Bound By Blades

Great game, having a lot of fun!

This game has a great story with a unique fighting style.
I love the art style, and animations.
10/10

A tentative recommendation from me.
If you want to have some fun for an afternoon, go for it.
If you want more, you will be left wanting.

* Genre: 2D Arena style, boss fight game, with lovely graphics.
* Difficulty: Switch between the 3 difficulties (Easy, Normal, Hard) at any moment.
* Classes: Switch between the 3 classes (2H Sword Warrior, Shield & Chakram Tank, Bow Archer) at any moment (they share the story progress, unlocked stuff and crafting materials).
* Co-op: Unlock online co-op after completing a couple of quests solo. Difficulty scales weirdly though. Every player can save and access the same progress in solo mode too.
* Enemies & Story: 10 bosses > beat them (and finish the story - yep it's short) and unlock the same bosses in Extreme mode > beat them and unlock the Tower (25 levels with multiple bosses sequence in each lvl) > Beat the Tower and unlock the Dungeon (no idea what it is - sorry folks, I got bored at this point).
* Exploration: There is 0 exploration. You only see the town, from where you access everything directly.
* Town Content: Craft / Upgrade / Enhance / Transmog gear, retrieve upgrade materials after each fight, train up to 4 pets to send them on missions for materials (you can have one to help you in battle).


I spent a lovely afternoon playing this game with my partner.
But it soon became extremely repetitive.

I dont want to be stuck on a track this is crap-looks nice but I was expecting IDK CONTROL? Freedom... this is a PUZZLE GAME

Interesting an unique, but has some glaring issues.

No indication of which attack you can repel and which you have to dodge.
Too many upgrades immediately unlocked one after the other, it makes it feel meaningless.

is alright game... but very basic and short
This is not an RPG or anything like that - it tries to be many things and it falls short on every one.
Pet system is tedious and slow
Leveling feels useless
Boss battles are bland

𝕍𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕥 𝕡𝕦𝕫𝕫𝕝𝕖 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒𝕟 ℝℙ𝔾 𝕥𝕨𝕚𝕤𝕥!

Bound By Blades is a top-down puzzle shooter in which you are tasked to defeat several beasts by using one of three "class" characters; it's overall a FURRY dream... to me, the aesthetic was a nightmare lol

The story takes you to a journey of glory as you are tasked, as the three BOUND, to defeat Ilcyons; strange, corrupted beasts that were once furries as as yourself, but got corrupted by whatever source. The story really doesn't matter much...

Once you learn how to shoot your arrow or swing your sword, the game takes a very... list-based approach; as in, every mission is on a list to choose from and missions are all basically the same, except for only one thing which is the beast's pattern. You can level up, buy new weapons, buy new armor, gloves and all the RPG elements... you can also raise a bunch of cringe-looking eyeballs that do quests for you and that you can evolve by feeding them certain kinds of items.

The game is very short and I've finished most of it in 2 hours flat, once you get used to your character's defensive abilities, you've basically mastered all the game has to offer.

6/10

, finish it quick and move on lol

Not bad. Definitely a very small indie title. I could see the combat system being polarizing - either you enjoy it or you don't. I'm somewhere in the middle, I don't enjoy not being able to freely move my character, but that's the basis of this game, so I either have to accept that or not play it. I particularly resent not having a world to explore, so things feel very confined and restrained. You launch combat by talking to a bulletin board - ugh. The dialogue is a bit "kiddie" and some of the systems (crafting, pets, enchanting, there are many) are all over the place. But this is a game that tries a lot of things, and does some of them well. Some of the interfaces for said systems are better implemented than others. IMHO it's worth your time if you're looking for something innovative, and worth the price if you can grab it on sale.

Bound by Blades is a cute and fun little title. It's got a pleasing aesthetic which focuses on cute animals as the main characters.

However, there's this feeding the pets and collecting materials mechanics, which didn't sit well with me. It felt like features that just took my time and were not fun at all, these feature could've been improved upon or maybe just left out,

After you've taken down the first bosses, don't expect a whole new set of challenges. The following bosses seem to be just beefed-up versions of the initial ones. It doesn't entirely strip away the fun, but it does make the gameplay feel somewhat repetitive.

Overall, if you find this on a discount, it's worth the purchase. Especially if you've got a friend who isn't much into gaming - the controls are straightforward, making it super accessible. Good for some super light co-op fun!

Bound by Blades is an addictive action role-playing game (RPG). Developed by a talented indie studio, this game offers a refreshing take on the RPG genre, combining classic elements with innovative mechanics that keep players hooked from start to finish.
One of the standout features of Bound by Blades is its unique combat system. Instead of the traditional approach of mindlessly mashing buttons, players must strategically plan their moves and execute them with precision. The game introduces a tactical combat system where each character has distinct abilities, encouraging players to form a cohesive party with complementary skills. This aspect adds a layer of depth to the gameplay, making every encounter feel rewarding and challenging.
The world of Bound by Blades is beautifully crafted with a stunning hand-drawn art style. Filled with multiple different game modes, and ranking systems which help to extend the length of the game and the replayability. Achievements are a fun touch, not too difficult - although not easy either.
The character development system in Bound by Blades is both flexible and engaging. As players level up and earn resources and items, they can customize their characters' items, gear and abilities through upgrading and enchanting, allowing for various play styles and strategies. This level of customization ensures that each playthrough can be entirely different, increasing the game's replay value significantly.
However, despite its many merits, Bound by Blades is not without some minor flaws. One of the issues is the occasional presence of bugs and technical glitches, which can momentarily disrupt the overall experience - “Champion” achievement is glitched and does not trigger. Another flaw is when playing this game in cooperative. The difficulty is increased immensely compared to single player, which does make sense although it is a major gap - the health and abilities are x2.
Overall, Bound by Blades is a fantastic action-RPG that deserves recognition for its ambitious take on combat, its captivating world, and its engaging narrative. An extremely impressive indie game which I am shocked is not more known, as addicting as it is in the first few minutes of playing. Wish the developer would be more active, fix the bugs and add further updates or develop another sequel as honestly I believe this is a top tier indie game - just needs a bit more marketing.

I got this for $1 on sale, and it's an absolute steal. The game is very monster hunter esque, you move and fight on a grid. However, the choreography and combat is done so excellently on this grid that you won't even notice or be bothered by it. 3 diff classes, each with their own style. The game is very fun and rewarding as you work towards higher scores (S+) aiming to avoid being hit while dishing out damage

Also if you're like me and want to know how early you can do co-op, you need to beat the tutorial boss, and the next 3 bosses before you are able to do co-op. There is a button top left next to your char icon that lets you connect online with other people

Fun game, particularly with a friend. Which you can play with once you enter the city.
Story is pretty short, but has a decent endgame with a grind.

Easy recommendation for a pair of coop players, with minor warnings that will determine whether its your style.

Bound by Blades is basically a cross between Monster Hunter and a hell. You select a boss, it shoots alot of things at you as you dodge and defeat it to get materials. These materials are used to craft new armor and weapons and to upgrade your existing gear. The loop is simple, the bosses fun, and I had a blast.

The only issue with the core combat is that it's node based and you'll automatically run from corner to corner. This can lead to some really awkward attempts to dodge because you get locked into potential doomed states. I found that I raised my speed too much and tending to run into attacks that you're support to be circling between. This leads to some frustrations and clunkiness that does hurt the experience.

The game has 3 characters each with their own genuinely unique gameplay. The archer can move fast and shoot while moving, while the swordsman can do heavy combos, and the heavy fighter benefits from precisely timed combos and blocking. When combined with 1 equipment set per boss, accessories and enchantment... you get alot of customization that feels nice.

But there are only 10 boss fights in the main story and it can be completed in an hour or two depending on your skills. In truth, the game doesn't have the depth or requirements of something like monster hunter and grinding isn't really required. This means that the end game will end quickly if you just want to beat it.

You then unlock EX mode which allows you to refight each boss with a more complex moveset, and later tower and dungeon modes. But these are optional and many players will stop when the game is complete. I'm enjoying these modes, but it definitely feels like they should have been unlocked mid-game and served as better build up towards the finale.

Finally, there's a MAJOR issue with game balance, though reading through comments explains how it came to be this way. The multiplayer balancing leads to exciting and moderately difficult battles that challenged me, but the single player experience was easy enough that I beat the last boss with just the attack button (On Standard and EX).

With even a bit of grind I felt like I out leveled the game and it never caught up with me. I enjoyed the game immensely, but I really craved more difficultly and a reason to upgrade and grind. While the systems are in place for a long experience, there just isn't a reason to do it and that makes me sad.

So ultimately, I recommend this game to a pair of players who want a single night of enjoyable fun. The full price is absolutely fair and the sale prices are steal.

Bound By Blades is a good example of a game that is easy to pick up and play. The bosses have a great soundtrack and gameplay is smooth and fast. There's also multiplayer so you can bring a friend to slay bosses and gather great equipment. Hopefully there will be a sequel some day.

Worth it's time if you give it a chance - later bosses and variants getting really difficult. Artstyle and the 4 corner battle system is not for everyone, but would recommend.

I'm hard pressed with this game. My brother and I played it together hoping for a similar experience to Children of Morta or Ember Knights and we were left disappointed. We're somewhat "serious" gamers and enjoy unforgiving games.

Upon playing the tutorial and the first boss co-op, our biggest qualm is the lack of movement in the fights. You can only move to each corner of the fighting environment in order to dodge, alongside your class ability. , the oncoming onslaught from bosses . We should have downloaded the demo.

The lack of movement or complete control of your character is what prompted both of us to refund the game.

That being said, I still recommend it for what it offers:

1.) Tight controls.
2.)EXTREMELY WELL DONE MULTIPLAYER LOBBIES. Holy @!#$, joining your buddy's room is as smooth as butter and transitions seamlessly.
3.) Unique Gameplay (Just not for me) I assume if you have a kid who's starting to play action games, this would be amazing to play together.
4.) Unique art style (Again, not for me, seems like something out of a children's book)
5.) Upgrades and RPG elements.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking it out if the movement mechanic isn't a deal-breaker like it was for me.

Sick game. Played with my 8 yr old son. He wouldn't put it down. Stayed up way too late getting new gear and enchants. Get an item that gives pots heal to full and some boss stun items to start. My son told me the battles are super fun.

Love the game!

Bound by Blades is a fun indie game inspired by the likes of Monster Hunter with it's own unique combat system. This game has 2 players co-op play, great post-game content, 3 characters to play, quite a few unique bosses to fight, and lots of equipment with their own set bonuses to allow for build experimentation. I recommend this game, especially if you want to support a small indie team.

Bound by Blades is honestly a hidden gem.

With a cute art style and fun simplistic gameplay, small indie team, it's pretty much what you'd expect, and it's perfect. You find yourself with three playable characters that all act out differently and have some actual good thought put out behind their concepts, the character designs themselves are lovely as well.

It's essentially a toned down 2D version of Monster Hunter, involving enjoyable 4 corner arenas. it's got 2-player multiplayer as well and is incredibly fun to play with someone else. The game doesn't have a ton of creatures to fight (only with 10 as of now) but considering they also have EX variants that are much tougher, introduce more attack patterns, they feel even more diverse. Each creature has some sort of learning curve and distinguishing features, and one monster even introduces a duo fight that changes depending on which you kill first, they are incredibly fun.

Excluding story content, getting into the other content includes "Tower" and "Dungeon". Tower involves 25 levels with varying monsters all in one level from the first to the twenty-fifth level, I'll leave finding out about the Dungeon mode to you though!

Aside from inconsistencies in the art styles quality, and lack of further monsters, for a team of what is practically 5 people (mind you they all have their own role to fill, music, art, programming, etc) the game also has a reasonable set of build diversity, involving set bonuses and item enchanting. The developers are also constantly engaging and answering questions and are honestly incredibly kind people, lots of props and love to the team.

Just a delightful game. BBB surprised me right form the get go, firstly because I perished in the first real fight because I was trash but mostly because I couldn't stop playing it until I beat it. The game is very fast paced and there isn't a ton of hand holding after the first fight (which I personally really enjoyed, I dislike long tutorials) and the character designs are down right adorable. I played as Gurren, the archer rabbit, and yes because she was the cutest option. The combat system was really intuitive and all it took for me to "git gud" was changing the dodge AND hide to space bar so it was really easy to jump over things and hide by holding the button instead. The game really picks up when (slight spoiler) you learn that you're starting to fight old champions that have been converted into the Ilycon.

Each of these fights has GREAT music which got me hyped, huge shout out to the sfx and music. And when the environment would change, it gace the familiar set-up a fresh feel each time, even though every battle has the same movement layout mechanically.

Dying can be a bit frustrating when you're not familiar with the attack patterns and some boss moves can just out right murder you if you're under geared or caught sleepin. I wouldn't quite say it's the "prepare to die" style in story mode but post game you should expect to get your ass kicked right out of the gate lol.

The panels of art really assist in the storytelling and I was actually devastated when... certain things happen ;). Each character has a bit of a personality, even if its the ox just wanting to "kick butt", but as this is a boss rush title, that is kinda exactly what I'm here for lol, so I can't blame him for being so shallow as i too would like to kick butt. Finn the Fish probably has the most personality, next to Timber who I think is actually the best lil boi in this game, I found myself sharing his desire to become part of the Bound.

And big point of advice, remember to upgrade AND enchant your weapons and armor. I talked with Zeth (the main programmer and creator) afterward and realized how foolish I was for beating the game without enchanting. Now, I don't know how difficult this game is going to be for the person on average but I did 22 fights and died 7 (three of these deaths were on the last boss that is VERY well designed) times before beating the main part of the game and I did this without enchanting, so maybe if i had done that it would've been easier lol. The last boss actually had my heart racing pretty fast and beating him with only one potion left felt like a legitimate accomplishment, which nowadays can be pretty hard to come by.

Took me about 2.5 hours to beat story mode.

There's lots more to say about this game but I dislike reading long review, just go buy it fellas and fellettes, you'll like it. You can definitely feel the work Zeth put into this title and I'll most certainly go back and beat the story mode with each character!

The Enchantress took all my money... 10/10

This is such a super cozy and charming little game 😊 Even better when played with a friend (2-player online co-op) and runs great with a controller!!

The dev. is also really helpful and active in the forums helping gamers out with any questions/issues.

Definitely pick this game up - and don’t get hit!!!

Bound By Blades is a monster hunter game set in a fantasy world where a curse has taken over, and you and the Bound must fight against said curse. This game is great, I had loads of time on the demo and it was amazing.

The game has 10 bosses for the beginning, 10 for the endgame. (20 in total if you can't do the math)
Then there's two different endgame activities to do, Tower and Dungeon. Tower has 25 levels with a time limit, and dungeon run being a boss rush thing.

You can play as 3 different characters that all have their own unique moveset and play differently and kinda do their own things, Kota blocks well and uses those blocks to deal big damage, Guren pumps out slow but huge hits, Teo is kinda the midstance of these two.

The idea is to craft gear and get stronger, but all 10 sets in the game each have a 2 piece bonus and a 5 piece bonus, this lets you choose between the build you wanna go for (It also pairs not the BEST with levelling, but levelling helps make that bad build a better one.)

The main part of the game is to achieve "S+" on a monster, this means you cannot get hit by that monster even once, doing so gives you better rewards, extra XP etc, its also needed for what I would say is the hardest achievement in the game, next to tower of course.

On top of crafting gear you can also "Enchant" and "Transmog" gear, transmog lets you change up your style, and enchanting lets you put bonuses onto your gear, some examples of this are "Precise" = Higher crit chance, "Vampiric" = Life steal, and so on so forth.

The game is fun singleplayer, but you definitely get more enjoyment out of the multiplayer aspect of the game, you can team up with a second player to help overcome the challenges you wanna face and it can be fun making two builds that help each other.

One of the biggest issues of the game is it doesn't have loads and loads of content, but it has enough to satisfy you for quite a long time. There's more stuff in the game like upgrading, unsealing and more but I'm not gonna talk about it too much. I do recommend this game, and especially if you have a friend who can join you. Also, fuck the Publishers. Assemble eat my nuts,

this game is fantastic its a boss rush in a time where we dont have enough of those it takes around 5 hours to beat but has a large amount of bonus post game content with a decent story and multiple characters and only 10 bucks i highly reccomend