Developer Mercury Steam is perhaps best known for 2010’s Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and, more recently, Metroid Dread. The studio’s newest game, Blades of Fire, is a tough action-adventure RPG with Soulslike elements and a surprisingly in-depth weapon-forging mini-game.
The initial experience can be daunting. Tutorials are few and far between; players are simply thrust into the action. Enemies can easily overwhelm you.You need to be methodical in dealing with them, striking when the iron is hot. On top of this, you’ll need to be mindful in how you create your weapons to maximize damage. Here are some tips for starting out. So let’s go over a few early best-practices.
Always carry different kinds of weapons
This might seem obvious, but having a variety of different weapons at your disposal can save you from death. Whether you have a lance, hammer, or greatsword, every enemy has specific, yet different, weaknesses.
It’s pretty easy to tell which enemies have which weaknesses once you have a decent selection of weapons: Just lock-on to an enemy and switch between your weapons until a green outline surrounds the enemy. A yellow outline means the enemy has no particular weaknesses or resistances to the weapon equipped; red means they’ll resist damage from that particular weapon. And you’ll definitely want to pay attention to red outlines as hitting an enemy with something they’re resistant to can also damage your weapon.
Experiment with the objective and outline settings
Initially, Blades of Fire will not show you where your next objective is. Instead, you’ll need to go into the game’s settings and click the option that says, “Show next objective.” You’re required to do this every time you reach the next objective. It’s not ideal, but if you’re totally confused as to where to go next, see if objective indicators are enabled.
Other useful features include the “Enemy Outline” and “Outline Intensity” options. When locking onto an enemy, you can choose whether their outlines will always be on or off. You’ll want them on at first to see what weapons they’re weak to. But you can adjust how they look. The Outline Intensity slider lets you adjust how bold the outlines are. I prefer max intensity so I can clearly see what weapons my enemies were weak to.
Break everything. All the time
Like any other Soulslike, enemies in Blades of Fire will respawn every time you rest at a save point. By defeating enemies, you pick up a steady stream of materials needed to continue forging and crafting your weapons. True to its inspirations,another way to earn more materials is to just destroy every box and barrel you come across.
Don’t expect an item every time you smash up a box. Many are empty, but over the course of a session, you’ll come across enough items for the spontaneous destruction to be worth it. Hitting these also doesn’t degrade your weapon as hitting an enemy would, so there are literally no downsides to doing so.
Don’t fear difficulty options
Soulslike games are difficult, but some have managed to stand out by actually offering difficulty options. like Khazan: The First Berserker. While Blades of Fire isn’t exactly a Soulslike game, its combat and difficulty are core to their identity as difficult games. Enemies swarm you constantly, and it can be easy to feel like you’re drowning in death after death. If you’re not paying attention, even smaller, weaker enemies can pile on enough damage to kill you before you know it. But you can make the experience easier.
Blades of Fire has three difficulty levels: Bronze, Iron, and Steel. Even on the lowest Bronze difficulty, I still ran into difficult challenges with enemies dealing tons of damage and my stamina always being an essential thing to manage. The core of the genre doesn’t feel sacrificed by an easier setting; it just makes the game more approachable.
Difficulty level also affects your recovery time and the cost of repairing weapons. If you’re up for an extra challenge, go ahead and pick from the harder difficulties. But if you want an easier but still simulating time, Bronze difficulty should more than suffice.
Blades of Fire launches on May 22 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Epic Games Store.