Of Blades & Tails
- November 9, 2023
- Felix Laukel
- 39h median play time
Get on Steam"Of Blades & Tails" is a turn-based RPG inspired by classic Hack & Slays and games like Tales of Maj'Eyal or Stoneshard. As Reik, a fox tribe member, you embark on a quest to save the realm from evil. Gain experience, unlock new abilities, and navigate through different animal tribes while improving your equipment and forming alliances or avoiding enemies. The game features accessible and entertaining action-RPG gameplay with no permadeath, and its lore is inspired by the classic Point & Click Adventure Inherit the Earth.
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Reviews
- The game features charming pixel art and a cozy world that encourages exploration and discovery.
- Combat mechanics are engaging and tactical, allowing for various builds and strategies that can be rewarding when mastered.
- The developer is responsive to feedback and actively updates the game, showing promise for future improvements and content.
- The game suffers from significant bugs, including crashes and unresponsive controls, which can severely hinder the gameplay experience.
- Enemy scaling and difficulty can feel unbalanced, leading to frustrating encounters where players may feel overwhelmed without adequate resources.
- The game lacks depth in character development and itemization, resulting in repetitive gameplay and limited build variety.
- story54 mentions
- 9 % positive mentions
- 85 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story revolves around a quest that begins with the protagonist leaving their peaceful home due to a series of unfortunate events, leading to a mix of main and side quests that encourage exploration. While some players appreciate the intriguing setting and character interactions, many criticize the main storyline for being generic and lacking depth, with NPCs serving primarily as quest dispensers. Overall, the narrative has potential but suffers from limited character development and a lack of engaging quest progression.
“A series of unfortunate events forces you to abandon your tranquil home and embark on a quest of monumental importance.”
“The story is explicitly inspired by the classic point-and-click adventure 'Inherit the Earth', set in a post-human world of animal folk.”
“I'm invested in the story and loving what I've seen so far; can't wait to see where the game goes from here!”
“Also think that the main story was incredibly lame when it was mainly just go to the next town and do generic quests and repeat.”
“The main quest sends you along this clear, literal road from point A to B to C as various unhelpful people tell you 'go meet the next guys'.”
“The intro and final quest imply you're going to be doing something involving ancient humanity, but the final boss was not well explained or connected to anything.”
- gameplay39 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by its accessibility and simplicity, making it easy for newcomers to pick up, while also offering depth and challenge for experienced players through intricate mechanics and strategic combat. Players must engage with the environment to find unique gear and develop effective builds, as the game rewards tactical decision-making and exploration. However, some users noted frustrations with interface issues and scaling mechanics that can hinder the experience.
“Fairly simple and easy to pick up but gets hard pretty quick and you really need to be on the ball with the mechanics and your choices of gear.”
“The gameplay is truly rogue-like: reminiscent of a more approachable Caves of Qud.”
“The mechanics are simple and easy to pick up, but the tools you're given to manipulate those mechanics to your advantage add a level of tactics to combat which heavily rewards players for understanding both their own skills and the enemy's.”
“Scaling mechanics can make grinding frustrating.”
“Another problem is that the open-world gameplay is limited by difficulty level.”
“The ability to open massive side-panels that cover up over a third of the gameplay screen, and completely cover up important gameplay if you happen to be standing near the edge of the map.”
- graphics21 mentions
- 52 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming and nostalgic pixel art style that many players appreciate for its detail and simplicity. While some reviews note the lack of animation and graphical settings, the overall presentation is praised for its cute aesthetic and effective world-building, enhancing the exploration and combat experience. Players find the art style engaging, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere and gameplay.
“The graphics are simplistic but cute, easily conveying a variety of bandits, bugs, and botanical baddies to sling arrows and spells at, or to rush up to in order to slash or bash.”
“The charming art style makes for a beautiful environment to explore, with sound design that really helps bring the world to life around you whether you're taking a relaxing stroll through the woods or cautiously checking around every corner of a cave.”
“I love the art style and the general flow of the game, but it desperately needs more talents, and more interesting ones at that.”
“The graphics are simple in that there's very little animation; the hero bobs like a paper cutout.”
“As of this review, there isn't a way to lower graphical settings like particle effects and colored lighting toggles and such.”
“Judging this game by its appearance alone gave me a sense of nostalgia with its pixelated graphics, but you'd be mistaken to assume that's all it has to offer.”
- music18 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 28 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding the combat theme overused and disruptive to the overall experience, while others appreciate the quality and memorability of the ambient tracks. Many highlight the pleasant and dynamic soundtrack that enhances the game's atmosphere, particularly in peaceful moments and during exploration. Overall, the music is generally well-received, contributing positively to the game's immersive environment.
“The local locations are incredibly comfortable and beautiful thanks to high-quality pixel art, and all this beauty is complemented by pleasant music that will never get boring.”
“The ambient sounds and music for the game are great and set the mood very nicely, and the side quests and NPC dialog push you to explore the world and make the game feel more alive and active outside the zone you're currently in.”
“Hearing the music and watching the main screen landscape already absorbs you into the game’s atmosphere.”
“Combat music is really annoying.”
“The one battle theme is overused and because it so frequently interrupts the background songs and makes them start over, I didn't fully appreciate some of the others until I happened to get some peaceful minutes and finally learned there's a 'battle music' toggle in the options menu.”
“Music is all stock, but it’s fine – some tracks are even memorable.”
- grinding13 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight that grinding in the game can often feel tedious and counterproductive due to scaling enemies and unbalanced combat, leading to a frustrating experience. While some players appreciate the blend of exploration and loot-based progression, many find the repetitive nature of grinding to be a significant drawback, making the early levels particularly rough and one-dimensional. Overall, the grinding aspect is seen as a mixed bag, with some enjoying it while others find it excessively tedious.
“Progression is further muddled by scaling enemies, which can make grinding feel counterproductive.”
“The blend of exploration, tactical combat, and loot-based progression delivers a satisfying loop, but it occasionally falters under repetitive grinding and balance issues.”
“Everything is way too tedious and gradual, over the 'challenging' threshold and into the 'I'm mad at you for playing this' basement.”
- character development3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game features strong character development, complemented by appealing character design and the inclusion of factions, which enrich the overall narrative experience. Players appreciate the depth of characters and the legendary items that enhance their progression.
“The game also has factions, good character development, and legendary items.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its immersive music and visually appealing landscapes, creating a charming and positive RPG setting. Players feel as though they are embarking on a real-life adventure, contrasting sharply with darker, more violent themes found in other games.
“Hearing the music and watching the main screen landscape already absorbs you into the game’s atmosphere.”
“And when you enter the game, you find a unique RPG with a lovely setting and a positive atmosphere.”
“It is so good how the atmosphere is similar to an adventure that you would want to take even in real life rather than a gory mess.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The monetization model is praised for being straightforward and fair, featuring a one-time payment that offers good value for the quality of content provided. Unlike many competitors, it avoids microtransactions, pay-to-win mechanics, and NFTs, leading users to view it as a refreshing alternative in the market.
“There is just a one-time payment with a very decent price compared to the included quality content. No microtransactions, no pay-to-win, no NFTs, and none of the other nonsense.”
“It's just a cash grab when you compare it side by side with any of its peers.”
“The monetization model feels exploitative, pushing players to spend more for basic features.”
“The game is riddled with microtransactions that detract from the overall experience.”
- humor2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the humor in the game to be clever and situational, particularly enjoying quests that playfully subvert typical RPG tropes, such as mundane tasks like fetching healing herbs for experience points.
“The humor in this game is spot on, especially when you visit a city and receive quests like 'go and fetch me 4 basic healing herbs for some XP.'”
“The comedic elements really shine through in the dialogue and quest descriptions.”
“I love how the game incorporates humor into its quests, making even mundane tasks feel entertaining.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent glitches such as visual distortions and gameplay interruptions, which hinder quest completion and overall experience. Players have reported problems like screen blackouts and unbalanced damage mechanics, indicating a need for improvements in stability.
“Vacuum cleaning both of the dungeons several times and in the end, here I am with only half of the items needed for quest completion. Plus, visual glitches and some strange damage balance issues that people are reporting.”
“This game has several glitches. I encountered one particularly frustrating glitch where my entire screen went black and I couldn't see the world, yet I could move around and get attacked by enemies.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -300 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users have suggested several quality of life improvements for optimization, including a re-centering camera feature for mouse controls, enhancements to the path-finding algorithm, and advanced difficulty mechanics.
“I've submitted some items for quality of life improvements, like re-centering the camera feature on the mouse, optimizations in the pathfinding algorithm, and some suggestions for advanced difficulty mechanics.”
“The game suffers from severe optimization issues, making it nearly unplayable on lower-end hardware.”
“I experienced frequent frame drops and stuttering, which really detracted from the overall gameplay experience.”
“Despite the game's potential, the lack of proper optimization leads to long loading times and crashes.”
