This one gets a thumbs up from me.Want to check out our previous AMAs? Click here. YouвЂ™ll probably want to play a demo if youвЂ™re new to it, but, if itвЂ™s fun, itвЂ™s fun. But, I feel that Blade of Darkness is still absolutely worth it, as long as you enjoy these kinds of games. ItвЂ™s got some quirks that will be hard to look past, true. As a fan of action RPGs, I canвЂ™t help but have a really good time playing it 20 years later. Blade of DarknessВ is undoubtedly a game with a lot of issues, but itвЂ™s also got a ton of character. I love dodging out of the way and hitting an enemy during their attack openings, jank and all. She doesnвЂ™t use shields, but she uses staves and spears and has the best dodge in the game, making her an absolute powerhouse. My favorite character is Zoe, the Amazon. ItвЂ™s got a lot of immersive sim-esque elements and the way you use gear and carefully tread the environment while watching out for traps is satisfying, scratching that itch that only games from this era can. ItвЂ™s janky and awkward, sure, but thereвЂ™s something that I canвЂ™t help but really enjoy about playing it. Despite all of the jank and control issues, the game is strangely compelling. You also have to save manually, awkwardly scrolling the menu with the arrow keys to do so.Д«ut, hereвЂ™s the thing. Blade of Darkness is a dated game that could have really used some quality of life changes, thatвЂ™s for sure. IвЂ™m sure most of this doesnвЂ™t sound all that great. After completing the opening stage, you then have a choice of stages on a map. Enemy shields, of course, are much more resilient than your own, as they suddenly become far more durable in a foeвЂ™s grasp.

The lock-on is similarly problematic, as it can be a real pain to keep enemies in sight. The A and D keys donвЂ™t strafe outside of when youвЂ™re locked on, so your character just turns with the camera glued to their back. However, shields break veryВ quickly, so dodging is often the better choice. Different characters make use of different weapons and some can use shields. Blade of DarknessВ takes some real getting used to, as you have to press a key to identify items and then press another to pick them up. A knight, an Amazon, a Dwarf, and a barbarian make up the roster, each with their own opening level. On start-up, you have four characters to choose from. Although, this game can be downright punishing. This release is being advertised as a kind of granddaddy to Souls-likes, which isnвЂ™t really true at all. The awkward controls, clunky combat, and clumsy interface are all very much at play here. That should clue you into exactly what sort of re-release this is. It turns out that you can only select things using the arrow keys and enter. Neither my mouse nor WASD would do anything on the menu. Upon starting the game up, I was under the impression that something was wrong. But the question still stands: is Blade of Darkness worth it after all these years? For better or worse, nothing has been changed. To be blunt, this is a straightforward re-release of the game that just updates it to run on modern hardware.

The original game was developed by Rebel Act Studios, which disbanded after the title failed to sell well. IвЂ™m not sure why the nameвЂ™s different now, but there you go. Blade of DarknessВ was originally released back in 2001 in the US, as Severance: Blade of Darkness.

Blade of darkness