Blade Kitten

About

Blade Kitten is a single player arcade hack and slash game with fantasy, anime and science fiction themes. It was developed by Krome Studios and was released on May 21, 2014. It received neutral reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

In Blade Kitten, join Kit Ballard as she explores the mysterious world of Hollow Wish to hunt down rogue mechs and soft targets.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

82%

Audience ScoreBased on 727 reviews

story67 positive mentions

stability33 negative mentions

Unique and vibrant anime-inspired cel-shaded art style that stands out and has aged well
Fun and fluid platforming with character able to climb walls and ceilings, allowing for large levels with lots of exploration and hidden collectibles
Charming and charismatic protagonist Kit Ballard with witty, sarcastic dialogue and decent voice acting
Engaging gameplay combining hack-and-slash combat with platforming and exploration
Catchy and upbeat soundtrack that complements the lighthearted tone
Good replay value with numerous collectibles, costumes, and upgrades to find, as well as multiple paths in levels

Combat can be frustrating and repetitive with issues such as frequent stunlocks and enemies blocking attacks
Controls and character movement sometimes feel floaty, sticky, or unresponsive, with occasional glitches and collision bugs
Story is shallow, disjointed, and confusing without prior knowledge of the related webcomic; the game ends on a cliffhanger requiring purchase of DLC for conclusion
Linear level design with very large stages can feel tedious and make exploration a chore
Occasional bugs and technical issues including camera movement causing motion sickness and glitches that can impact progression
Final boss encounters are considered frustrating or poorly designed by some players

story
250 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
66%
7%
The story centers on Kit Ballard, a sassy catgirl bounty hunter pursuing a fugitive, uncovering a deeper conspiracy in a comic-inspired universe. While it features charming characters and humor, many reviewers found the narrative disjointed, shallow, and difficult to follow without prior knowledge of the webcomic, with some criticizing the abrupt cliffhanger and reliance on DLC for completion. Overall, the story serves mainly as a light, entertaining backdrop to the gameplay rather than a compelling or richly developed plot.
- “The story follows Kit as she pursues a dangerous fugitive on Hollow Wish, only to uncover a deeper conspiracy threatening the planet’s future.”
- “The story follows a bounty hunter named Kit Ballard, a pink-haired catgirl with a lot of sass and witty lines to share. Her bounty identification has been stolen and she’s on a mission to catch her rival who has it while getting into misadventures along the way.”
- “Based on the Blade Kitten comic (fans can buy the 3 already published issues or read them online on the game's website, with a new page being uploaded every week), this is a 2.5D (3D scenarios and characters, 2D gameplay) action platformer with great physics and lighting, an engaging story and lots of humour.”
- “Story and presentation are all over the place, plain and simple. Apparently this game is based on a webcomic and I wish I knew that before buying this game, because the game never tells you anything. Many people complain about games having long cinematics full of infodumps; well, this game does the polar opposite. There are a lot of cutscenes, but they never tell you about the characters or the setting—you never know who these characters are, what's the relationship between each other, nothing. I'm not asking for 30-minute long cutscenes like it's a Metal Gear game, but a little bit of context about who the main character and her rival are would be nice, and the overall story?”
- “The story and apparent goal seem to shift dramatically from one level to the next with little real sense of focus for anything, just a vague overarching narrative that's sporadically dropped then brought up again at whim.”
- “Story is somewhat flat and forgettable, and this is an insanely easy game.”
gameplay
205 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
61%
5%
Gameplay in Blade Kitten offers a charming and fun 2.5D action-platforming experience with unique climbing and combat mechanics centered around the protagonist's whip tail. While controls can feel floaty or awkward and the combat sometimes repetitive or frustrating due to stunlocks and bugs, many players appreciate the game's engaging exploration, level design, and overall pace. Despite some rough edges and lack of depth, the gameplay is generally considered enjoyable and accessible, appealing especially to fans of classic platformers and light hack-and-slash.
- “Gameplay in Blade Kitten blends traditional platforming elements with combat mechanics centered on Kit’s whip tail, which players use both for traversal—swinging across gaps or climbing—and for engaging enemies.”
- “With its colorful visuals and fast-paced gameplay, Blade Kitten aims to capture the spirit of classic platformers while adding its own unique narrative and stylistic twists.”
- “Gameplay-wise, Blade Kitten is a solid 2D action platformer with tight controls, good physics, decent combat, fun level design, and enough optional exploration/collectibles to appeal to folks who are into that sort of thing.”
- “Unfortunately, I hope you enjoy getting continually stunlocked by endless armored goons featuring some of the most asinine battle mechanics, a protagonist that has about as much personality as a wooden plank, and voice acting that would have been better off not existing in the first place.”
- “I hope you like getting stunlocked thanks to awful combat mechanics, and levels that are unnecessarily big and boring.”
- “To put it bluntly; this game had massive potential but lacks focused level design, gameplay, and the most basic bug testing.”
graphics
149 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
48%
3%
Blade Kitten features colorful, cel-shaded anime-inspired graphics that stand out with vibrant, comic book aesthetics and stylish character design. While the visuals are generally praised for their charm and appeal, they are considered somewhat dated compared to modern standards, with some glitches and occasional bugs reported. Overall, the graphics effectively support the game's playful and unique atmosphere, offering an engaging and visually pleasing experience for fans of indie platformers.
- “Visually, the game stands out thanks to its cel-shaded graphics that evoke anime and comic book aesthetics.”
- “The neon coloring and lighting effects elevate the visuals to true aesthetics, forever won.”
- “Cell-shaded graphics coupled with an appealing anime art style and pretty great cutscene direction.”
- “It's a 2.5D side scroller that has early PS3 graphics look to it.”
- “The graphics are subpar even for an old Xbox game, the voice acting is bland with simple (in a bad way) characters, and the controls themselves are really bad for a mouse and keyboard.”
- “2D platformer with weak combat mechanics, bad voice acting, annoying as hell dialogue, ugly cel-shaded graphics and a story not worth anything.”
music
73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
44%
5%
The music in the game is generally praised for its catchy, upbeat, and energetic soundtrack that complements the light-hearted, adventurous tone and atmosphere. While many find the soundtrack memorable and fitting, some users find it generic, repetitive, or annoying, with mixed opinions on its overall quality and variety. Overall, it supports the gameplay well but may not appeal to everyone.
- “The audio design supports the overall atmosphere with an energetic soundtrack that fits the game’s upbeat pace.”
- “The soundtrack is surprisingly great, fusing traditional East Asian rhythms and instruments with electronic music.”
- “The sound effects work and the soundtrack is awesome.”
- “The other downsides other than the awkward controls are that it's still a bit buggy even though I've heard it was cleaned up from its original release and the music is garbage.”
- “I turned off the music and listened to Meshuggah's Obzen album instead and even though Jens Kidman's voice breaks the vibe a bit during cutscenes, it's way better than whatever honks and farts they recorded and put into this game.”
- “The music is boring and gets a little annoying.”
humor
43 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
98%
2%
The game's humor is generally light-hearted, quirky, and charming, with witty dialogue and funny characters that add delightful moments without overshadowing the story or gameplay. While some players find its jokes and banter endearing and well-delivered—often enhanced by strong voice acting—others consider the humor shallow, predictable, or reliant on internet slang, occasionally leading to cringe-worthy moments. Overall, the humor contributes significantly to the game's fun, accessible tone and whimsical appeal.
- “The game’s humor is the masterful foundation, ensuring the adventure always has room.”
- “Its unique blend of humor, aesthetic devotion, and kinetic freedom ensures that its irresistible charm wraps around your heart, guaranteeing an absolute, unmissable masterpiece of pure joy.”
- “From its gorgeous graphics, immersive musical scores, clever dialog & witty humor, to its amazing character presentation, Blade Kitten outdoes itself in every category from start to finish.”
- “Where it was supposed to be funny, it makes you cringe.”
stability
33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game exhibits frequent bugs and glitches, including character freezing, visual issues, and occasional crashes, which sometimes hinder gameplay and require reloading. While these stability problems are noticeable and impact controls and mechanics, many players still find the game enjoyable despite its unpolished and occasionally frustrating state. Overall, the stability is problematic but not game-breaking for those willing to tolerate bugs.
- “There are also a few glitches: I got stuck in a few places that made the character model blink and twitch, and the screen turned completely white in one small section of one level.”
- “Twice I had to reload the game from bizarre glitches that made it impossible to continue.”
- “Keyboard controls are absolutely terrible and I have continual glitches that cause kit to be stuck in abnormal and probably very painful positions.”
replayability
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
58%
18%
Replayability for the game is generally positive, especially for players who enjoy exploring secrets, collecting unlockables, and achieving 100% completion. Large, non-linear levels and simple controls encourage revisits, though some find subsequent playthroughs repetitive or less engaging. Overall, the game offers notable replay value primarily through exploration and additional content.
- “(e)xtremely high replay value is a central tenet of the design, a rewarding guarantee; the levels are structured to reveal new secrets upon subsequent visits, setting the content free.”
- “Very nice production value game with nice controls, nice platforming, huge levels and a lot of replay value.”
- “The game can feel a bit short, but the amount of unlockables and exploration greatly make this game worthy of revisits and its replayability makes it much more inviting.”
- “The game has no replayability value as it's the same boring runthrough each time you play.”
- “As such, I can confirm that the game doesn't have much replay value and the second playthrough was a chore.”
- “They should have at least put in a few sex scenes to make it feel replayable.”
grinding
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in this game is often described as tedious and overly time-consuming, with frequent awkward controls and mechanics that exacerbate the monotony. Players find the grind-heavy achievements and collectible requirements excessive, leading to frustration and a dampening of completionist motivation. Overall, grinding detracts from pacing and enjoyment due to repetitive, unchallenging gameplay and technical issues.
- “However, I would not recommend playing this game in the exploratory manner the devs intended, because that gets very tedious and boring.”
- “It bored me enough to suppress my usual completionist instincts (no way I'm playing through the whole thing two more times, once for the collectibles and grinding and once for the speedrun), something that much longer, much worse games couldn't achieve.”
- “I do feel the prices for them are a little excessively grindy for my tastes, I just bought what appealed to me and didn't bother with the rest.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
37%
13%
The game's atmosphere is praised for its energetic and fitting soundtrack, light-hearted and friendly vibe, and atmospheric level design with bright, colorful visuals and charming comic art. While some find the intro awkward and lacking atmosphere, overall it evokes a nostalgic, relaxing feel reminiscent of classic platformers. The storyline and audio design further enhance the engaging and enjoyable ambiance.
- “The audio design supports the overall atmosphere with an energetic soundtrack that fits the game’s upbeat pace.”
- “The simple but atmospheric level design is a joy.”
- “The game features a nice atmosphere, reminiscent of the PSX era of action games like Rockman Dash, with bright colorful visuals and some cute interface gimmicks.”
- “The intro becomes weird with no atmosphere at all, and it's getting worse with the main character trying to show off with her cool pose.”
optimization
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
43%
Optimization is generally praised for smooth performance and well-tuned controls, especially on PC, with keyboard and mouse support receiving particular commendation. However, some users report occasional performance issues, and there are mixed feelings about resource allocation, as high-quality art and engineering were used for a relatively simple 2D platformer. Overall, the game runs well but may have inconsistent optimization across different setups.
- “Graphics are fine, the game runs smoothly, but for some unknown reason they used all the engineering and artwork to make a 2D platformer.”
- “One of my favorite platformers (and one of the most loved games for me). Good comic art design makes it look gorgeous, music is good, sounds perfect, atmospheric and relaxing. Controls, as for any platformer, are perfect for controller, but in this game optimized perfectly for keyboard and mouse (a little bit hard in the beginning, but quite intuitive and easy to learn). The storyline helps move the game along well and the ending makes you want to play the next one, now!”
- “The dialogue is fantastic, the story is compelling, it's a visual masterpiece, and the controls have been optimized for the PC.”
- “Horrible optimization.”
- “[td]- Various performance issues for some, though I did not have any.”
- “Combat seems to get old and when it comes to serious moments for Kit Ballard, the performance falls flat as her trauma doesn't feel genuine (when her sarcastic moments are simply gems).”
emotional
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
83%
17%
The emotional aspect of the game received mixed reactions, with some players finding emotional moments confusing or unengaging due to unclear visuals and cringeworthy voice acting, while others discovered unexpectedly heartfelt elements. However, technical issues and gameplay mechanics sometimes detracted from the overall emotional impact.
- “But found a surprisingly heartfelt gem I almost missed out on.”
- “In a way, it was hilarious because when there was an emotional scene at the end, my only thought was 'who the hell is this?'.”
- “Maybe I’m getting older or perhaps the camera is a total mess... whatever it was, I’m not touching this game ever again.”
- “After a pretty short, boring story with cringeworthy voice acting.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
Character development receives mixed feedback, with some users appreciating the appealing and nostalgic character designs, while others criticize them as poor. Overall, the visual and artistic aspects of the characters are praised despite concerns about gameplay issues.
- “Poor character design.”