Intro and Gameplay
MercurySteam is a Spanish developer that I’ve been since the early days and absolutely fell in love with them during the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow days when they absolutely knocked it out of the park with that series and have continued an awesome streak with Metroid and other titles. With Blades of Fire, they continue to show their creative chops.
Now, it’s 2025 and we continue to have amazing, unique gaming experiences shoved into our laps and I’m all for it. It’s unbelievable it’s only May and here we are with another creative show of force to explore and tinker with. I say tinker because you WILL be creating, tinkering, breaking, and repeating this cycle many times with BoF. What seems like a run-of-the-mill action adventure game slowly morphs into something much more unique and different than what’s on the market today. I won’t spoil the story or other aspects of the game but I will say that if you love discovering, crafting, and learning new weapon types, this game is for you. Every weapon set and skill moves are so unique with a every enemy type requiring a different technique to bash and take down.
Graphics and Sound
There are some incredibly beautiful and magical settings in BoF and the art style overall is quite gorgeous to look at, especially maxed out on PC with our RTX 5090. The range between bloody and beautiful are constantly shifting throughout the game, the artists are MercurySteam do not vary. They are absolute masters of their craft and the character designs are some of the strong points of the otherwise haunting swamps, villages, and misty mountaintops.
The audio portion of the game is equally if not even more impressive with some stellar voice acting, punishingly good sound effects, and a unique musical score that never gets old or stale. I promise the smack of the hammers, swords, and forging your weapons are satisfying AF.
Generally, this game is a true work of visual and aural art!
Feedback and Verdict
I do have a few nitpicks with the game and it’s mainly navigating the menus and crafting portions of the game with mouse and keyboard but with controllers, it’s totally fine. Also, the crafting mini game is unique but it’s extremely difficult to get a great weapon IMHO and they break a little too often a la Breath of the Wild. Lastly, some of the maps are a bit cramped and felt a little disjointed. Either way, I am definitely hoping for some polish and balance patches on or around launch.
Overall, Blades of Fire is an absolute blast to play and one of the best surprises of 2025. It melds so many other genres and games together to form a bloody, meaty fantasy brawler that is uniquely MercurySteam and that’s one of the best complements I could give.
