This retro hack-and-slash is one of the hardest games I’ve ever played - Bleak Sword DX Quick Review

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PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Skip it, unless you really love (and are really good at) fast-paced action games like Hades. Bleak Sword DX is an action-adventure hack-and-slash game that features a dark fantasy theme. I found its gloomy, pixel-art visual style appealing and pleasantly frightening, but most of the exhilaration I felt while playing was dragged down by punishing and frustrating game balance.

TIME PLAYED

I played Bleak Sword DX for four hours. I struggled to make progress, but I managed to get past two bosses and make it to the third chapter while leveling my character up to level eight. I’ve beaten twenty-five stages so far, with each one taking me anywhere between three to fifteen minutes to complete. A lot of my time was devoted to one specific area, stage eleven, which took me over a dozen attempts to conquer.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Adventure. Even though I had a rough time getting through Bleak Sword DX, I still enjoyed the adventure it took me on. It was interesting to see all the different environments, as well as the ugly monsters I needed to defeat. I was always being introduced to something surprising in each level, whether in the form of items I could use or new monsters.

• Leveling. I was able to slowly grow stronger by leveling up which really helped me advance in Bleak Sword DX. I could choose my stat upgrades after leveling and move toward whichever play style I found more comfortable. I personally chose to buff up my character’s defense so I could play more risky without taking too much damage, although I can’t say that made things much easier for me.

• Character design. The first thing that caught my eye in Bleak Sword DX was the character design. From the warrior I played to the monsters I vanquished, every character stood out and looked unique and memorable. I particularly liked how gory and ugly the tentacle boss in the second level looked.

• Art style. Bleak Sword DX’s gloomy pixel-art is horrifyingly good. The gameplay is viewed from a tilted angle, which adds a sense of depth to the 2D characters and objects scattered around each 3D battlefield. Each level features its own environment, painted in hues of gray, bloodred, and white that gives Bleak Sword DX a dark fantasy vibe.

WHAT SUCKS

• Difficulty. I played on the lowest difficulty setting in the game and still struggled to make progress. Monsters hit really hard and moved way too fast for me to keep up. For example, the first monster I encountered was a vampire bat that could kill me in five to six hits. Imagine three of them, blitzing around a small arena with me in the middle; I died in a matter of seconds. I wanted to enjoy the unique visuals and sense of adventure in Bleak Sword DX, but the level of challenge really frustrated me, and I wish that the difficulty setting had more of an impact on it.

• Stamina. A lot of my struggles while playing were because of the game’s mechanics. Combat revolved around stamina, but the issue was that there was not enough of it. It took around four to five attacks for me to completely deplete my stamina bar in a matter of two to three seconds—and then it took two seconds to replenish it. Getting hit by monsters or dodging also briefly stopped my stamina from replenishing and in the heat of battle against three to four enemies, I didn’t have a lot of time to recuperate. This frustrating issue would easily be solved if I had more stamina or if dodging and getting hit didn’t pause regeneration.

• Blocking. When enemies can dash in the blink of an eye, it’s tremendously difficult to block for someone like me with poor reflexes. Now, I wouldn’t be complaining if I could hold and block for a short period of time, but blocking in Bleak Sword DX was an instant action that only lasted so long. As soon as I raised my shield, I had roughly a second to block any incoming damage. If I missed that window by even a few milliseconds or was too early, I’d get hit anyway. Having a little more forgiving timing windows or the ability to hold my shield up longer would have given me more of a chance in fights.

💬 Are you going to play Bleak Sword DX or will you pass on it? Let me know in the comments!