Developer MercurySteam has released a new trailer for its upcoming 3D action-adventure game Blades of Fire. The trailer, that you can check out below, offers up 5 minutes of gameplay, letting us see what the general minute-to-minute gameplay of the title will look like.
Right from the start, the trailer reveals that players will have the ability to switch between three weapons at any given time. All three weapons were crafted by the player themselves, and will feature different properties as well as unique move sets. This ability to switch weapons on the fly also comes in handy quite early in the trailer, when the player’s sword ends up breaking.
The trailer also puts quite a bit of emphasis on the player picking the right kind of weapon depending on the combat situation. Since each weapon will have different properties, ranging from the more refined slashes and thrusts of a sword to the wide-arcing swings of a Warhammer.
Aside from the core combat, the trailer also lets us get a glimpse of its lush world. The trailer takes part in what appears to be a forested area, with several paths available for players to take thanks to cliffs and ravines. Ultimately, the trailer ends when the protagonist finds a Forger’s Anvil, which seems to act as a checkpoint and fast-travel point for players to use down the line.
Blades of Fire was unveiled back in February. Developed by the studio behind Metroid Dread, the game is currently in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The PC version of the game will be available exclusively through Epic Games Store when it comes out on May 22.
Lead game designer Joan Amat revealed details about how the main progression systems of Blades of Fire will work earlier this month. Writing about how the studio doesn’t want players to turn into magical gods by the end of the game, Amat revealed that progression in Blades of Fire will revolve around players forging and using their own weapons.
“You definitely can’t turn Aran into a magic god at the end of Blades of Fire, right? There are lots of spectacular things that you could do, have your weapon shoot fireballs or other things that are really spectacular,” said Amat. “This is not our aim! Our aim is to make everything really important.”
When it comes to the Forge system itself, Blades of Fire will allow players to craft “almost infinite” combinations of weapons, depending on the parts they choose.
“[Historical YouTubers] are talking about edges; they’re talking about balance, the center of mass, grips and handling, and edge alignment. They’re not talking about agility, strength, stamina, intelligence, and dexterity, right? Those are not the stats,” explained Amat.
“When we moved from the stats combo into a challenge mentality, balance became so much easier. We only really need to make sure that the enemy is strong against some things and weak against some other things. There are all these other great RPGs that are about power complexity. That’s not what this game is about.”
For more details on Blades of Fire, check out how the game is going to be “strongly narrative-driven”, and how the curiosity of players will drive them to uncovering more of the story by themselves.
