Worth: £7.49
Developer: Insurgent Act Studio/SNEG
Writer: SNEG
Platform: PC
Initially launch in 2001, Severance: Blade of Darkness was an modern hack ‘n’ slash RPG notable for its superior dynamic lighting engine and brutal, difficult fight. It is all the time been one in all my favorite video games, however after a poor business reception upon launch, the sport has spent many of the final 20 years languishing on murky abandonware websites.
Happily, the sport has just lately been given a second lease of life because of writer SNEG, which has acquired the rights to the sport and re-released it on Steam with a barely shorter title and a few much-needed high quality of life options. Since I used to be too younger to evaluate it when it first launched, and can seemingly by no means get the prospect to put in writing about it once more, I assumed I would take this chance to say “Hey you! Play Blade of Darkness, you lemon.”
Blade of Darkness’ ambition is evident from the second you choose which character to play as. There are 4 to select from, Sargon the Knight, Naglfar the Dwarf, Zoe the Amazon and Turkaram the Barbarian. Not solely does every character have their very own moveset and weapon proficiency (Sargon is a sword-and-shield fellow whereas Zoe prefers spears and polearms) additionally they have their very own beginning places. Sargon, for instance, begins the sport with a daring escape from a fort of evil knights, whereas Turkaram searches the cursed burial grounds of his homeland for a sacred stone circle.
Every character has their very own advantages and disadvantages. Properly, aside from Naglfar, who’s typically a bit garbage. In any case Sargon’s proficiency with shields make him an excellent beginning character, as does Zoe’s agility, letting her keep away from enemy assaults with ease. For me although, Blade of Darkness has all the time been about Turkaram. Not just because his grizzled face occupies each the sport’s cowl and its loading display screen, but additionally as a result of Blade of Darkness’ main inspiration is Conan the Barbarian.
Blade of Darkness’ world closely channels the brutal, fast-paced and sometimes contextless fantasy tales of Robert E. Howard. The fortresses, temples, mines and tombs that comprise the sport’s 14 ranges (not together with the 4 introductory ranges) are launched with only some traces of dialogue that summarise that location’s historical past. The remainder is left to the extent design and your creativeness. The sport’s ranges paint an image of a fantasy world slowly decaying into oblivion, the place noble knights fall to the poisoned swords of feral orcs, and the place the lifeless lie stressed within the graves.
The entire sport has an eerie, otherworldly ambiance. You hardly ever know the names of the foes you face. You possibly can guess the names of some – it is pretty apparent what a skeleton appears to be like like, in any case. However others may very well be one in all a number of fantasy creatures, or not like something in conventional fantasy in any respect. The skinless boss you encounter on the island of Karum, for instance, is seemingly a vampire, however I solely know that due to an achievement you now get once you defeat him.
Blade of Darkness’ minimalist storytelling was criticised on the time of its launch, nevertheless it is smart in a sport the place many of the speaking is completed together with your weapon. Blade of Darkness’ fight holds up remarkably nicely. Every character has a spread of fundamental assaults, alongside round a dozen particular assaults that unlock as you stage up, and one distinctive transfer for each weapon your character can wield. You can too block enemy strikes, both with a protect or their sword. Each are fragile, nonetheless, and can break simply. So one of the best ways to keep away from getting hit is thru cautious footwork and dodging.
It takes some time to get used to character motion, which feels stiff in comparison with fashionable melee fight video games. However fight animations are slick and circulate collectively, and it does not take lengthy to get into the rhythms of battle. Fights are additionally extremely satisfying, not solely as a result of you’ll be able to lop enemies’ limbs and heads off, with gouts of viscous blood spraying from the stump, but additionally as a result of most of your foes are genuinely harmful. Skeletons and orcs are notably tough. It is simple to get snarled up of their movesets and end up hacked to bits. However even lowly goblins can put a critical dent in your well being bar, particularly in the event that they gang up in your or assault from vary with a bow and arrow.
The entire sport is just a marvellous journey. Levelling is nicely paced, and also you’re by no means far-off from selecting up a brand new weapon, whereas every stage is stuffed with nasty surprises that preserve you in your toes. There are a couple of issues although. Some weapons and talents are higher than others, with a number of both being too difficult to carry out or taking too lengthy to finish to be correctly helpful. Additionally, whereas the fight has aged nicely, the platforming has not. A few of the sport’s leaping challenges are extraordinarily clunky, and God forbid that you simply get right into a struggle on a slender ledge.
Nonetheless, for a twenty-year-old motion sport, Blade of Darkness feels extremely recent and propulsive. It additionally appears to be like incredible for its age. Some credit score ought to go to SNEG for this making the sport run persistently on fashionable machines, including correct help for widescreens and HD resolutions. However many of the credit score nonetheless lies with Insurgent Act. Blade of Darkness’ dynamic lighting and shadows have misplaced little of their energy within the final 20 years. They contribute vastly to the moody and oppressive ambiance, and the sport actually is aware of carry them into play, usually having you navigate pitch black environments with a handheld torch.
In the event you missed Blade of Darkness first time round, I totally suggest giving it a crack now for the measly £7.50 that SNEG is charging. Doubly so when you’re a fan of the Souls video games. Blade of Darkness is not fairly in the identical wheelhouse. It got here out seven years earlier than Demon’s Souls and has no actual causal hyperlink with From Software program’s landmark sequence. However there are sufficient similarities between the 2 to make it seemingly that you’re going to get pleasure from one when you favored the opposite.
