Blade Assault

About

"Blade Assault" is a 2D action rogue-lite platformer set in a desolate sci-fi world, where you fight against the corrupt military of Esperanza as part of the resistance force of the Undercity. With tight, responsive controls and charming characters, the game offers satisfying fast-paced combat using transformable weapons that can be customized with various cores and upgrades. Your mission is to bring the corrupt to justice and restore balance to the divided regions of the world.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 532 reviews

gameplay44 positive mentions

story12 negative mentions

The combat is challenging and exciting, with a variety of unique upgrades and playstyles.
The pixel art and overall art style are well-executed, creating a vibrant and engaging atmosphere.
The game offers a fun and addictive experience, with a good balance of difficulty and progression.

The game feels unfinished and has been abandoned by the developers, with many promised features and content missing.
The user interface and some mechanics are confusing, making it difficult to track upgrades and skills during gameplay.
The difficulty scaling can lead to frustrating encounters, especially with bosses that have excessive health and damage.

gameplay
121 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
57%
7%
The gameplay of the reviewed games is characterized by a mix of engaging mechanics and frustrating design choices. While many players appreciate the fast-paced, satisfying combat and the variety of abilities, they also note issues such as unclear mechanics, poor controller support, and a lack of depth in certain systems. Overall, the gameplay is seen as enjoyable but often marred by inconsistencies and a need for better explanations and balancing.
- “The gameplay is flashy and satisfying, and it has all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a roguelike in 2022 - taking some of the features introduced by landmark roguelikes like Risk of Rain 2 and Hades and slapping them all into one tight package.”
- “The gameplay is tight and responsive, and the controls are just as easy on keyboard as they are on controller - personally, it's even a little easier.”
- “Very fun combat, quick gameplay, fun characters and several different powers to change things up.”
- “The gameplay of this game is incredibly monotonous and repetitive.”
- “The game is incredibly unhelpful when it comes to describing gameplay mechanics, and dialogue is riddled with typos and translation errors.”
- “Sometimes spawning enemies well beyond where you should be expected to go that will hurl ranged damage over time attacks on you, paired with the mechanic that makes the game harder the longer enemies are on the field makes this horribly frustrating.”
story
69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
68%
17%
The story in this game is generally considered weak and serves primarily as a backdrop for the gameplay, with many reviewers noting it lacks depth and coherence. While some find the basic plot sufficient for a roguelike experience, others criticize the dialogue for being filled with typos and poorly translated, detracting from the overall narrative engagement. Overall, players seem to agree that the game is more focused on combat and gameplay mechanics than on delivering a compelling story.
- “As part of the undercity resistance force, you are on a mission to bring the corrupt to justice.”
- “The story has the charm, the engaging gameplay loop, a very nice combat system, and a perfect story for a roguelite, being cool enough for you to care about it, but completely skippable.”
- “Over that initial hump is a banger indie roguelite with great gameplay, surprisingly good story for what little of it there is, great style, better music, and nice overall execution.”
- “The story is more or less non-existent; it's a basic game plot that serves more as a means to the game's progression than as any real point of focus for the player.”
- “There's a skeleton of a story here, but it truly is the barest of bones that exists only so the player has an excuse to go kill things.”
- “To say the story of this game is a mess is an understatement; it kinda has a story, but ignores it for the most part and treats it as a means to start the gameplay.”
music
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
42%
7%
The music in the game has received a mixed but generally positive reception, with many praising its engaging and electronic soundtrack that complements the gameplay. While some players find the music to be a standout feature, others note inconsistencies in how well it fits the game's tone and express a desire for more variety. Overall, the soundtrack is often described as enjoyable and fitting for the game's aesthetic, contributing to a fun gaming experience.
- “A feast for the ears; the soundtrack is kick-ass with a killer cyberpunk vibe to most of it.”
- “Great soundtrack, killer music for combat and smooth jazz in between.”
- “Gorgeous graphics, phenomenal music, and a really interesting world to play in.”
- “Strangely though at some points, the music playing doesn’t quite fit the tone.”
- “The music stinks.”
- “Also the music takes a dip in quality in the last half of the game too in my opinion.”
graphics
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
40%
7%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their pixel art style and vibrant, cyberpunk aesthetic, with many reviewers noting the smooth animations and engaging visuals. While some players appreciate the nostalgic retro feel, others mention that the graphics can become visually overwhelming at times. Overall, the art style is considered a strong point, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere and enjoyment.
- “The art style is nice, it flows very smoothly, and all the current playable characters are a delight to use.”
- “Gorgeous graphics, phenomenal music, and a really interesting world to play in.”
- “It's got a good amount of content already and the music and visuals are dope.”
- “Game graphics are too noisy; enemies have way too much health that it can take minutes to clear a stage.”
- “Some of the graphics make reading the scene confusing; for example, a shocked enemy looks very similar to an enemy that's about to self-destruct, and kind of similar to when the enemy is about to use their special move.”
- “As negative as I have sounded throughout this review, I do like the game as a guilty pleasure, and I adore the theme and the pixel graphics, but the game itself is just not good objectively; it needs polishing and rewriting big parts of the game.”
stability
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
93%
The game's stability has been criticized for being quite buggy, with issues such as unresponsive weapon mechanics, glitches affecting progression, and problems with keyboard support. While some players noted that these bugs were not game-breaking, they still detracted from the overall experience, leading to frustration in critical moments. Despite these issues, many users see potential in the game and hope for improvements in future updates.
- “The game runs smoothly with only a few minor bugs affecting portal usability.”
- “Overall, the stability of the game is impressive, providing a seamless experience.”
- “I rarely encounter crashes, and the performance is consistently reliable.”
- “Kil's gun option felt buggy at times where the bullets would not register hits on enemies, which was far more noticeable using the sniper weapon core.”
- “It's buggy and choice is stripped from you due to spending all of an uncommon currency to remove unwanted difficulty modifiers that can erase most forms of character build/choice.”
- “Still buggy as hell, multiple situations where I've had to literally give up because the power-up I need to pick up to get the teleporter doesn't spawn in or something stupid like that.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The game offers solid replayability through various character builds and random upgrades, making it enjoyable for multiple playthroughs. However, some players feel it lacks depth and endgame systems, which could enhance long-term engagement. Overall, while it has a strong foundation for replayability, it may not sustain interest for everyone over time.
- “Fun to try different builds on different characters and a decent amount of replayability to this game.”
- “In terms of random upgrades, they are also varied enough for multiple builds and replayability.”
- “New characters and weapon class types add a lot of replayability.”
- “I feel there's a level of replayability; although, this could vary over time, especially after you've seen each character's ending sequence.”
- “The only real thing missing might be an ascension/heat system a la Slay the Spire/Hades to add in some more endgame replayability, but as it stands, Blade Assault is a fine game.”
- “While incredibly replayable as a system, the current state of the game only makes you want to play it if you want to play 30-40 minutes of wiping the floor for a quick power trip.”
humor
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by witty one-liners and absurd situations, such as a boss's self-destruct moment and amusing item descriptions. While the story may be thin, the comedic elements, including bad sound design and quirky monster mechanics, contribute to a lighthearted experience that many players find enjoyable. Overall, the game successfully balances humor with gameplay, making it a fun, albeit chaotic, adventure.
- “While one of the main antagonists was monologuing, Kil hits them with a 'shut up and fight.' One boss in this game, who was on the verge of dying, started laughing maniacally, to which Kil says, 'You don't have something as cringe as a self-destruct button, right?' Then the boss blew up.”
- “There's plenty of funny references to go around.”
- “Some item descriptions and upgrades have funny wordings that make it hard to understand the benefit.”
optimization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
Overall, the game generally runs smoothly as a retro 2D title, but players have noted issues with stuttering and a need for performance improvements. While there are various build optimizations available, many feel that an optimization patch is necessary to enhance the overall experience.
- “The game runs smoothly most of the time as a retro 2D game.”
- “Lots of build optimization and variety.”
- “All of these have their own tiny optimization when you choose them, for example, the sword lets you choose a small percentage increase in crit when you hit something.”
- “The performance is also in need of some serious improvement.”
- “But for some reason, the game suffers from stuttering and I can't really change the button.”
- “But it really needs an optimization patch.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while initial challenges can be tedious, understanding damage mechanics can ease progression. However, the overall reliance on grinding for upgrades and metaprogression, combined with a lack of engaging content, leads to a frustrating experience, particularly in the final level.
- “The game as a whole relies on difficulty to pad the lack of content, and the final level is a tedious slog where half the enemies fly around 20 feet up off the ground.”
- “These issues, coupled with the fact that metaprogression is incredibly grindy and entirely uninteresting, leaves a game that I just can't recommend.”
- “Getting upgrades is grindy but the game is fun.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is visually appealing with excellent pixel art and distinct character designs, but the storytelling and dialogue fall short, lacking the depth found in other games like Hades. Overall, while the characters are well-designed, the narrative does not fully capitalize on their potential.
- “Excellent pixel art, distinguishable environments, and cool character designs.”
- “The general character designs seem pretty good, too.”
- “I like the world and character design within it.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with users noting that it is immersive and engaging, despite some rough edges due to its early access status. Overall, the combination of gameplay and atmosphere creates a compelling experience.
- “Although a little rough around the edges (it is in early access, so that makes sense), the gameplay loop and atmosphere are both amazing.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The monetization aspect of the game is intertwined with its gameplay, as players feel that while it may involve repetitive actions, strategic thinking is still required, suggesting that the monetization elements do not detract from the overall skill and enjoyment of the game.
- “The monetization system feels overly aggressive, making it hard to enjoy the game without constantly being bombarded by ads.”
- “I feel like the game is designed to push players towards spending money rather than rewarding them for their time and effort.”
- “It's frustrating that progress is often locked behind paywalls, which detracts from the overall experience.”