I hadn't bought the original version when it was available on GOG before but I bought the re-release when it released yesterday. I now have only one entry in my GOG library ("Blade of Darkness"), but the re-release does include the original game in its file structure.

So you can just install the re-release and then start the original game by either
1. double-clicking on \Blade of Darkness\classic\Bin\Blade.exe or
2. right-clicking on your GOG Galaxy entry, selecting "Additional executables" and then clicking on "Play (old version)"

Good to see the legacy version as free update.

This is a really nice release.
1st: Free upgrade for previous owners!
2nd: Legacy version is availible as well!
3rd: A demo. A demo!

And all this for an actually cool game --- very nice, very nice.

Such a nice move to include the original version and update to the new one for free.

I must have been living under a rock because I didn't know this game, but this re-release has been very customer-friendly. I will check this further (perhaps try the demo).

Does this game have exploration or it is more linear fighting through stages?

Aha! Thank you!!
I've been confused about this for a while. I wasn't sure if I had bought this already or not. I saw forum posts about Blade of Darkness being removed, but it wasn't in my library so I thought I hadn't. Then it shows up again today but no legacy edition.

Now I see what happened.

The new one is called Blade of Darkness and is filed under B
The old one is called Severance: Blade of Darkness and is filed under S

So I didn't see it because I wasn't looking under "S" for "Blade of Darkness"

Wow I have the old version and had no idea it would be free.

Thank you very much, it's a true masterpiece.

Hope the new players enjoy it.

There is fair amount of exploration, for level construction think of old school FPS games. One also needs collect pieces of artifact hidden in certain levels to get true final boss and true ending.

Maybe you know it as "Severance", although the "Blade of Darkness" part was in the title as well. I still own the Severance disc version. Oh and fun fact, the game was developed by a Spanish studio ;)

May I add.. It's been a long time but if I remember correctly, it is possible to revisit levels. So, if you missed any of the artifact pieces, all is not lost.

But it's mostly linear.

This was an ambitious game designed and developed by the former spanish company Rebel Act Studios (who created their own engine from 0 as a base to the game) that didn't have comercial success despite it's critical acclaim. The promotion of the game was certainly greater in Spain (through Micromania and other spanish magazines from the era) than in the US, for instance, and this more than certainly contributed to its general commercial failure.

Rebel Act was dissolved as a company a bit later and former developers splitted in 2 groups: the first to found Digital Legends at Barcelona (actually the only make mobile games like Respawnables Heroes) and the other one to form MercurySteam at Madrid (actually working for Nintendo, see Metroid Dread game)

Blade came out just a bit before Commandos 2, for your reference. And btw given the commercial failure Micromania gave the complete game for free -along with DOOM 3 with the map editor included- on its #120 issue from 2005, both on DVD-ROM.

Good Old G...err i mean, Times for PC, indeed :)

tl;dr yes, you must have been living under a rock! ;)

There is a very particular feature in he savegame system of this game. In the game you are free to save everywhere like in any traditional PC game, but it has a very simple way to press yourself in how are you doing. If you have saved only once in the map, at the end of the save name you will see things like "Impressive", "excelent" etc. And the term is worse the more saves you make in the game.

It does not affect in anything real except in your own will solving the map. An autochallenge to pass the game with the less number of saves possible.
I have never seen anything similar in any other game I am aware, but it is effective in its simplicity if you want to take this in account when you play the game.

This is an amazing game and everyone that enjoys action adventure games and retro sword and sorcery vibes should play it. PLAY THIS GAME!!!

Game doesn't boot..... Click play on Galaxy, play button grays out, and nothing happens, no applications hanging in my task manager, just NOTHING happens.


Blade.exe in bin/bin doesn't do anything either.