Bound by Blades is a brand new game under development by Zeth and it is a four-square boss hunting action-RPG which is inspired by the core formula of Monster Hunter. Bound by Blades might be inspired by Monster Hunter but it is a lot more accessible and caters to an audience which is much more casual and wants to experience the same thrill of slaying monsters but without the complex mechanics. I was lucky enough to try out a pre-release preview of Bound by Blades and this is our preview of this brilliant RPG.
The main formula of Bound by Blades is to make yourself stronger by crafting different weapons using ingredients that you obtain from slaying different bosses. When you get stronger, naturally you get to kill even more powerful bosses and thus craft even more powerful weapons and armor and then move on to even more powerful bosses and the cycle continues.
Bound by Blades is solely boss battle game and there is no open-world exploration here. From your home village, you get access to different options available to you. You can change your loadout, gather some resources in the nearby woods, head to the blacksmith to craft some new weapons or head straight to the battles. Apart from this, there is nothing else to explore however we might get a proper explorable area in the game as development continues.
The battles are where Bound by Blades really shines. They might look simple and easy but each boss battle comes with its own unique challenges for you to overcome. You must adapt to each boss and change your gameplay style accordingly to avoid their attacks and survive to defeat it. You can dodge, jump, use your shield and run around four squares during the battles. Some of the bosses even use these squares to limit your mobility during battles so you will need to be extremely agile.
You can land normal attacks, charge your attacks for more powerful bits and then later opt for powerful combos and combo finishers to make quick work of the bosses. You will need to balance attacking, running, dodging and shielding in each battle so that you can attack the boss and survive at the same time. In the preview build, there was a short number of bosses but each boss had unique attacks and moves that required a different strategy to defeat them.
If you get hurt during the boss fights, you can also heal yourself quickly with a potion. You will need to make sure that you always carry a healthy amount of potions with you specially if you are jumping in the challenge mode. The game is still in pre-release preview mode and I was having a tough time in certain boss fights especially the challenge mode. The bosses are extremely tough in the challenge mode and if you are not careful, you will be drinking those health potions a lot more during the fights.
Apart from the regular boss battles, there is also a challenge mode in Bound by Blades which really tests your mettle. If you find the normal boss battles too easy, you can jump in the Challenge mode and fight a more challenging version of the normal boss again which comes with tons more health and additional attacks. The Challenge mode is really hard and only suitable for players who really want to challenge themselves. For casual players, the normal mode is just fine.
Crafting plays an important role in Bound by Blades. Crafting allows you to acquire better weapons and armor in the game. You cannot expect to complete the whole game with your starting equipment. As you slay more monsters, you will acquire more ingredients required for advanced weapons and armor. Apart from the required ingredients, the village blacksmith will also charge you gems for the crafting. You must have sufficient gems as well to craft weapons and armor.
If you don’t want to craft new weapons or armor, you can also upgrade them. Upgrading also required materials however these are easily acquired from the forest next to your village. From there, you can play a mini-game to break down rocks, trees and nets to acquire wood, stone and health potions. These are the basic requirements for weapon upgrades apart from blacksmith’s fee for crafting which is paid in gems. Upgrading makes the weapons and armor better by increasing their stats.
Considering the fact that I played a pre-release preview of Bound by Blades, I was really impressed with the overall tone of the game. It combines all the necessary elements required for any RPG title. It has crafting, resource gathering, inventory management, local characters to interact with and a story narrative to go with. What is even more impressive is how simple the game is. Any player can easily jump in Bound by Blades and quickly understand the mechanics and in no time, they will be slaying down monsters as well.
For me, Bounds by Blades looks amazing in its early build stages and is extremely stable. I cannot remember a single bug or glitch that I might have experienced during the gameplay or boss fights. The gameplay was smooth, the visuals are neat and the sound design is decent as well. We can expect the final version to include a lot more monsters and areas along with weapons and armor to craft. Who knows, there might be a co-op mode in the final version or even online.
Players interested in Bound by Blades would be happy to know that the Kickstarter for Bound by Blades will start soon and players will be able to jump in the early access demo of the game which will give the players a quite good taste of what to expect from Bound by Blades. As of now, we really like the game and would love to see Bound by Blades release as a full title.
