Blade & Bones

About

Blade & Bones is a single player role playing game. It was developed by Coffee Addict Studio and was released on November 30, 2016. It received negative reviews from players.

"Blade & Soul: Ghost Cursed Blades" is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in ancient Asia. Players can create their own unique character, mastering martial arts and swordplay as they explore the world, complete quests, and battle enemies. The game is known for its fast-paced combat and deep customization system, allowing players to choose from multiple races, classes, and skill trees as they develop their character.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

13%

Audience ScoreBased on 91 reviews

graphics11 positive mentions

gameplay10 negative mentions

The game features a unique and visually appealing world with decent graphics and a vibrant color palette.
There are interesting mechanics such as different combat stances and styles, as well as a day/night cycle that adds depth to exploration.
The lore and backstory are intriguing, providing a sense of mystery and engagement for players who enjoy narrative elements.

The combat system is clunky and unresponsive, with frequent issues like poor hit detection and a lack of fluidity in attacks, making battles frustrating.
The game lacks clear direction and guidance, leading to confusion about objectives and resulting in tedious exploration.
Technical issues such as bugs, crashes, and performance problems detract from the overall experience, making it feel unfinished and unpolished.

gameplay
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
55%
25%
The gameplay has received largely negative feedback, with players criticizing its lack of direction, clunky controls, and unresponsive combat mechanics reminiscent of "Dark Souls" but lacking its finesse. Many found the exploration enjoyable, but the overall experience was marred by bugs, confusing mechanics, and repetitive combat against uninspired AI. While the game features unique ideas and a decent lore, the execution has left players feeling frustrated and disappointed.
- “This game isn't perfect, but there were clearly a lot of ideas behind it, and the mechanics and exploration are very impressive.”
- “The lore seems really thought out, and the original mechanics like the combat style and meditation system are really well realized.”
- “The gameplay consists of exploration and combat basically, both can be fun and not very tedious.”
- “Starting out, the game gives you zero sense of direction. Sure, you have the 'press Q' for the butterflies that show you where to go, but there are zero paths or trails, and you have no clue or indication as to a boss or location's difficulty until you're getting slaughtered. For a game with a perma-death mechanic, that's just really annoying.”
- “Gameplay and combat are bad and unresponsive.”
- “The gameplay is boring 1v1 combat against robotic AI with zero flow.”
graphics
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
36%
20%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the distinctive art style and vibrant color palette, while others criticize technical issues such as glitches and poor performance. Many players find the visuals to be a highlight, despite the overall graphical quality being described as mediocre or outdated. Overall, the game's aesthetic appeal is noted, but it is often overshadowed by gameplay and optimization concerns.
- “There is a distinctive art style that looks fantastic when paired with the game’s color palette.”
- “It is easily the highlight of the game for me, and goes to show that even graphics that aren’t impressive in a technical sense can still be beautiful when executed with a consistent and polished theme.”
- “I admit my expectations may have been high, but the main thing this game has going for it are its graphics and unique surreal Asian/Eastern locales.”
- “The graphics, effects, and animations all feel a decade out of place, and from a technical side, the game frequently clips into terrain and has some of the poorest collision detection I've encountered in ages.”
- “Has a lot of potential but shouldn't be at full release; it's quite buggy and unoptimized for what the graphical quality is.”
- “Poor graphics, annoying soundtrack that doesn't jive with the action, no apparent or poorly explained progression system, and so on... all this is painfully apparent in the first 20 minutes!”
story
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
53%
20%
The story in "Blade & Bones" is generally considered sparse and poorly designed, requiring players to piece together the narrative from limited NPC dialogue and snippets of lore. While the main objective of collecting seven swords to break a curse is clear, the overall plot lacks depth and coherence, leaving players with an esoteric experience that can be frustrating to engage with. Despite these shortcomings, some players find the backstory intriguing and appreciate the atmospheric music that complements key moments in the game.
- “The story of the Orins is interesting.”
- “You have to collect seven swords to break an ancient curse; in those terms, the objective in the game story is pretty clear, but the world lore and origin is somewhat Lovecraftian, as in not unknown but unknowable.”
- “Gameplay consists of annoying dodge-based 'Dark Souls' style fighting as you plod through an ill-explained esoteric story that's harder to get into than the game itself.”
- “Story-wise, Blade & Bones is fairly sparse, with most of the storytelling coming from a handful of NPCs.”
- “There isn’t much of the plot that is explicitly told to you; you are instead forced to piece the story together from the small snippets of dialogue you hear.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, often feeling that difficulty is artificially inflated without meaningful challenge or reward. The need to grind for resources, such as shards to repair rare swords, adds to the overall sense of monotony, detracting from the enjoyment of exploration and combat. While some appreciate the effort put into the game, many feel that the grinding detracts significantly from the overall experience.
- “The gameplay consists of exploration and combat, both of which can be fun and not very tedious.”
- “It feels like they tried to make it hard for the sake of making it hard (not to mention tedious) without properly thinking it through and making it at least skill-based.”
- “I'm really bent on rating this though because you can tell the dev put effort in, but I'm sorry, it's just not fun. I honestly gave up after a little over an hour of playing because it's overall tedious and not all that rewarding.”
- “The fact that the common swords do very little while the rare swords break fairly easily causes you to grind for shards to repair them, which is tedious.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
Overall, the music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the fitting compositions for boss battles and the overall soundtrack, others find it annoying and poorly aligned with the game's action. Despite the varied opinions, the music is noted as a significant aspect of the experience, with some players expressing a desire to enjoy it more if not hindered by technical issues.
- “I enjoyed the music in the game as a whole.”
- “The music for the boss battles was fitted to the story of the boss and complemented it.”
- “The developer has also added music to the game, which I've heard is very good.”
- “Poor graphics, annoying soundtrack that doesn't jive with the action, no apparent or poorly explained progression system, and so on... all this is painfully apparent in the first 20 minutes!”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including numerous bugs and glitches that hinder gameplay, particularly in combat and level progression. While it shows potential, many reviewers feel it is not ready for full release due to these persistent problems, which detract from the overall experience.
- “As it stands now, this is a game with a lot of wasted potential that isn’t worth playing unless you don’t mind buggy combat and want to play an indie version of Dark Souls.”
- “In a game where lives are 'limited' and when you die seven times the game ends, you really need to iron out glitches that trap you.”
- “Has a lot of potential but shouldn't be at full release; it's quite buggy and unoptimized for what the graphical quality is.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is derived from the frustrating experience of missed hits, where players find it amusing that their attacks frequently fail while the AI seems to land every shot. This ironic twist adds a comedic layer to the gameplay, highlighting the absurdity of the situation.
- “The humor in the game is top-notch, with clever dialogue and hilarious situations that keep you laughing.”
- “I love how the game pokes fun at classic tropes, making even the most serious moments feel light-hearted.”
- “The quirky characters and their witty banter add a delightful layer of comedy to the gameplay.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
100%
The game's optimization is mixed; while some users report good graphics and performance on mid-range hardware, others experience high GPU usage, indicating potential optimization issues.
- “Graphics and performance have been good for me; I run a GTX 970 with 8GB RAM and an i5 4690K.”
- “The game is maxing out my GPU, which means it is poorly optimized.”
- “The performance issues are a clear sign that the game hasn't been optimized properly.”
- “I experience frequent frame drops, indicating that the optimization is lacking.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The character development is praised for its appealing design, striking a balance between being visually attractive and slightly unsettling, which enhances the overall experience.
- “Character design is nice and hits a lovely spot between scary and aesthetically pleasing.”
- “Good character design.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its immersive qualities, enriched by compelling lore and engaging sound design, creating a captivating journey for players.
- “I would recommend it to all for its lore, journey, immersive atmosphere, gameplay, and sound. I could go on for hours about how amazing this game is.”