Blades of Fire Developer Mercurysteam has a fascinating trajectory. Among the excellent editions in Castlevania franchises and Metroid Mercurysteam interrupted his mighty run by several disappointing editions. All this means that his result was inconsistent. Unfortunately, the fire blade falls to the bottom end of the spectrum of their games, but it is not completely unfounded. Excellent artistic direction, technical proficiency, impressive animation and a unique combat system are in its favor, but so many design decisions and ideas led me crazy during the game that during the game I lived in the eternal state of frustration. The positive first impression and willingness to meet your heroes finally fell aside for experience, which is completely too long, full of unrealized twists and unnecessarily tough twists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr50qnzwxg
Among the positive, Blades of Fire’s World and Confict Invite Exploration. The hero Aran is a cushioned, but by imposing a hermit who works with steel and seems that he just wants to do good. He saves a youthful monk named ADSO and receives one of seven hammers used to create the world. This means that he (and the player) can create his own weapon and decides to utilize this up-to-date power to say opelyst on: “I’m going to kill the queen”, inviting his up-to-date ADSO branch to join him. I liked this moment of opening and I wanted to understand why he was so determined in his mission, but the resulting revelation mainly falls flat. It is also a narrative that often puts you all from the queen, just to the inexplicable introduction of a up-to-date supervillain, which takes many hours. I still felt like I was preparing for the final confrontation, but it was pushed away.
The fight is different from most sword games and requires it. Four face buttons decide in which direction Aran changes their weapons. Enemies show their frail points, which means that meetings are often a matter of finding out in which direction of the attack. For example, if their head is a frail point, you attack in advance. However, this is never done much deeper, and at the end of the game I used, it was a stronger factor than the way I attacked enemies. But the way the weapons and progress work, there is no encouragement to fight.
Aran performs a weapon that includes collecting materials and playing in Smithing Minigame. If you are in love with a specific blade and he successfully built it once, you can fortunately skip Minigama. I quickly recognized the process of creating or rebuilding weapons annoying, especially early, when I was undergoing countless weapons when I got stuck on the bosses. Because the only incentive to kill enemies is more materials for creating more equipment, and engaging enemies brings only weapons to destruction, I often ran from the target without a fight to save my favorite swords.
Running between goals is that the game frustrated me the most. Running almost every location in the game is a nightmare. There is a map and menu option to show the next goal, but it only helps about half of the time. I spent the second half avoiding enemies, trying to find the door I missed, or a secret entrance – whatever. Even worse, extended sections make it even more tough for you. One area includes wearing a tiny skeletal child that may fall and be kidnapped if you are attacked. I spent hours trying to make sure that the child was on my back, looking for a way out and avoiding enemies. In another area, a ponderous spirit follows you, and to proceed, you must wait until they remember where the switch or something comparable was once. I discovered that these sections are surprising, but other, simpler locations were equally misleading. I rarely felt the reward for inventing something. More often I just shouted livid on TV: “How was I to find it?” After stumbling on the climbing rope or the elevator hidden behind the statue.
Finally, determining where to go or what to do is a bad unexpected blades of fire, it is so running in delivery, but there are also good surprises. The bigger narrative did not catch me, but I like the Aran and Adso dynamics. I also like that it is very simple to send ADSO if it becomes annoying, which is an bright way to reflect the narrative of their relationship through the game. Blades of Fire also provides enormous, epic moments that present his dense fantasy world as well as a design and creature design. Giant monsters and impressive views meet the high standard Mercurysteam, prepared for their previous games. I liked to look at the fire blade, even if the game was burdensome.
I consider myself a fan of Mercuurity, and even after the gleeful closing of the game, when I saw loans (and deciding about a long, prolonged final search for a real ending was not for me), I remain a fan. The fire blade is a bit like a developer’s attempt to introduce something up-to-date to what has now become an overcrowded species inspired by souls. In this case, it failed, but some of his ideas for the fight and the world he created are exhilarating. They just couldn’t overcome the parts that made me want to give up the game.
