Blade of Darkness

Largely ignored at release, Blade of Darkness has aged much better than many of its peers, provided one has the patience to get used to the controls. That said, the idea that BoD is a precursor of Dark Souls is misguided: You can save at any time, and while the game is challenging, the design isn't nearly as sadistic as Dark Souls's. If anything, it is a precursor to Castlevania: Lords of Shadows, which the people behind BoD went on to develop. At the start, one can choose between four characters, which all have their own opening level, and play quite differently. BoD lacks a difficulty selection, but the Amazon serves as the game's easy difficulty, with the other three approaching medium and hard. Each character has their unique weapons and moves, and finding out how to use these most effectively is what makes the game so endearing during the first couple of levels. The enemies likewise have their own attack patterns and moves, each different enough to warrant a specific approach. However, some of these weapons and their special attacks will turn out to be much more effective than the others, and there is no real reason not to spam those all the time. Since enemy variety is also rather limited, the combat will get quite stale and repetitive during the later levels, which is a bit of a letdown. What may keep one hooked throughout is the atmosphere. Even though there is hardly a narrative, the gritty and gloomy environments and Oscar Araujo's (who went on to score the Castlevania: Lords of Shadows series) engaging soundtrack tell enough of a story. In addition, the fact that some of the stronger attacks literally cut enemies to pieces imparts a level of realism to everything that is seldomly seen in this type of game. As for the port, the developers did a serviceable job. Niceties such as widescreen resolutions are supported out of the box, but unfortunately, some legacy bugs are still around, and even the original solutions to those still apply.

I had been playing this game since 2001 in a regular basis and loved it since the first time i played it. After Windows 7 and beyond, it became harder and harder to keep playing it due to incompatibilities that many of us had to deal with and trying to run it steady by using any trick we could use. Over the last 3-4 years, i had given up my hopes as i use Windows 10 with relatively modern hardware and my last "card" was Nglide which helped a bit more, but not as expected. I am very happy to see that some people decided to spend time and effort to make it compatible and playable again, by leaving the content intact, but with more options and much higher visual-audio quality. This means a lot to many of us who love and play such games for 2-3 decades already. I want to say a HUGE "THANK YOU" to all those people who remaster in some way such games and give us back a lost joy, knowing that such concepts are time consuming and only those who have passion can make it happen. I hope life returns to you the good you give to us in those hard times. There are many titles yet to remaster, but it will be done thanks to the people among us who make sure to make it true for us and deserve a good reward, a "thank you" is not enough. I wish i could donate to them a bunch of money and i would if i was rich without hesitation.

This is one of those games that far predates souls games that you can just feel was one of the inspirations for the series, if not specifically, then in essence for action titles made at the time, though this one is better played with M&K. Action is tight, and while I didn't get the default control layout at first, I got used to it pretty quick and appreciate why it is how it is. Four classes with their own stats and weapon specialties makes for different playstyles, and the movement and abilities are such a blend of free yet weighted that makes exploration and combat feel both heavy yet versatile. I do have some complaints, either of glitches or just odd mechanics. life potions except max restores can't be held, only drunk immediately, and archery aiming is off in such a way that you have to aim to the left of where you want to hit, as though the character is aiming without looking down the arrow. But then I pick up two short swords, get into a fight with an enemy, throw one sword at the guy, draw the other and finish him with a cleave to the neck that slices his head off, throw the second sword at another enemy while a third rushes me, draw my barbarian greatsword, and proceed to cut the last two to bits. I then get into a fight with an orc that has me on the ropes, it's aggressive and putting me on the defense, but I manage to but him down to low health, though it did the same to me. it then drinks a life potion, and now I have to just not get hit, cause I am close to death. So I get good at dodging fast, ducking and weaving around it's axe swings while cleaving and slashing at any opening I can until that SOB dies and the level up pops, restoring me to full health, and I felt a rush of relief and joy I rarely get from a lot of games. That feeling of a fun and dire challenge overcome. So yeah, this game is well worth it.

Blade of Darkness is one of my favourite childhood games of all time, I literally took the name of one of the playable characters and have been using it as my nickname ever since. The game could be considered the grandfather of Dark Souls for its difficult and elaborate combat system. Like many games, there are some combos that you can do, but they are short and are not the focus. The game is more about the direction and timing of each attack. Most games tend to have a light and a heavy attack. Blade of Darkness has maybe 10+ of them. Low cut, middle cut, spin attack, forward attack, thrust, roll thrust, etc. You achieve these different attacks by combining the attack button with the movement keys. The game has some platforming sections, but not many. Weapons actually feel like they have real weight and feel very satisfying. The game has a dismemberment system as well. It looks really good for its time, with blood splattering all over the walls and floors. Limbs actually look like they are being chopped off, instead of exploding off, like in Bethesda's games. Bodies do not disappear either, so you can play a butcher as much as you please. If you want to chop up enemies into little pieces, after you've killed them, you can. You can also take someone's limb and beat their buddy up with it, or throw someone's head at another enemy. Just about anything in this game is a weapon. You can beat people up with a stool in the earlier levels, if you wish. The game has 4 characters to choose from. Each has their own preferred abilities, armour and preferred weapons. Each characters also has their own unique starting level too. There isn’t a lot in terms of story here, but the combat is really satisfying and quality gameplay more than makes up for the lacking story. There is plenty of replay value here too. Blade of Darkness is a magnificent gem and we need more games like it, perhaps even a sequel, with some improvements in the story department.

It's funny how innovative a game from 2001 still is... such a gem. + The story is nice + The ambiance is beautiful + It has awesome lights and shadows + You can pick most of the stuff around you + Shields can break (at least the common one) + You can throw stuff (including weapons) + You can climb, dodge, run, sneak, block and attack + You can break stuff for loot + Blood and mutilations (finishing moves feel nice) + can be played with a pad + there are lots of traps - a bit clunky I don't know, I didn't find anything really negative or game-breaking. Overall, a great game.