Bladesong is a sword-making sim that needs a little more edge | Hands-on preview

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As an old-time gamer who’s seen more pixels than a digital artisan’s workshop, I must say Bladesong is like a siren call to my creative side. The idea of crafting masterful weapons with intricate designs that are both deadly and aesthetically pleasing is a tantalizing prospect.

Bladesong is a game that often leaves me yearning for artistic skills. While I can construct coherent sentences just fine, my drawing abilities are rather limited without help. The core concept of Bladesong involves crafting aesthetically pleasing or downright bizarre weapons that not only effectively wound opponents but also boast an appealing or unsettling appearance. Ultimately, the choice is yours.

In the game Bladesong, slated for release on Steam in 2025, you assume the role of a blacksmith in a medieval fantasy village. Your primary responsibility is to create and mold swords for an assortment of demanding clients. Initially, your first creation can be a simple sword, but soon you’ll need to adhere to stringent design specifications that consider factors such as sharpness, point, weight, and balance. This intricate process involves the use of various cross-guards, hilts, pommels, and even the shape of the blade itself, ensuring each sword is not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing.

This process includes visits to different merchants for purchasing the necessary items, followed by returning to the forge where you’ll create the weapon. You’ll have specific time limits to complete your work and detailed instructions to follow. What makes this interesting is that instead of just crafting simple swords like in most games, here you’re creating intricate masterpieces.

For skilled digital art enthusiasts, there’s an opportunity to design iconic swords from films and video games, approximating their unique features. While it might not be possible to replicate the Soul Reaver or Connor MacLeod’s samurai sword from Highlander in every detail, you can certainly come very close.

As a devoted admirer, I must admit that I would have relished an experience more akin to authentic blacksmithing. Maybe a perspiring figure with charred skin from the forge, or a leather-clad woman with grime on her forehead – whatever suits the mood. It would have been enchanting to feel the tangible sensation of shaping a sword, quenching it in water, and etching runes onto the blade. However, what we’re left with is a rather sterile digital design studio that falls short of evoking the intended enchantment.

It’s quite surprising when contrasted with the “tale,” which is extremely serious and plays out without any humor or self-deprecating jokes, even though some lightheartedness or humorous touches could enhance it. Instead, scenes set outside of the “forge” portray a grim, dismal fantasy realm where it appears to be perpetually raining and everyone is filthy with mud, before you move back into the workshop and engage modern CAD tools from the Middle Ages.

Bladesong is a niche title, for sure, and one that will appeal to a certain type of creative. There’s not even a way to take your creations into an arena and see them in action, which would add a real extra level to it all. Instead you finish a job, get a few lines of text, and then start the next one. It’s all a bit lacking in life or depth right now.

However, it’s still quite early in the development process, leaving ample room for the team to enrich the game with additional features and mechanics before its 2025 launch. While it offers a unique experience that you won’t find elsewhere, I believe it could benefit from a stronger sense of self-assurance and a touch of spectacular flair – something akin to good old showmanship.

Bladesong is coming to PC via Steam.

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2024-12-16 12:16