Release Date: May 22, 2025 Available on: PS5, PC, Xbox
Gameplay – 8/10
Blades of Fire is surprisingly tight for something that came out of nowhere. It was off my radar at least. The combat is smooth, and though you can be punished and interrupted during your attacks, the controls feel very responsive. In some games it can be frustrating to be locked in a wind-up animation, then be punished. In this game, every hit I took was because I made a mistake. That felt really good after I learned the enemies and could predict their attacks. The AI did seem to be a tad bit underwhelming at times, as I had one of the demo areas mini-bosses go back to a guard position over and over as I unleashed power attack after power attack. But there were also a couple of times that I died on the medium difficulty setting, so it wasn’t incredibly easy. And most of the enemies have multiple attacks so, even if they were predictable, I still had to be sharp.
Overall, the movement and combat felt clean, and the gameplay loop of unlocking weapons through grinding enemy types, then crafting and experimenting with the weapons, was engaging. Each weapon handles differently, and most weapons have alternate modes. I found myself swapping weapons mid-fight to target my enemies’ weaknesses, and I’m typically a one-trick type of player. I would like to see a little bit better AI and I’m a little worried at how deep the crafting system will be, but I can see myself putting 30-40 hours into this gameplay loop, regardless of what the story offers.
Graphic Design – 9/10
At first I was a little thrown off by some of the more unrealistic features of the game. Aran’s hands are as big as Adso’s head, and his forearms are tree trunks. But I soon came to realize that this is an intentional style choice. It reminds me of something like Kingdoms of Amalur. A slightly exaggerated style that isn’t chasing realism but instead aims to immerse us in a fantastical world. This is drilled home in the ending scene of the demo, which I won’t spoil for you. Some of the map designs were a little uninspired, with various barrels and jars lying around for no apparent reason other than to give us crafting materials, and I found myself distracted by an abundance of critters and, at one point, an endless sea of cockroaches. But overall, I enjoyed the art style, and the forge area is awesome. Full disclosure; I’m a sucker for a good fantastical, vaguely cartoony art style, so take my 9 with a grain of salt if it isn’t your favorite.
Audio Design – 7/10
The audio was probably the thing I enjoyed least about the game, and the only reason it got a 7 for me is because there were some genuinely good audio design features. I’ll start with the bad, and I think this could be fixed with an early patch. The audio mixing, for whatever reason, was so bad at times that it was pulling me out of the game. I don’t know if the music was too high or the voices were too low, but it reminded me of early PS3 level audio quality in dialogue. Also, I found that when fighting an enemy, it was hard for me to tell when another enemy was joining from off-screen. That 100% could’ve just been a me thing though.
Now to the good. When not in combat it was very easy to locate enemies by sound. Some of them even conversate with each other, which was a cool touch. There is an invisible enemy type that you can hear growling, which gives you a solid warning and you can avoid an ambush if you’re careful. And even though it was hard to tell when you pulled an additional enemy, I liked that the battle music stayed on if there were still enemies nearby after defeating my main target. My favorite part of the audio design was the forge. It was very satisfying to hammer away on my new weapon, and even though there is a cool feature that allows you to auto-forge weapons of a type you’ve forged before up to the previous quality, I found myself forging each new weapon manually. The bigger hits feel bigger, and the smaller ones are slight, making every swing that much more intoxicating.
Level Design – 8/10
I enjoyed the level design of Blades of Fire, but it was nothing groundbreaking. The exploration felt great, which is the main reason for the high score, and I felt like there was even more to discover than the demo allows you to. There were plenty of enemies to fight, and I thoroughly enjoyed the zombie area. I feel like in the full game, this could easily get a bump up to a 9, or even a 10 if they expand on it enough.
Story – 7/10
There wasn’t much narrative in the demo, but it did lay the groundwork for some interesting intrigue. Even though it’s a demo, I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say that I had several questions about the world and plot after I was done playing. The interesting lore tidbits you can get through Adso were cool, and I also liked that I could send him away if I tired of the banter.
Character – 8/10
Aran is an interesting character that I’m curious to learn more about on the full release. I had planned to give this section a 7 at the start of the demo, because I honestly found Adso kind of annoying, but some of the banter was starting to get pretty funny towards the end. The dynamic between the two was pretty cool, and I’m wanting to see it develop, as well as get my questions answered about their roles in this fantasy world.
Controls – 10/10
As mentioned in the gameplay section, the controls are very responsive and smooth, and I had no issues while playing the demo. The 4-button attack layout was really cool, and I had a lot of fun experimenting with combos and targeting body parts of enemies. Basically, you have 4 attack buttons. I played on PS5 so triangle is a head attack, cross (I call it X, don’t worry fellow Xers) is a lower attack, square is a left attack, circle is a right attack, and with each of those buttons you can hold it to use a coinciding power attack. Dodging, blocking and rolling felt very good and responsive, and the little slow-motion effect you get with a perfect dodge was rewarding. I imagine there’s something similar with a parry, but I crafted my weapons with atrocious parry windows in favor of more damage, so I didn’t parry a single time, and I didn’t even think about it until writing this review. I apologize, I’ll git gudder for the full review.
User Interface – 10/10
I loved the UI in this game. There was a ton of information on the screen, but it wasn’t distracting at all. I can see some people possibly knocking it for being a bit bland, but I really liked it. You could see your damage boost percentages, the wear on your weapon sharpness, the current damage your weapon was doing, the amount of repairs left available, your health, stamina, and d-pad menu, all while being incredibly minimalistic. That, along with not having a distracting mini-map allowed me to immerse myself fully into the game, and let me tell you, I was disappointed when the end-of-demo screen popped.
Innovation – 10/10
This game introduced a few creative features that are going to serve as the major appeal for this game; the main one being the crafting, which is the major selling point. I’m excited to get back into it on the 22nd, because there are so many materials and weapon types to customize. The only thing that worries me a little is if the end-game weapons feel a little underwhelming. I’m hoping for some legendary or unique materials or weapon types that require a little extra grinding. There doesn’t appear to be any RNG. Additionally, the combat style I briefly discussed earlier was really fun to use, and a breath of fresh air in the modern action combat style, or as many people refer to it, soulslike. I’m curious if there will be more innovative features introduced as we get further into the game.
Fun Factor – 9/10
I truly had a blast with this demo. The crafting and combat were incredibly engaging and I’m itching to get back into the world. I’m intrigued by the story, and I’m hoping that pays off as well. If not executed well as the game goes on, I can see Blades of Fire getting monotonous, however. If the enemies you face to unlock more weapons are reskins simply with higher health bars, or the weapons themselves feel underwhelming to the point you don’t care to grind for them, the game could suffer a lower score with my full review, but I’m optimistic that this game will continue to surprise me.
Final Score
So, is Blades of Fire worth playing? Yes! I recommend this game to anyone looking for something fresh in the action-RPG space. At the very least, go give the demo a try!