➤ Stray Blade, the review of an open-word soul with very great aspirations 🕹

The review of Stray Blade, an open-world adventure with RPG elements that was inspired by the soulslike universe to shape its action personality.

The result of the effort and passion of a very small team hidden in the heart of Berlin, since its announcement Stray Blade has managed to take center stage in the main specialized media on several occasions, something that not all indies can do. Of course, it is not common for a giant like 505 Games, but the attention that this independent adventure has managed to attract over time has nothing to do with its editor. On the contrary, it is ambition that Point blank games I wanted to instill in its creation the main reason why the game has often reached our pages, since after all, it is not every day we hear about an open-world action adventure with many elements of soul, a system of technical and punitive combat, set. in a constantly evolving fantasy world.

Despite these truly blockbuster premises, we were completely convinced that the title would still have to face production dimensions far removed from those typical of blockbusters, so we were eager to know what the compromise reached by Point Blank was. Now, a few days after the game's release on PC and console, we finally have a full picture of the situation and we are ready to talk to you about it in our Lost sheet review. Do you want to discover what is hidden in the Acrea Valley? Well, first, prepare to... die.

The enchanted valley

Stray Blade, the review of an open-word soul with very great aspirations — Farren West, in Stray Blade, is a hero with very sharp irony

Inequality, corruption, violence and greed. We don't know much about the world of Stray Blade, but every time it is described to us, we discover how the domination of men has turned it into a place of absolute brutality, in which it is almost impossible to survive without being beaten. to the detriment of another person. In this context, it is easy to imagine why the Acrea Valley has taken on the contours of a legendary land: it is said that ancient people here lived in complete symbiosis with the surrounding ecosystem, they believed that all creatures were somehow linked to a single vital flow, and it seems that it may be the only place where Nature still remains completely uncontaminated.

Given Acrea's fame, it was only natural that an adventurer like Faren Oeste, the main protagonist of the work and illustrious explorer, designated it as his last and greatest horizon. However, the "irrelevant nomad", as he likes to define himself, does not go very far. As soon as he sets foot in the Valley he is killed by some rocky debris, and he himself ends up embedded in Acrea's flow of eternal life, which does sound very similar to Eywa and the Na'vi Tree of Souls. . from Avatar, it's because the concept is basically the same.

Farren is now suspended in limbo, unable to leave the Valley and is being chased by a small creature as tall as a stool called bogie, which brings him back to life every time the explorer dies. The two will embark on a journey through the folklore of Acrea, which will lead Farren to discover the history and culture of the people who inhabited it, while he tries to resolve her particular situation. The adventure, from a narrative point of view, never reaches particularly high writing peaks and, in fact, is often content to act as a pure backdrop for exploration, but if it has any merit it is in showing the relationship between Farren and Boji in an exquisitely authentic way. Watching their connection strengthen, grow, and shapeshift was what kept us interested in the story, and it's definitely one of the best things Stray Blade has to offer.

semi-apple

Having put the narrative introduction of Farren and Boji's adventure in the safe, we immediately recognized all those elements that had made us talk about Stray Blade so often. The new creature from Point Blank Games is configured as athird person adventure with a strong action personality, in which the combat system is technical, reasoned and damned punitive, to the point that it is natural to compare it with that characteristic of soulslikes, although it makes some necessary distinctions.

Also here you die with two or three accurate shots, even on lower difficulties (there are four in total), and it is always necessary to strategically manage the battle, alternating block and dodge at the right time following a color pattern that identifies the type of incoming violation. However, everything seems less precise, the response of the shots is often inconsistent, while the animations are excessively busy, seem absolutely rigid and not very fluid. The situation does not change for any of the 30 weapons at Farren's disposal: each has its own personal set of moves and between spears, axes, rapiers and two-handed swords you will have many options to choose from, however, if you hold one of the lightest ones, The fluidity experienced in other souls is, in any case, just a distant, very distant memory.

Of course, forget about sticking to just one of them and then taking it with you throughout the adventure. There are no stronger weapons than others in Stray Blade, and normally their attributes are always well balanced, but despite any personal preference in the end we will be forced to use them all, since theskill tree de Farren is precisely linked to these faithful traveling companions. Each of the tree's upgrades is tied to a weapon, and only by finding the blueprint, forging it in a forge, and accumulating enough mastery will we eventually be able to spend a skill point to activate its effects. We like the idea, and in fact it is essential to dilute the repetitiveness that could have arisen due to a pool of creatures unable to evolve effectively as the game progresses. The gameplay absorbs variety due to the presence of many different move sets, making gaps on the enemy front less serious.

Linear story, generalized exploration.

Fortunately, Stray Blade does not bet all its cards solely and exclusively on combat, since a good part of the gaming experience is represented byexploration of the vast and varied world of Acrea, a large open world full of secrets and creatures, divided into three biomes very distant from each other, in terms of aesthetics and atmospheres. Of course, the adventure remains fairly linear throughout its duration, but often taking new paths always leads to something, be it a fragment of mythology, a secret, a new weapon or simple crafting materials, which are essential not only for create weapons (and, therefore, empower Farren) but also armor capable of increasing our adventurer's protection against all types of adversities.

In any case, exploring the most hidden corners of Acrea is useful, even if we do not always have access to all the routes. At least not initially. The world has a structure that includes some metroidvania elements, as entire sections of the Valley are opened to exploration only after obtaining one of the Stray Blade boss powers. There are six of them in total, unfortunately they are not particularly original and their boss fights do not have that epic nature typical of soulslikes, but at least they reward the player with special powers, which Boji can use to access areas of the world that were previously inaccessible. In reality, these powers can also be used in combat to gain advantages over the opponent, but their specific weight is so marginal that we rarely find ourselves using them against an enemy.

Since continuing the adventure unlocks new paths of travel, backtracking remains a constant in Stray Blade, and in this sense we were a little sad to see that one of the great promises of the game, that is, that of a ever changing world Over time, receptive to our presence, it did not materialize as we would have liked. The zones change and welcome new enemies, it's true, but it all seems like a mere ploy to mess up the cards on the exploration table: a forest full of aggressive creatures, the second time you find it, could house a camp full of soldiers. , and later that same camp could be attacked again by wild monsters and claimed by nature. Interesting as a system, without a doubt, but not with the depth we would have imagined.

A highly committed technical sector

is below the technical profile that the enormous compromises that Point Blank Games had to accept during the development of Stray Blade become more evident. We've already dealt with some technical issues affecting the Berlin studio's final output, such as the imprecise and stiff animations with which Farren and the enemies try to attack each other, but it's worth delving deeper into the topic in a dedicated paragraph. since of course the problems do not end here.

The game world has a visual impact discreet, also thanks to the colorful graphic style chosen by the team, but apart from this detail, all other aspects of Stray Blade highlight all the limits of a developing reality of modest size. The models are quite crude, often floating a few centimeters off the ground as the Boji character almost always does, the user interface is the victim of some graphical errors and interpenetrations are the order of the day, a balance that even for a game being strongly independent is far from acceptable. Obviously, given its open world nature, no one could legitimately expect the most visually beautiful indie in recent years, however, with a lot of additional cleaning it would have solved many, many problems that greatly penalize the player's enjoyment of the title.

Conclusions

Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam, epic games store, playstation store, Xbox Store Price 34,99 € Holygamerz.com 6.5 Readers (11) 7.9 your vote

If we ignore for a moment the brick-stiff combat system, the countless technical problems, the less-than-brilliant story, and the limited variety of enemies and situations, beneath the cloak of criticisms and flaws we might catch a glimpse of what it's all about, all things considered. a successful experiment. Point Blank Games, with the strength of an ant, knew how to create a rich open world full of opportunities and for a brief moment, before everything ended up falling under the weight of a limiting production dimension, the great vision of the Berlin studio materialized there, before our eyes. But unfortunately, intentions are never enough.