Blades Of Fire is the latest dark fantasy smackeroo from Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow developers MercurySteam. It takes place in a world where steel is a divine substance passed down to humanity by the mysterious Forgers. Some sinister young queen has, however, cast a spell that turns everybody else’s steel into stone, granting her followers a near-monopoly on all the butt-kicking.
Playing as bleak and burly beardyman Aran “We Have Kratos At Home” de Lira, your job is to chase down that queen, murder her minions, and craft a whole bunch of Darksiders-esque weaponry. Aran is accompanied by Adso, a juvenile sidekick in the vein of Atreus, who catalogues the game’s “over 50” enemy types and can also translate lore written in the ancient Forger language.
Watch on YouTube
I’m keen on what I’ve seen of Blades Of Fire’s geography, which is stuffed full of ruined palaces, enchanted trees and such. I’m much less keen on Aran – he’s got a tragic past he “refuses to let define him entirely”, but any empathy I feel is sabotaged by the fact that Aran’s default outfit consists of at least eight belts. I’m undecided, meanwhile, on the combat. It’s described as “unique”, with controller buttons corresponding to body parts, but come now, MercurySteam, the concept of limb-targeting is literally as old as I am.
Ah, if only there were some kind of demo I could play to work through my misgivings. Oh yeah, that’s right – publishers 505 have just released a demo on the Epic Games Store. Way to smother the lede, Evans-Thirlwell!
As you might deduce from the title, Blades Of Fire is heavy on the blacksmithing. You’ll collect Forge Scrolls to develop your crafting capabilities. There are 30 of these scrolls, plus seven weapon families, at least three types of damage in the shape of stabbing, slashing and bludgeoning, and an unspecified quantity of different raw materials. All of which allows for “almost infinite weapon combinations”. Please, PRs, I beg of you. Please allow the ridiculous phrase “almost infinite” to die. I hate getting all tangled up in self-contradictions when I’m trying to count broadswords.
Blades Of Fire is due out on 22nd May, so now is a fine time to sample that demo. Let us know if you do. Also, let us know what your preferred maximum belt count is for a videogame protagonist. Seriously, eight belts – that’s like, four more than Voldo in most Soulcalibur games.
