Hey, so, I’ve been messing around with this game, Blades of Fire, right? Fresh from 505 Games and MercurySteam. And, man, it’s like this mishmash of action and adventure tossed in some mythical world. Not sure if it’s my thing, but hey, I gave it a whirl.
Oh, and there’s this age gate thing. You know, the usual “enter your birth date” deal to watch the trailer. Why do they always do that? It’s not like you can’t just, I dunno, lie about your age. Anyway…
Flashback time — I remember playing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 ages ago and totally dug the whole MercurySteam vibe on Metroid Dread. So yeah, I thought, “Why not?” I jumped into Blades of Fire to see what chaos awaits.
Picture this: a world once ruled by these gigantic dudes called The Forgers. Everything was peachy until, bam, apocalypse time! The Forgers decided to leave behind humans as their legacy. How? They handed over The Steel’s secrets. Fast forward a bajillion years, and here we are…
Enter Aran de Lira, the King’s Ward Commander’s kid. Queen Nerea’s gone and pulled a fast one, turning all steel into stone. Now her gnarly army is unbeatable unless you can figure out the whole crafting thing. Kinda neat, right? It’s like you can’t just button-mash through this one. Strategy, baby! Also, you’re rolling with this kid, Adso de Zelk. Quite the smarty-pants from the Abbey of Egion. He’s got your back with enemy tips and spinfo about ancient spells. Handy dude to have around.
Crafting weapons is your jam here. You find these Forge Scrolls that let you level up your crafting skills. Weight, length, durability — you’re considering all this crazy detail for your weapons. There’re seven weapon families and over 30 Forge Scrolls. Talk about mix-and-match madness!
Difficulty modes — Bronze, Iron, and Steel. Bronze is for the “just wanna chill” crowd, Iron amps it up a little. Steel? That’s for if you’re feeling hardcore. You can switch it up anytime, which is nice for whimsy folks like me who change their minds… a lot.
So, controls. You maneuver Aran with the sticks, and combat gets its own sticky configuration. Healing? The D-pad’s got you. Sharpening your weapon? Yep, D-pad again. By the way, your weapon’s durability drops the more you battle. Classic, right? Limited resources mean you gotta plan, plan, plan.
Some funky color-coding system tells you how good your attacks will be. Green’s great, yellow’s meh, red’s a dud. It’s kinda like playing a guessing game with enemy types. Say you’re facing a skeleton. Kinda silly to jab at it with a spear, yeah? But grab a hammer, and it’s splat city. Weapons have slashing, piercing, and blunt damage. Who knew?
Oh, and trophies! Loads of them. Bronze, silver, gold — the usual shiny stuff you can show off. You get these by crafting cool weapons, battling hordes of foes, collecting gems — all the gaming goodness you expect.
The game’s going live on May 22 for PS5 for $59.99. Pre-order if you’d like. There’s a sort of minor discount, which is a nice bonus. In any case, if this chaotic adventure sounds like your cup of tea, dive in and see if it’s worth the hype for you!
Oh, they provided a PS5 copy for the review. Just putting it out there.
