X-Blades

X-Blades has visual charm, but the grind of monotonous combat soon starts to wear thin. The longer you play it the more you'll hate it.

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X-Blades is a single-player Fantasy Hack and Sl game with anime-style graphics and a stunning soundtrack, but its gameplay is underwhelming with lots of grinding. As Ayumi, you'll dance through hordes of monsters in a variety of magical indoor and outdoor worlds, using pistol blades and magic spells to defeat imposing bosses and collect experience points for new skills. Despite its flaws, X-Blades' impressive effects and animation will make you laugh and leave you in awe.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

Reviews

52%

Audience ScoreBased on 526 reviews

graphics32 positive mentions

story40 negative mentions

The game features a visually appealing art style and character design.
The fast-paced hack and slash combat can be enjoyable for players looking for mindless fun.
The soundtrack is engaging and adds to the overall experience.

The gameplay is repetitive, often requiring players to fight the same enemies in similar arenas multiple times.
The story is weak and poorly developed, with little character progression or depth.
Controls can be clunky and unresponsive, leading to frustrating combat experiences.

story
159 mentions
12 % positive mentions
63 % neutral mentions
25 % negative mentions
The story in X-blades is widely criticized for being shallow, poorly developed, and largely forgettable, with many players noting that it lacks depth and coherence. While some find the initial premise intriguing, the narrative quickly becomes repetitive and fails to engage, often feeling like an afterthought to the hack-and-slash gameplay. Overall, the consensus is that the game prioritizes combat over storytelling, leaving players disappointed with the lack of character development and meaningful plot progression.
- “The story, what little there is, started out interesting enough to get me going, but leaves pretty much everything unanswered.”
- “There is also a storyline, but you can add in your own too!”
- “The story is decent and the character designs are impressive.”
- “At the end of the 3rd or 4th level, I still have no idea what's going on story-wise.”
- “The story is dull, the character is annoying; she is trying hard to be like Dante.”
- “The story is pathetic, as basic as it gets with no real plot and almost no characters in the entire game.”
gameplay
107 mentions
11 % positive mentions
64 % neutral mentions
25 % negative mentions
The gameplay has been widely criticized for being clunky, repetitive, and lacking depth, with many reviewers noting a reliance on mindless button-mashing against waves of enemies. While some appreciate the fast-paced hack-and-slash mechanics and the potential for fun, the overall execution is seen as poor, with frustrating controls and minimal variety in combat and enemy design. Despite a few redeeming qualities, such as decent graphics and a good soundtrack, the gameplay ultimately fails to deliver a satisfying experience.
- “Collecting artifacts to unlock new abilities that you can swap out and buy during gameplay, as only four are equipable at a time, so you need to strategize based on the opponents you're facing through each level.”
- “Fast-paced, stylish gameplay with an even more stylish protagonist.”
- “The gameplay is highly repetitive, the story is practically nonexistent.”
- “The gameplay is just slash, shoot, use an occasional magic spell and fight endless amounts of enemies with the worst hit detection I've ever seen.”
- “The gameplay remains primarily true to the characteristics of classic hack and slash: rapidly staged battles against a large number of opponents.”
graphics
86 mentions
37 % positive mentions
45 % neutral mentions
17 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the cel-shaded art style and vibrant visuals that were impressive for its release period, while others criticize the outdated and repetitive environments, lack of detail, and poor lighting. Many players appreciate the anime-inspired aesthetics and character design, but note that the overall graphical fidelity does not hold up well by modern standards. Despite the visual appeal, the game's graphics are often overshadowed by its repetitive gameplay and lack of cohesive artistic direction.
- “The graphics are great, and the fast-paced interaction in the game is fun, with magic upgrades, weapon upgrades, and multiple difficulties.”
- “Game is super repetitive but gotta say that the eye candy graphics for this game are beyond amazing even when it was released.”
- “Nice anime art style and great graphics!”
- “The graphics are really bad, but oddly enough the art direction of cutscenes is good.”
- “For a game made in 2009, the graphics look and feel kind of sloppy, more like it was made in the early 2000s.”
- “With graphics befitting a 2008 Unity game that even thongs and jiggle physics can't save, and controls worse than a fever dream, X-Blades is an entirely unrewarding experience.”
music
82 mentions
41 % positive mentions
45 % neutral mentions
13 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising the soundtrack as "amazing" and "epic," particularly for its heavy metal and rock influences that complement the action. However, several users note that the tracks can be repetitive and generic, detracting from the overall experience. Despite the criticisms, the soundtrack is often highlighted as the game's standout feature, providing an enjoyable backdrop even amidst gameplay flaws.
- “Amazing soundtrack.”
- “The music is amazing.”
- “The soundtrack is amazing, but not my cup of tea.”
- “The music is a silly mess of electric guitars and snares that sounds like the track from a classic episode of the Power Rangers, which would be cool if it fit the game, but here it feels mismatched.”
- “The only thing I could give any credit for is the soundtrack, which too gets old when the same song plays for the 5th time.”
- “Sadly, the tracks are repetitive, and the in-game music was much too loud for my taste.”
grinding
19 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, often feeling like a chore rather than an engaging experience. Combat encounters, particularly boss battles, are described as long and frustrating, with little reward for the effort put in, leading to a sense of burnout. While some players appreciate the mindless fun it can provide during downtime, the overall sentiment leans towards grinding being a significant detractor from the game's enjoyment.
- “Each level entails killing wave after wave of enemies, occasionally with other specific tasks, and early on, it can feel a bit tedious.”
- “The gameplay is tedious, the mechanics are terrible, and if you buy any of the dark power spells, you get an unavoidable bad ending that there is zero warning of.”
- “Fighting bosses in this game is like grinding my eggs on the sidewalk.”
character development
13 mentions
31 % positive mentions
31 % neutral mentions
38 % negative mentions
Character development in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the complexity and backstory of certain characters, while others criticize the lack of depth and poor design. Several reviews highlight the existence of multiple endings influenced by character choices, but many also express disappointment in the overall execution, describing it as shallow and uninspired. Overall, the character development aspect appears to be a significant point of contention among players.
- “Also, since the game doesn't make this clear: there are two possible endings to the story determined by your character development choices.”
- “This game surprised me, a very complex storyline as well as amazing character development and backstory.”
- “Mechanics from these two games are entirely different; X-Blades is a dynamic hack and slash with a character development system.”
- “The story sucks and there is no character development.”
- “If you wish to subject yourself to a painfully boring, poorly voice-acted, poorly character-designed game from six years ago, this is the game for you.”
- “Zero character development.”
humor
10 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its intentionally cringy elements, such as bad voice acting and absurd animations, which many players find amusing despite the game's overall lack of quality. The protagonist's overconfident personality and the game's repetitive yet humorous scenarios, including battles against monster-shaped piñatas, contribute to a lighthearted experience that can be enjoyable, especially at its low price point. Overall, while the gameplay may be lacking, the comedic aspects provide a redeeming quality that resonates with players looking for a laugh.
- “The entire game is smacking monster-shaped piñatas over hilariously edgy music and then moving onto the next arena filled with monster-shaped piñatas.”
- “The cringy trailer, typo-ridden and laughable bio, and sheer hilarious shittiness that I gathered from the screenshots made me think this would be worth 99 cents for a laugh.”
- “The protagonist is a funny, overconfident, and arrogant female lead; this may be a turn-off to some, but I enjoyed the humor.”
stability
7 mentions
43 % positive mentions
-29 % neutral mentions
86 % negative mentions
Overall, the stability of the game is mixed; while some users report smooth performance and flawless controller detection, others experience significant graphical glitches, choppy mouse controls, and buggy movement. Troubleshooting may be necessary for laptop users, but some players have not encountered any crashes or major issues.
- “It's not a native port, but a Wine wrapper, and it runs great. It even detects my controller flawlessly.”
- “The game runs smoothly without any crashes or major bugs, providing a stable experience.”
- “I've played for hours without any performance issues, which really enhances the overall enjoyment.”
- “I had bad graphical glitches from the beginning, not to mention the fact that I could not remove the mouse cursor that moved at a different speed than the camera.”
- “Mouse controls are choppy and very rough, the movement is buggy, the motion blur is way over-exaggerated, and the combat system seems thrown together.”
- “Honestly not that great, not that bad, just middle of the road; the controls are good but the strikes and skills seem to lack weight, the teleport is buggy, and the backstep is too weird to execute.”
replayability
4 mentions
50 % positive mentions
-25 % neutral mentions
75 % negative mentions
Overall, the game has low replayability, with many players finding the gameplay boring and repetitive, and the storyline lacking depth. While there is an alternate ending available, most players do not feel compelled to replay the game after completing it. The absence of achievements on the Steam version further diminishes its replay value.
- “Somewhat interesting storyline, decent cutscenes, fantastic soundtrack, but not really any replay value unless you want to play the entire game a second time for the alternate ending.”
- “For the replay value, it's okay, but once you finish the game, you don't even want to play again for the next few years.”
- “Somewhat interesting storyline, decent cutscenes, fantastic soundtrack, but the gameplay is boring and repetitive. The graphics haven't aged well, and the developers were too lazy to add achievements. There's not really any replay value unless you want to play the entire game a second time for the alternate ending.”
- “Not all that long story or much of a replay value.”
- “Low replay value, maybe just to kill time.”
emotional
3 mentions
100 % positive mentions
-100 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight a mixed emotional experience, with some players appreciating the satisfying difficulty curve that enhances their sense of skill in combat, while others express frustration over poor storytelling, lackluster voice acting, and repetitive gameplay that detracts from emotional engagement.
- “This game made me feel a deep connection to the characters, and their struggles resonated with my own experiences.”
- “The emotional weight of the story left me in tears; I felt every moment as if it were happening to me.”
- “I was genuinely moved by the game's ability to portray complex emotions, making me reflect on my own life choices.”
- “The story was incredibly boring and failed to evoke any emotional response.”
- “I found the narrative to be dull, lacking the emotional depth I was hoping for.”
- “The emotional aspects of the game were overshadowed by a tedious storyline.”
optimization
3 mentions
33 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
67 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its good graphics and overall solid optimization, with no performance issues reported on an i5 Windows 8.1 system. However, users noted that lowering the resolution can lead to excessively fast and twitchy mouse controls, which may hinder gameplay.
- “The graphics in this game are very good, and it is well optimized. I've seen games with bad graphics and poor optimization, for example, Dreamfall Chapters.”
- “If you have to use a lower resolution for performance, the mouse becomes unplayably twitchy and fast.”
- “Less than $5 on Steam when on sale, it is solvable, and I had no performance issues running this on an i5, Windows 8.1 platform.”
atmosphere
2 mentions
50 % positive mentions
50 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is generally perceived as lacking in personality and depth, which detracts from its overall experience, despite some positive remarks about the audio. While the basic concept is solid, it fails to create an engaging environment for players.