Blade Assault is a 2D action rogue-lite platformer from TeamSuneat and NEOWIZ that is set in a desolate sci-fi world. After the devastating Red Stone War, the world has divided into three regions: The mutant infested outside grounds, the Undercity where people have now fled to seek refuge from the mutants, and the sky city Esperanza where the rich and powerful now reside to rule over the world. You will need to fight against the corrupt military of the Esperanza as part of the resistance force of the Undercity.
As with any other rogue-lite game, you can expect that you’re going to attempt multiple runs unsuccessfully before you finally get a completion! Even though you may be unsuccessful in your attempts you will accumulate currency in each run that can then be used to give you permanent upgrades. Making every next run easier the more times you play. Story wise, there isn’t much to go by, this is very much a straight to the action kind of game. You will fight your way through tons of enemies with frantic and flashy combat moves, using a variety of different weapons including both melee (chainsaws/axes) and ranged (rifles). The rooms are randomly generated, as are the power up/upgrades you find for your weapons during each run, so the feeling and playstyle you adopt will also differ between playthroughs, which I thought was a nice touch. You will also be able to unlock extra playable characters who have their own unique weapons which add some extra variety and replayabilty to the game. The elemental core upgrades add a lot to the game too, however you do seem to get offered worse ones then what you currently have equipped quite regularly which is very annoying.
The main issue with the game is the balancing on some of the enemies. The basic enemies you can cut through on mass, and it is on mass as they can sometimes fill the majority of the screen when in combat, but when you get to the bosses they seem to have way too much health than needed. With a full playthrough lasting around an hour and a half to two hours per run, the amount of health your character has seems pitifully small, even if you go all out on health upgrades. Due to the sheer amount of enemies on screen and the amount of madness that ensues when fighting them, you won’t fully be able to see what is actually going on all the time which leads to unnecessary damage taking.
To sum the game up Blade Assault is a gorgeous 2D pixel art rogue-lite with plenty of fast-paced action wrapped up with a pretty responsive control scheme. Unfortunately, the game does feature some balancing issues and grindy progression hold it back slightly. I would recommend playing it if you like your sci-fi rogue-lite style games!
TOTAL SCORE: 6/10
Blade Assault is currently available on Steam at a price of £13.99. You can grab it HERE
The game was released on 18th January 2022, developed by TeamSuneat and published by NEOWIZ.
We were provided a copy of the game to write this review. A huge thank you for that!
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