Bleak Sword is a relentless action-packed adventure that will either leave you in tears or having to buy a new keyboard. Being an upgraded, polished version of their Arcade classic, Bleak Sword DX is an intense experience from start to finish. Do not be fooled by the first Chapter for this game will cruelly punish anyone who naively thinks that it will be an absolute breeze to beat. This is… the most serious game in all of existence. Brace yourself for 11 Levels every 12 Chapters, accompanying 12 insane Bosses. The sword may be bleak, but the satisfaction of completing a Chapter is enough to keep you going forward. Bare the pain of dying, get used to losing that XP and keep going to overthrow the King. This is Bleak Sword DX.
An Unforgiving Experience
In this 8-bit hack and slash game, players will have to face countless foes that all harbour their own abilities and resentment towards our protagonist. Bleak Sword offers multiple difficulties, all of them feeling like absolute nightmares. Even the Normal Mode is incredibly difficult if you are not used to playing hack and slash games. The already tiny arenas get smaller and smaller in size due to the obstacles and varying levels of height that get added throughout the Chapters. The arenas are timed in that more enemies get added into the fold as you are fighting. If you were to take too long to kill the first creature, you will find yourself getting overwhelmed as a hoard approaches from all around you.
In my playthrough I found myself often being beaten by enemies such as the early appearing Spiders, due to their highly irregular movement that I just could not get the hang of. This in combination with soldiers that have the ability to block or tentacles that appear out of shallow water, likely connected to the body of the Kraken waiting for you off screen, makes for a terrifying experience for your survival.
Be Prepared For a Lot of Deaths
This is the best tip we can offer to players going into Bleak Sword DX blind. Do not expect an easy or fun action-adventure experience. In every arena, you need to teach yourself each creature’s moveset, what is best used against them and how to evade their attacks. Some require the perfectly timed block to counter-attack whilst others need repeated rolls in order to launch an attack after the enemy stops moving. Because of this, you will find yourself always thinking about the next move, rather than reacting in the moment. As someone who spent their Dark Souls career dodging until my man dropped dead from exhaustion, the difficulty to parry was prevalent throughout the Levels.
In every arena, you will need to keep your eye on every inch of the playable screen. I guess this is why the arena is so small in design but packs so much. You will find that there are enemies that fade into the background, placed above you (on platforms or on land as you are fighting in water). Whilst these send down damage from above, you cannot harm them. Instead, you will need to watch their incoming attacks to correctly dodge, whilst simultaneously tackling what is in front of you. The arenas can get overwhelming very quickly, where you may find that you are spending more time rolling around or leaping on your horse rather than actually attacking. But this is a problem as you can leave the arena for too long to fill with enemies that will can be impossible to clear. After all, this is not Vampire Survivors.
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Are You Up For The Challenge?
Bleak Sword DX offers players upgrades as you beat Levels to gain XP and rank up. With consumable and wearable items available to use or discard based on what you prioritize. Levelling up is important to gain more HP, higher attacks or higher defence. But these upgrades come at a price. Similar to Dark Souls, if you were to die in a Level, you only have one chance to return to the same arena and complete it so that you can regain what you had lost. Lose and you have to start from the beginning, locating the beginning items as if you had just started the game from 1-1. The pressure to win is intense and never gets any easier to deal with. Because even if you beat the Level, you will just be greeted by a harder, more challenging arena.
Bleak Sword’s OST and Level selection reminds me of INSCRYPTION, with aesthetics similar to FAITH and gameplay as demanding as Dark Souls. It has fluid gameplay, with good character and level design to keep things interesting and players always on edge. Every new creature before getting added to the Beastiary will have you wondering what move it has in its locker before it readies to attack. Do not get too curious now for every hit packs a heavy punch and one that will leave you screaming for help in the darkness.
You may initially think that its arenas are repetitive, but with increasingly tougher enemies to face and new moves to adjust to, Bleak Sword will be an experience to remember. The monochromatic visuals with hints of red perfectly encapsulates the darkness and hostility of the landscape. It asks for you to be playing your absolute best every moment between the pause menu. You cannot get distracted or let your guard down or the red skull of death will absorb you and all of your pain for being defeated. From Story Mode to Boss Rush where you verse terrifying bosses back-to-back with a single Health Bar, this game requires serious gamers only. If you are a gamer with the gaming lean in your arsenal as your go-to position, Bleak Sword is the perfect game for you.
