MercurySteam’s Blades of Fire throws players into a world where every swing of steel carries consequences. You take on the role of Aran De Lira, a solitary blacksmith whose quiet life among the pines is shattered by a friend’s brutal murder at the hands of a despotic queen. From that moment, you’re tasked with unraveling her curse that turns living steel to stone, using nothing but a magical forging hammer and sheer determination.
This action title draws heavily from the Soulslike tradition—labyrinthine map layouts, punishing checkpoints, respawning foes—yet it carves out its own identity through a weapon degradation system that nudges you away from comfortable playstyles. There’s no experience-point progression here; instead, you harvest materials from fallen enemies and forge new weapons on the spot.
That mechanic feels equally inspired by Atelier’s crafting puzzles and the tactical demands of Metroid Dread. Enemy encounters shift between one-on-one duels and chaotic skirmishes, where small attackers exploit tight camera angles and larger adversaries demand precise timing.
Throughout, the game’s aesthetic wavers between gothic horror—chandeliers festooned with bone-like fingers—and pulp adventure, as Aran and his bestiary-curating companion trade witty banter while wading through blood-soaked corridors. Players willing to embrace its quirks will find a challenging journey that rewards experimentation and perseverance, even as it tests patience at every turn.
A Cursed Realm and Its Unlikely Heroes
Aran’s journey kicks off with a vengeance-driven premise: after his friend’s throat is slit by agents of the Queen, he must navigate a realm where even steel has turned to stone. This revenge arc bears shades of Sekiro’s single-minded pursuit of a foe, yet MercurySteam layers it with environmental puzzles and ritualistic set pieces that recall Metroid Dread’s intricate level design.
Early segments can feel disorienting—maps lack clear landmarks and objectives remain cryptic—but once the plot picks up pace, players discover rites that unlock new forging blueprints and face towering monsters whose defeat reveals deeper strands of the Queen’s dark magic.
Aran himself embodies hyper-masculine iconography: broad-shouldered, hammer in hand, his exterior toughness masks moments of reluctant empathy. That contrast crystallizes in his interactions with Adso, a youthful scholar whose diegetic bestiary entries and upbeat commentary cut through the gore. Where Aran chops through undead knights with thunderous swings, Adso offers quips—“That beast would make a fine sketch!”—which can lighten the mood without trivializing the stakes.
Other NPCs drift in and out: a purple ogre monarch with theatrical flair, a skeletal companion whose wordless loyalty adds a touch of pathos. These side characters enrich the journey, though some lines—especially from the ghost guide—repeat so often they break immersion, like an echo in a cavern too small to contain it.
Tone shifts are most effective when horror and pulp adventure collide. One moment you’re in a chandelier-strewn hall dripping with blood, the next you’re racing through sunlit woods in pursuit of crafting materials. At its best, Blades of Fire harnesses both extremes without undercutting its own drama, crafting a narrative rhythm that propels you deeper into its twisted kingdom.
Precision and Decay in Battle
At its heart, Blades of Fire demands more than button-mashing—it asks you to think like a blacksmith-turned-warrior. Every foe presents a unique armored profile, and your attacks must adapt: overhead swings shred unarmored torsos, low slashes carve through greaves, thrusts pierce chain mail.
This directional system, mapped neatly to the four face buttons, echoes Monster Hunter’s targeted strikes more than the hack-and-slash rhythm of Dark Souls. Rather than defaulting to a favorite blade, you’re encouraged to experiment: claymores for stagger-heavy bruisers, daggers for nimble skirmishers, spears to keep charging enemies at bay. This variety keeps each skirmish fresh, since no single weapon dominates every encounter.
Weapon degradation sits at the core of this loop. Unlike most action RPGs, your gear will snap under strain, forcing you into the forge or onto the battlefield with someone else’s weapon. It’s a bold twist on the genre’s usual material hoarding—instead of squirreling away a rare sword, you recycle broken arms into new designs.
Claymores crumble after prolonged use, so you might start a boss fight with a broadsword and finish it with twin axes salvaged mid-battle. Those heavy attacks, when they land, deliver satisfying screen-shaking impacts—yet they remain vulnerable to interruption, demanding smart spacing and timing.
Defensive options hinge on weapon stats rather than shields. Blocking with your blade drains stamina based on steel quality, and parrying that perfect overhead swing refunds enough stamina to chain into a counter-offensive. This recalls the parry system in Sekiro, though here the reward is less about posture and more about raw endurance. Dodge rolls require a double-tap input, splitting the difference between a quick sidestep and a longer evade—choosing between the two becomes a tactical decision in heated moments.
Group engagements prove the ultimate test of these mechanics. Picture a hulking troll swinging its maul while tiny sword-toting skirmishers leap in from off-screen, much like ambushers in Bloodborne. The camera often tightens around major threats, obscuring peripheral adds until they strike.
Without clear sightlines, you’ll rely on glowing outlines—an admission that clarity can falter amidst clutter. Fights against Morlocks in dark caverns amplify this issue: their light-sensitive nature turns every hallway into a gauntlet of hidden attacks. Yet, when the system clicks—when you parry, dodge, and land a crushing heavy blow in succession—the chaos resolves into a choreography of steel and strategy.
Hammer of Destiny: Crafting Your Arsenal
Every blade in Blades of Fire begins at the forge, where Aran’s mastery—or lack thereof—shapes both his arsenal and his fate. Players choose from different woods and steels, each combination altering damage type, stamina cost, and durability.
After selecting a blueprint, you enter a hammering mini-game: a timing-based puzzle that requires precise strikes to match the silhouette of the weapon. Nail the pattern and you gain extra repair uses; miss too often and your hammering bars wobble, leaving you with a tool that cracks sooner under pressure.
Killing an enemy often unlocks its own weapon design, turning battlefield victories into crafting blueprints. That system rewards thorough exploration: dispatch sixty Morlocks and you can forge their tridents, for instance. Rare materials—dragon-scale steel, archaic timber—boost stats but exist in limited supply. Use them all at once, and you may find yourself unable to repair your favorite axe, forcing a trip back to the anvil for component recycling. It’s a tension akin to Monster Hunter’s resource management, where hoarding parts for one build can leave you stranded in a later hunt.
This crafting layer becomes a strategic chess match. Enemies display colored outlines indicating weak points; a glowing blue hue signals blade efficacy, while orange denotes resistance. The UI clarifies these relationships, allowing players to plan loadouts before a major fight. Experimenting yields varied playstyles: a spear for reach against ogre bosses, twin daggers for rapid parries against swift assassins.
Still, the process has its flaws. The hammering puzzle, impressive at first, can become repetitive and opaque, especially when perfection unlocks critical repair uses. Weapon degradation forces constant gear rotation, which may frustrate players who prefer sticking with a single weapon. Forge trips break combat flow, demanding frequent returns to base despite a world that begs to be explored. Yet for those willing to embrace the smith’s craft, the rewards—both in performance and personal investment—are hard to ignore.
Labyrinths of Steel and Shadow
Blades of Fire unfolds across sweeping biomes—from moonlit forests to sun-scorched deserts, frostbitten peaks to crumbling castles—each rendered with a nostalgic sheen that calls back to PS2-era epics like Shadow of the Colossus. Yet MercurySteam layers in surreal touches: colossal flying ants ferrying bizarre forges, ruins draped in skeletal chandeliers, and desert tombs carved into giant stone hands. This retro-futurist flair gives every zone its own character while maintaining modern fidelity in lighting and texture work.
However, the journey through this fractured kingdom can feel more maze than map. Pathways twist around hidden ledges and drop-offs, often without clear signposts. The in-game map sketches out territories but omits critical shortcuts, forcing you to memorize branching corridors.
Objective markers sometimes sit behind locked doors or context-sensitive prompts—unlit vines require a specific tool before you can climb, and invisible platforms only appear when you stand in precisely the right spot. This design recalls early Metroidvania titles where blind leaps of faith were part of the ritual, but here it leans into frustration when missteps send you back through hostile zones.
Rewards for exploration offset that tedium. Scattered secret rooms house health-flask upgrades, stamina enhancements, and rare forging materials. In one forest glade, a concealed alcove reveals a hidden hammer gem that amplifies repair durability—a discovery that instantly justifies the detour.
Environmental puzzles often hinge on lateral thinking: redirecting molten metal streams to unlock gates or striking ancient runes in sequence to reveal secret passages. Observant players who piece together these visual riddles uncover the game’s deepest treasures, turning obscure backtracking into gratifying moments of discovery.
Forging Ahead—Flow, Challenge, and Growth
Blades of Fire sidesteps traditional XP systems, placing progression squarely on your ability to scavenge materials and craft superior weapons. Enemies disgorge steel shards, rare woods, and arcane runes, while tucked-away alcoves yield extra health flasks or stamina boosts. This design keeps the spotlight on mechanics and gear selection rather than grinding levels, more akin to Dark Souls’ emphasis on equipment than a standard action RPG’s experience treadmill.
Checkpoints come in the form of anvils—resting replenishes health, flasks refill, and your current weapon is repaired. Yet every rest also revives foes, turning each return trip into a calculated risk. When you fall, your equipped weapon drops where you died, prompting a tense return journey to reclaim it before it vanishes. After the opening woodland area, challenge spikes sharply: ambushes by spider-like Morlocks, tight corridors housing frost giants, and boss arenas that demand swift adaptation to new enemy patterns.
The difficulty curve feels jagged at first. Newcomers can find the world’s opaque objectives and relentless foes overwhelming. Yet once you master timing parries, decide when to craft a fresh blade, and navigate shortcuts, the mid-to-late game opens up into a satisfying rhythm. Every hard-won victory against a formidable foe carries weight, rewarding patience and the willingness to learn through repeated failure.
Under the Hood—Smooth Blows and Rough Edges
On Xbox Series X, Blades of Fire maintains a steady frame rate that keeps combat crisp, with every heavy strike accompanied by satisfying screen shake and a burst of blood particles. These visceral effects amplify the weight of each blow, recalling Sekiro’s impactful animations. However, load times between environments can feel excessive, interrupting immersion after triumphant boss defeats or lengthy exploration sessions.
MercurySteam equips players with extensive accessibility controls: remap any button, adjust subtitle size and background opacity, enable high-contrast outlines, or tweak camera shake and vibration strength. Such options prove invaluable when battling amid cluttered arenas or deciphering enemy weak points through color-coded outlines.
Nonetheless, minor polish issues linger. Certain NPC quips loop repeatedly—especially the resident ghost companion—pulling focus away from tense moments. Tight camera angles during multi-enemy clashes occasionally obstruct critical telegraphs, leading to unfair hits. A handful of glitches in terrain collisions and prompt timing remind players that even the sturdiest forge can show cracks.
The Review
Blades of Fire Day
Blades of Fire delivers a bold fusion of Soulslike intensity and Atelier-style crafting that rewards curiosity and persistence. Its weapon degradation system and directional combat demand constant adaptation, while the surreal world design invites exploration despite occasional navigational headaches. Technical polish and accessibility options bolster its strengths, though repeated NPC lines and load times can jar the flow. For players seeking a bristly, memorable challenge, this dark fantasy forge is well worth the hammering.
PROS
- Innovative crafting system urges experimentation with varied weapon types
- Directional combat delivers precise, tactical encounters
- Visually striking zones blend retro-futurist fantasy with modern detail
- Robust accessibility options accommodate diverse playstyles
- Enemy variety and boss designs keep battles engaging
CONS
- Forging mini-game can feel repetitive and occasionally opaque
- Maze-like level design and sparse map cues hamper navigation
- Weapon degradation disrupts combat flow for some players
- Repeated NPC lines interrupt immersion
- Noticeable load times between major areas
