh and fascinating to the action-adventure landscape.
