It seems the growing list of games that want to beat players into learning their game through loss and repetition continues as Blade Assault brings this same punishing gameplay. At least NEOWIZ saw that developers at Team Suneat were making the replayability entertaining for players through character skill growth and choice-based add-ons to earn.
Gameplay
Starting out you will get introduced to the controls, which are pretty much exactly what you expect from an action-focused melee combat side-scroller. This intro level will show off the main bad guy and bring you into the story, which is actually pretty straightforward. The real action begins once you are brought to the main base.
From the main base, you can meet all the different characters and what they offer for your character. These range from stat boosts, weapon buffs, and more. Once you have yourself geared up, head over to the teleporter on the far side of the base and head into the first level.
At first, I found myself just taking damage as it was while fighting enemies with the thought of just healing up later. After dying at the boss then dying again after the first boss and realizing that you will always start at this first level following a death, regardless of the progress you made, I started dodging and preserving health more. So, definitely make sure you focus on dodging and treating your health bar as a main focus because dying is quite punishing.
The early access version of the game has four bosses and at my best, I got through the first two bosses. Your progress has to be done without dying and there is no way to start the game at a level further in. So, you will either need to get good at the game or accept that you won’t get too far. But once you start learning how the various enemies attack and how to best handle each boss, it gets progressively easier. Not to mention that you will be able to keep buffing your character and weapon each time you are sent back to base.
There are also power-ups that you will get to collect along the way. At the end of each section of the level, you will get to choose between two doors that will feature a symbol for what power-up is at the end of it. Personally, I think the lightning power-ups end up going a long way once you start combining them, but each one does have its uses. However, if your health is in trouble and you really need to get it up before a boss, there is sometimes a health-focused option to choose, but it will cost you a power-up boost opportunity.
If you are worried about your health and don’t want to lose out on a power-up boost, there are intermission areas that you can rely on as well. These will cost you some of the money you have earned in the level so far, but you can get a bit of health from a food shop, lower the danger level from a sketchy guy, and get a weapon perk from a mob-type guy in the first intermission area. After the boss, you will end up on a screen where you will be able to buy a health refill, lower the danger level, and then move on to the next level. So, at least there are options, but they won’t be free.
Expectations
While I get the punishing and skill improving aspect of having players replay levels, I think it would be better to give players the option to start at a level that is past a boss or two. Since the screen between levels takes you to another teleporter, why not offer this multi-location teleportation station to players at the base? Even if they don’t do anything more than just offer this level selection option to players, it still comes with its own choices. For one, if they start at the beginning they earn more money and get more power-ups. On the other hand, if they just want to go into a level without repeating past ones, they have to go in without any power-ups and only their raw skill. I think this would open the game to being more valuable to a wider range of players.
Having somewhere in the base that lists the different power-ups that the player has used before would be a good way to let them plan for new runs. I felt like I was just picking mostly randomly the first few times that I went through the levels and it would have been nice to know at least the ones I had been using. It doesn’t need to be a counter or anything, but more like a journal to mark down past adventures.
Conclusion
Blade Assault is punishingly entertaining! Sure they make you repeat levels, but they maintain the entertainment value throughout regardless. Giving players full control in combat and then giving them the choice in their buffs and power-ups make their playthrough completely in their own control. Knowing that the character you are playing as is set up how you thought was best allows for plenty of different play styles too. Let’s just hope that they do add some level jump options here and there by the time the game is finished.
