Stray Blade, a game with an excellent story but suffers from lackluster gameplay.
Soulslikes are oftentimes hit or miss and are not always easy to get right. The genre requires striking a balance between not seeming too derivative but still providing an experience that is similar to the Soulsborne game series developed by FromSoftware. So how does Stray Blade, the action RPG Soulslike developed by Point Blank Games, compare? We’ll get into that.
Point Blank Games, while technically not an indie studio, is still a relatively small game studio based in Berlin, Germany. The studio has been around since 2017, and Stray Blade serves as their second game. Their first being the tactical RPG Shock Tactics, which wasn’t that well received by gamers, considering its mostly negative review status. Perhaps, StraybBlade will show us how far the developers have come from their first release.
In Stray Blade, you play as Farren West, a self-proclaimed adventurer and explorer. Their backstory is that of the underdog trying to rise their way up in hopes of making a name for themselves. This includes exploring various lands, caves, and ruins and slaying any deadly wildlife that stands in their way. Much like others in its genre, the game features character creation.
Though, don’t get your hopes up, as it’s incredibly limited. You have the option to change Farren’s gender and voice, and that’s it. You can’t change stats, background, ethnicity, or even hair color, making character creation feel tacked on or just straight-up forgotten.
As for the world of Stray Blade that Farren will explore, it goes by many names, ‘Where God Sleeps’ and ‘The Valley of Promise’ but most know it simply as Acrea. This will prove to be one of the most challenging journeys that Farren will make; as you see, instead of assembling their own adventure party, composed of a ragtag team of misfits and friends, our oh so sociable protagonist has decided to go at it alone. This goes as well as you would expect, and Farren meets a swift and unceremonious end. However, that’s not the end of the lone wolf, as he’s resurrected by a strange creature that may prove to be his only true ally.
Stray Blade eases you into its mechanics in a very similar way to other Soulslike games. We are introduced to the basics, such as combat, exploration and health. Death may not be an issue in the game, as when you die, you’ll simply be brought back to life as good as new. That doesn’t mean you should be dying all willy-nilly. One of your most useful resources will be Heart Berries, these act essentially as the game’s Estus Flasks, minus the scarcity, as you will find them almost everywhere, but you won’t exactly be able to carry them all.
Initially, when you start out, you will only be able to carry one Heart Berry at a time, you will be able to increase your carry capacity through the use of upgrades. Upgrades are vital for survival and depending on what you use these upgrades for, will also dictate how hard or how easy your experience will be, but it is recommended that you focus on some upgrades more than others. Upgrades don’t have any prerequisites, and you only need to get skill points by leveling up; considering that this is a Soulslike, it’s easier said than done.
Besides upgrades to your berry carrying capacity, you will also need to increase your weapon mastery. Mastering your weapon skills will, depending on the weapon, unlock its second passive ability that can be unlocked on your skill tree with those lovely skill points you’ve acquired. This does become tedious as there is a multitude of weapons for you to try and figure out which one suits your playstyle.
Mastering your weapons is all fine and dandy, but you’ll need to get weapons first or make them. To make your tools for enemy bashing, you will need a few things, a blueprint, a forge, and of, course materials. Acquiring materials is easy as enemies will drop materials when slain and you can find all sorts of resources dotted throughout the environment. As for blueprints, they can be found in chests and sometimes as enemy loot. And finally, the forge, where you melt everything down with a bit of help from your fuzzy friend, Boji.
Boji is your small, furry companion that provides you with a very important service, well, quite a few, actually. Boji is your support, backpack, tour guide, and occasional tag team partner in combat; that last statement is a bit of a generalization as there is a lot more to it. Boji is not exactly the fighting type, which would mean, especially in the setting of Stray Blade, certain death. What Boji lacks in combat skill, he makes up for in magic or Flux. These powerful attacks can easily put the odds in your favor, especially when in a tight spot. However, you’ll need to build up a synergy bar if you want to bring your furry pal into the fray.
Unlike Farren, if you want Boji to learn more skills and gain new abilities, then you’re going to have to gain Lore points. These aren’t as easy to come by as you’ll need to travel the lands of Acrea to learn all the various pieces of lore that make up its world. While many would find this tedious, it actually incentivizes players to go out and explore the world that the developers obviously put so much time and effort into craft. This also makes you appreciate the setting and all the little things found within it.
To be entirely honest, Stray Blade is a far different game compared to their first release and they’ve put much more effort into it, especially for its marketing, as the studio regularly supplied teasers, hints, and more about their then latest project and this in turn, earned them a considerable amount of attention.
However, they have also made a major mistake. That is sticking too closely to your reference material. This was present in their first game and sadly, the same is seen in Stray Blade. You see, Shock Tactics took too many notes from the XCOM games, and Stray Blade did the same with Dark Souls. You can see this, especially in the game’s combat.
Combat is vital in Soulslikes and is often what makes or breaks them. In Stray Blade, you have your standard light attack, heavy attack, dodge, and parry. Along with these, you will also have your energy bar which will also need to be managed. These are all very basic Soulslike combat features. How hard can the combat be? The combat is brutal, but that’s because of how clunky it is. The controls feel stiff and rigid, which is incredibly frustrating as it relies heavily on timing your attacks to maximize damage, which is easier said than done. This could all be forgiven if enemies didn’t stun-lock you all the time.
Stray Blade struggles to find an identity as certain aspects, such as stylized and whimsical character designs that seem inspired by World of Warcraft clash heavily with the game’s Soulslike elements. The game keeps trying to stand on its own two feet but it’s too busy trying to be a Soulslike instead of being its own game.
Overall, Stray Blade is a game packed with lore and characters that are both fun and memorable. What original mechanics and design choices the game has failed to shine bright enough as it seems to be too occupied with trying to follow a formula rather than figuring out what will make it shine above the rest.
