Blades Of Fire Review Round-Up & Release Date Info
Blades of Fire
Blades of Fire caught my eye. A few months back, I was looking through the latest posts from the gazillion YouTube channels I subscribe to, and I saw a trailer for 505 Games' new fantasy, third-person action title.
I love third-person action games with large enemies and good combat, and while I hadn't heard of MercurySteam's Blades of Fire up to that point, I was interested as the art style and overall vibe piqued my interest.
I still haven't played it, though I plan to put some time in once it releases. However, I have done some research to gather the impressions from others in the industry. I'll share those here, but first, here is the release information you need to know if you're interested in trying the game yourself.
Some have praised the weapons-forging system, while others have said that it is a mild distraction from a disjointed story and an overly simplistic combat system.
IGN's Jada Griffin loves the 'superb crafting' of weapons but laments the title's 'uneven story and combat that lacks real depth.'
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Griffin slammed the title with a harsh 5 out of 10 rating.
While acknowledging a few of the same issues Griffin pointed out, Tom Orry of Eurogamer wrote this in his review:
Orry scored the game 4 out of 5 stars.
Abbie Stone of GamesRadar also gave it 4 out of 5 stars and gushed over the diverse experience the game provides:
On the downside again, Slant's Justin Clark absolutely slammed Blades of Fire for a lack of enjoyment:
As you may have guessed, Clark scored the title low. To be specific, he gave it two stars on a five-star scale.
Whenever scores are this mixed on a title from major publications, it tells me one thing: I need to play it for myself. As is the case with everything, it likely comes down to preference and what you're in the mood to play.
I'd be lying if I said I was fired up to spend a bunch of time crafting weapons in search of a major payoff. That's not normally why I'd play a game like Blades of Fire. I'm also worried about the cutscenes leaving a lot to be desired.
Still, I'm going to give it a whirl and I'll let you know my thoughts.
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Further problems with his left hamstring came in January 2018 and March 2019. A muscle tear in his right thigh in May 2019. A muscle tear in his left thigh the following August. A complete right hamstring tear in February 2020. A knee tendon issue in June 2021 that forced him out of Euro 2020. By the time he left Barcelona in the summer of 2023, after six seasons at the club, he had missed no fewer than 119 matches due to injury. It did not help that, even when he was fit, he did not always seem entirely present, with repeated instances of lateness driving the club's decision-makers to distraction. Dembele was living with Diatta and his uncle in a luxurious house in Barcelona's upmarket Pedralbes neighbourhood and the fear within the club was that he was spending too much time playing video games and not enough time focused on football. 'In his early days, he didn't have the professional mindset of a Barca player,' says a source who worked with Dembele during his time at the club. 'His eating habits were horrible. He also had a phase when he'd show up very late for training. He was fined for that multiple times. Sometimes he'd fall asleep at home and that was it. He even missed medical appointments.' Diatta puts Dembele's teething problems at Barca down to inexperience. 'When you buy a player at such a young age and there are lots of expectations around him, you should be able to forgive him a few little mistakes,' he says. Eventually, the penny dropped. Encouraged by his agent, Moussa Sissoko, Dembele took on a full-time personal chef, Anthony Audebaud, in the summer of 2019. Out went the Coca-Cola and the ready meals, in came the sea bream, the sea bass, the spring chicken and the vegetables. 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Although his attacking statistics remained largely underwhelming, he bowed out as a Barca player with three La Liga titles and two Copa del Rey wins to his name. 'He eventually became a sort of veteran in the dressing room and his team-mates understood him better in his last years,' says the Barcelona source. 'Dembele ended up being loved for how he was.' The turnaround in Dembele's Barca fortunes also permitted him to resurrect his international career. He played only a peripheral role in France's triumph at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, having lost his place after their opening game, and then went 860 days without playing for Les Bleus between November 2018 and March 2021. But although injury curtailed his involvement at Euro 2020, he was a first-choice pick on the right flank at both the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024. Close to Kylian Mbappe, Dembele is popular in the France squad due to his irrepressible bonhomie and has long retained national coach Didier Deschamps' backing, in spite of his many injury problems, thanks to his unique ability to unlock matches. 'Some players understand things very quickly and are already mature at the age of 19 or 20, like Kylian,' says Ludovic Batelli, who coached both Dembele and Mbappe at under-19 level with France. 'I think Ousmane needed a bit more time to understand that work, rigour and discipline would make him even more effective and successful. But as they say — better late than never.' Having agreed to meet a €50million (£42.9m, $54.9m) release clause in Dembele's Barcelona contract, the PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi sold his club's project to the forward by vowing that he would be the homegrown figurehead of a young, hungry team with a strong French identity. Paris had been a 70-minute train ride from Evreux during Dembele's childhood and he had happy memories of going to watch games with his friends at the Parc des Princes. Advertisement It helped, too, that Dembele already knew PSG's newly appointed coach. While coach of Barcelona, Luis Enrique had enquired about the winger's availability following his breakthrough at Rennes, only for Dembele to inform him that he had already given his word to Dortmund. Seven years on, their paths finally converged. 'Luis Enrique was fiercely protective of him, right from day one,' says a source close to the PSG coach. 'He was confident that he had something magical in his hands and that under him, Dembele was going to flourish.' After claiming a league and Coupe de France double alongside Mbappe in his maiden PSG season, Dembele was one of the players expected to step up to the plate when his long-time friend left the French capital for Real Madrid last summer. Things did not get off to the best start when he was dropped on disciplinary grounds for PSG's 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in the Champions League in October. Dembele had questioned Luis Enrique's possession-heavy tactics during a team briefing and subsequently reported late for a training session, although a source close to him suggests that he was primarily axed for the trip to the Emirates Stadium in order to send a message to the rest of the squad. Yet only two months later, Luis Enrique happened upon a tactical innovation that would reinvigorate PSG's season — and transform Dembele's career. The decision to deploy Dembele as a false nine for a 3-1 home win over Lyon in mid-December proved the spark for a stupendous run of goal-scoring form in which the France international racked up 27 goals in only 22 appearances. Amassed in the space of only three and a half months, it represented twice as many goals as he had ever previously mustered over the course of an entire season. Dembele, who has scored 33 goals in all competitions, attributes his improved fortunes to the fact that his central role means he has to expend less effort in order to get into shooting positions, enabling him to take aim at goal with fresher legs. Sources close to him additionally point to the hours of work he has spent on his finishing in training over the last 12 months, as well as input from a personal video analyst. Advertisement As the deliberately elusive focal point of a deliberately loose-limbed starting XI, the super-fit Dembele also plays a pivotal role in PSG's build-up play and their formidable pressing game. Having turned 28 earlier this month, Dembele is one of the senior figures in the PSG squad. Although grand speeches have never been his style ('a connector rather than a leader' is how one source describes him), he fulfils an important function in the club's youthful, multilingual changing room. 'He speaks several languages, which facilitates links with his team-mates,' says a source close to the PSG squad. 'He's also someone who's very jovial, who likes taking the mick, and that helps to create a good atmosphere and bind the squad together.' Dembele's performances have also benefited from the fact that, away from the pitch, he has moved into a more settled phase in his life. He married Moroccan influencer Rima Edbouche in December 2021 and they had a baby daughter in September 2022. A practicing Muslim, PSG's No 10 is scrupulously discrete about his private life and describes himself as 'casanier', meaning 'a homebody'. Though fatherhood and the demands of elite-level football have inevitably reduced the amount of free time on his hands, he remains a committed Football Manager player and watches as much live football as he can. 'I watch practically every championship,' he confided to Le Parisien last year. Few would have bet on him emerging from the current campaign with a stronger claim to the Ballon d'Or than Mbappe. But according to those who know him, until he has the Champions League trophy in his hands, thoughts of individual glory can wait. 'For him, the most important thing is to win the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain, because it would be something historic,' says best friend Diatta. Advertisement 'And it'd be deserved, when you look at his journey. He's been through tough times, people have spoken ill of him, about the injuries and things like that, but he's never complained. He's just kept working.' One more assured first touch, one more thumping finish, and a little boy's dreams will all come true. Additional reporting: Pol Ballus (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Franc Fife / Getty, Aurelien Meunier/ Getty Images, Franco Arland/ Getty)
