Berlin-based developers Point Blank Games have released the latest in action-adventure games to keep you immersed for hours. They have built this visually stunning, story-rich game known as Stray Blade. This is one title you aren’t going to want to miss.

You begin your adventure with the main character – a male or female by the name of Farren West. Having already explored the rest of the world, you have one thing left in your sights to explore. The ancient ruins of Acrea. You finally step foot on the lands the ruins call home, but died during your travels, only to be brought back to life with a heavy price to pay – you are now bound to land and need to work hard to free it from the war and death brought to the valley by the Golden Army.

At first glance, an easy comparison to “Soulslike” games makes sense, but the variations to a proven formula help this title walk its own path. The most apparent feature is not having to build into a certain play style to take advantage of a certain weapon. This means that you can equip any type of weapon you find, heavy or nimble, and not be penalized based on stats previously spent. That’s not to say you will pick up a weapon and be a master with it, as the more you use a weapon type, the better you will be with it. They just won’t feel unusable at the start if you switch it up.

The skill tree brings a wide selection of paths to invest in but are general upgrades for either less energy consumption per block, additional health, or an extra healing berry slot to regain health. These may be simplified goals to chase, but it does take the stress out for players that want to experiment without a lingering dread of which stat to build like you would in a FromSoftware title.

The general gameplay loop does set its precedence with a dodge and parry-centric flow. If the enemy glows blue before an attack it will require a parry that will lower the enemy’s poise on successful parries, and if they glow red, they must be dodged, which will give you back stamina if it was timed correctly.

Some windows are tighter than others but there are four difficulties to play with, all the way down to story mode if you are troubled by the more aggressive fights. I personally found the finisher moves to be invigorating after a one-on-one dual of wits to parry, dodge, and stab my way through the affair to break their poise and prompt the finisher, and watching a cinematic execution never grew old.

With the console version of Stray Blade, I felt right at home with an intuitive control scheme that most fans of the action-adventure genre would be accustomed to. Light and heavy attacks with the right bumper or trigger, and your defensive capabilities range from block, dodge, and parry, all with their own single-press buttons. Having to hold down the left bumper allows you to double up on the face buttons to unleash your abilities, which then leaves your D-pad to juggle weapon swaps, healing, and your compass.

The heart and soul of the fights are based around the hand-to-hand combat element, but the addition of abilities adds a certain flair to world traversal and boss fights. Some abilities will unlock new areas that can also be used for the boss arena itself, and there are crystals floating around that can be teleported too, with an animation that sees you dart through the air at breakneck speeds.

I enjoyed my time exploring – once I figured out a good way to navigate the compass and the map for resource gathering. Venturing off the beaten path would yield rewards, but it wasn’t always populated as some of the more detailed environments you find in the main sections. It looped back into the blueprint portion of the game which could be quite demanding at times. These blueprints could require a type of metal, some leather, beast part,s and more, but it wasn’t without satisfying rewards. The menu system is user-friendly too, which helped keep track of what weapons can do and which armour was best, especially since you could change the colour of the armour to better fit your style.

The storyline is incredible, making it a huge attraction for the title. Controlling the main character, Farren West, and being guided through your quests by your companion, Boji, you encounter all sorts of cool things along the way, and cutting off the Golden Army’s arms and legs was so satisfying that I found myself hunting for more fights whilst exploring. There were some insane boss fights, and I might have died more than once fighting them.

Graphically this game was absolutely stunning and I loved every minute of looking at it, with that cartoonish feel that came with the environment, to the rays of sun coming through the trees with bright and vibrant colors. This game just popped off and was beautiful to play.

The environmental aspects all had that cartoonish feel you would see from games like Fortnite where it does not look necessarily realistic but it still looks stunning, and you always get the idea of what something is. The blood even had that cartoony feel to it. It wasn’t enough to make you squeamish, but it was enough to be like, “Wow. That was cool!” and seeing the blood cover the character after you just cut someone’s arm off was very fulfilling.

The developers did a fantastic job when it comes to audio, especially when it comes to the dialogue. There was so much and it was so well done, and the expressions of Farren’s voice actor dragged you so much deeper into the game. The backing tune had a strong mixture of guitar and other wind instruments, and depending on the scene and location, they would change, so if you were in a fight, the music would become darker and quicker, so you knew you were in combat, and at some points, it would make you fight better just to keep up with the tune. The game’s weapons even sounded fantastic, especially when you hit someone; it was that wet flesh-cutting sound you would expect when hitting someone with a sharp weapon, and once you had made that fatal last blow, you could hear them taking their last breath, which again, was satisfying.

If you love a rich adventure game where there is no shortage of combat and beautifully crafted environments, then Stray Blade is designed for you. The game runs really well and plays absolutely beautifully on PC and next-Gen consoles, and the dialogue is immersive, clutching at you and dragging you into the game even further.

Written by: Shane Fletcher