Bound by Flames

[DANGERMAN]

This hasn't reviewed well and while I can see why it's not awful, in fact I can see it being a bit of a cult game. Gameplay wise it's not dissimilar to the Witcher games, particularly the first one. You have 2 stances, one is using a heavy weapon like a sword, the other is quicker using knives allowing you to dodge.

You've got fire magic too, there's area effect stuff, but the most useful ones have been a fireball, a fire shield, and the very necessary spell that lets your weapons do fire damage. You can fire arrows, which I did a lot early but haven't bothered with since learning they were limited, and plant traps. The traps are limited too, but I actually found them more useful than those of The Witcher.

A big reason the game has been reviewing badly is the combat. At its core it's pretty good, the need to time blocks to counter is pretty fun. The problem is that the combat is unforgiving, you can go down very quickly, and too often enemies will surround you, ignoring your ally making the fight unwinnable. Add to that the only way to learn how best to beat an enemy means failing the fight over and over again. As a general rule you'll always need your fire attacks, but taking on a large enemy with your heavy weapon usually means reloading your save. I suspect the issues became apparent during development as the game saves before just about every fight.

The script is awful, your character is supposed to be cool and dry, but he just comes across as a hateful arsehole. It's telling that the demon that has possessed you is the nicer character. Your dialogue is at odds with the rest of the characters and the world too. The story itself, and the set ups for the side quests are actually pretty good though, they've done a good job building the world even if it is fairly derivative.

I've not finished it yet, but I can't see it being worth the price they're asking on pc let alone the higher ps4 price. It's not without its moments though

[Uncle Dokuro]

I like "B Games" and this sounds right up my ally. I think the asking price here in the states is something like $39 or $49 USD which is a tad high for me. If it was EDF, Onechanbara or if Rebellion was the developer I would definitely plunk down that type of cash to own it, but it's not so I will wait till it dropped to $29 USD new.

[DANGERMAN]

I think 'B' game is pretty much the perfect description of Bound By Flame. It feels like the sort of thing you'd get in the PS2 era, not that it feels dated, more it reminds me of games like that Capcom gladiator game (Shadow of Rome?), it's never going to review all that well but you know some people will absolutely love it.

when it works the combat is good, you parry at the right time and slow down time, landing a critical hit. Or you switch quickly to the quicker attack type, dodging and countering, maybe dropping traps and bringing enemies on to you. But then some enemies just take ages to beat, no matter what you do or what you've got equipped. Enemies respawn when you leave an area, which, thanks to the structure of the missions, means you'll be fighting them over and over. Given how easily you can go down, how long some fights take, and how often you end up fighting the same creatures, it can get a bit tedious.

The missions basically amount to the same thing, walking around the map killing things so you can get to pick some stuff up or get to a certain point. It can be quite interesting, there's a few good narrative ideas, and there's a couple of really good characters. The elf is decent if by the books elf, Mathras is a great character, and there's some intriguing story moments dotted around. The problem is that while it's not a long game, because it doesn't really change, I found myself wishing it could end hours before it eventually did. It's not helped that you face something that could be a last boss, making it sound like you're about to head to the end of the game. I'm not sure what else they could do really other than alter the story to make it clearer there's a long way to go.

I suspect that there's people, maybe even on here, that will love Bound By Flame. I quite liked it 3/4s of the way in, it's certainly not as bad as some of the reviews make out