Recently we’ve seen a lot of “spiritual successors”. Some of them have been amazing, like Dark Souls, but others not so much. The latest game to join this group is Blades of Time. Taking the ideas in X Blades to the next level, will Blades of Time stand out or will it be a waste of time?
Let’s check out what’s HOT and what’s NOT in our review of Blades of Time.
HOT
Story
The story starts with a cult, which has this special orb. Apparently this orb is a way to “Dragon Land”, which is said to be filled with treasure. You play Ayumi, an adept treasure hunter, who wants the treasure in Dragon Land. After finally getting there, it turns out to be a completely different situation. From here, the story is about two warring factions for control of this land.
Unlike a lot of games, the story is balanced and logical. Most events are predictable, but this is only because the story is logical. Nothing is from left field, nor is anything contradictory to the story either. It’s in no way the best story, though it’s above average. If you’re looking for a decent story, you should be happy with Blades of Time.
Environments
Despite the unoriginal name, Dragon Land is surprising well done. As you progress through the game, you will see various locations. These include a desert, ice temple, sky palace and a jungle. Each place is quite vibrant, with its own charm. The jungle for instance, is quite lush, but it’s still clearly foreign. Despite the okay visuals, the locations should draw you in all the same.
Online
The online is something different. Similar to a tower defense game, you have to rush your enemy and destroy their bases. Randomly boss tier enemies will attack and offer you some challenge to deal with. Throughout the match, you will earn several awards. Each award is for doing something natural, so don’t expect it to be “headshot 10 enemies in a row without reloading or missing”. This can make the mode quite fun in the long term. The biggest highlight is how it’s set up.
Most modes have a co-op and versus choice, but in Blades of Time, it’s the same. In versus mode, you lose the bosses, but need to fight another human. In co-op mode, you fight super bosses, but are aided by another human. If you lack internet, can’t find a match (warning they’re uncommon already) or want to play alone, there’s also the choice to play alone offline. Naturally, this mode could be more fleshed out, like finishers/counters were removed, but the awards are addictive enough to forget about them.
NOT
Unique Elements
After you get to Dragon Land, you will learn about your compass. Despite the name, it’s a glorified waypoint that requires an input. However, unlike most waypoints, it also points to hidden treasure. The only problem is that a select few areas actually require assistance. Besides them, it will be your easily forgettable source for hard to find treasure. To find most treasures, you will actually have to pull out the compass a lot, but it’s not exactly useful either. This is because it doesn’t point up or down, so to find its location, you will need to figure out where and how to get it.
A little later in the game, you gain the ability to rewind time. For once, it’s actually a pretty cool system. As you rewind time, a version of yourself will redo everything. This means that two versions of yourself, will be doing different things. As you constantly rewind time, more copies of yourself will join in the fight. These characters will only exist for as long as they appeared in the past. While this element is good, there are some bad elements too.