Blades of Fire – PS5 Review

At first glance, Blades of Fire offers an interesting twist on souls-like combat with an emphasis on creating your own weaponry. There’s been a lot of thought put into a blacksmith playing the part. Mechanically, it feels largely sound but Mercurysteam’s return to the genre does not click with me at all.

The story follows Aran de Lira, a blacksmith who has decided to off an evil Queen. It’s not entirely unprovoked but the introduction feels very vague. He’s in possession of a sacred hammer which allows him access to a celestial forge. He is soon joined by Adso, a scholarly boy who’s mentor has now passed away. Naturally, Aran takes the boy under his wing whilst on his quest to commit regicide. There’s obvious comparisons I can make with the more recent God of War titles. It is very on the nose, particularly in the early going.

The relationship between Aran and Adso feels immediately cordial and I’m not sure it’s earned. He is not his son, they’ve known each other for a matter of minutes but they crack wise like they’re family. It’s a little rushed and the banter between them will regularly repeat. Despite the appearance of an escort mission, Adso is not a liability but he also doesn’t offer assistance in combat. He will observe and fill out the lore of the world as you journey together. He’s good at vocalising when he’s completed entries but he is mainly there as another voice during combat.

A lot’s been made of the forging. To create a new weapon, you select a weapon type and then try to shape it into the right form. The better you do, the more robust it’ll be in combat. A star rating is dished out which indicates how many repairs you can conduct before the weapon becomes useless. In theory, it makes your arsenal feel more important. Aran’s blacksmithing is put to good use and the vulnerability of each one means you have to stay stocked with a variety of them.

It can initially feel clumsy. Trying to meet the required shape can be a tricky task. Using the two analogue sticks to hammer it into being is a tactile way to feel connected to your weapon, but it does require practice. You have plenty of swings to crack it but I soon realised the best approach was a gradual one. Once you’ve got the hang of it, the method doesn’t change. Success allows the weapon to have more repairs before it eventually breaks down.

Forging does require plenty of materials. They come fairly frequently from regular combat, although the more precious metals are harder to come by. As a result, they felt exhaustible and made me think twice about bringing my better weapons in for anything beyond boss fights. As robust as a freshly smithed weapon can be, their durability can vanish quicker than I’d like.

Part of that is down to how combat has locational damage. Each weapon will have damage types and enemies will be armoured against it, either entirely or partially through plated vests and such. Aran can swing in four primal directions. He has sideswipes from left and right, uppercuts and downward smashes that all, theoretically can mix things up. In reality, better weaponry has a tendency just to bypass this system. A durability penalty is applied when you’re facing a little bit of resistance but that’s often worth the trade.

Upon death, you leave your last weapon at the place where you fell. I find that means carrying spares for when your main weapon inevitably breaks or is lost. These games always carry mild frustration with how failure is handled and I feel these choices heighten that irritation. Banging my head against a particular obstacle carried a much larger cost.

The cadence of fighting is on par for the genre. You can block incoming hits and a well-timed one will reward you with a parry. There’s a roll but sprinting around enemies to their back seems all too easy. It can trivialise some bosses but, on the whole, I like how the combat is paced. Controls are quicker to respond than expected and hits have a good weight to them.

Outside of combat, this game is not an RPG. Aran’s abilities are very much set with only stamina and health being upgradable. This is done by collecting health and stamina gems that are typically hidden around the levels. That helps encourage exploration and areas will loop back on themselves. Shortcuts can be found and, in general, I did become familiar with some of the locations. Even if I found myself heading into a dead end, the combat en route would’ve landed me extra materials.

I do think a great deal of effort has made to flesh the world out. Some of the writing is at odds with the constant peril you’re put under. It seems very keen on quips whilst trying to retain a degree of self-seriousness. I don’t think it works. Visually, it’s impressive. Dungeon design is often expansive and I got a good sense of scale from it. The first major locale feels intricate, although a little hard to navigate. You do have objective markers on hand but locations aren’t always landmarked well.

It’s not polished to a sheen but it does carry the occasional vista and holds itself together on a technical level. It looks decent although some of the enemy design can be goofy. Despite being formidable foes, trolls lack a threatening presence. The majority of your opposition is humanoid in appearance and that can definitely grate over the game’s long journey.

I think all these little issues have wore me down. Forging is handled well and an attempt has been made to make durability matter. I don’t think the balance is right and anyone hitting a brick wall will find that out in short order. The core combat has a nice feel, even if enemy variety is sorely lacking. It’s decent looker, too. Unfortunately, some locations can become difficult to navigate. From top to bottom, Blades of Fire feels like a game I can’t click with.