62 / wfmag.ccReviewRated
GENRE
Action
FORMAT
iOS (tested)
DEVELOPER
more8bit
PUBLISHER
Apple
PRICE
£4.99/month
(Apple Arcade)
RELEASE
Out nowInfo
ReviewPraise the (distinct lack of) sun
t’s often the case that the most
deceptively simple games can be some
of the best. This has been proven time
and time again in the mobile sphere,
where plentiful space is offered to titles
that demand little, but end up dominating every
commute or few minutes of downtime you have.
Bleak Sword – a mobile Souls-like – knows this all
too well, coaxing you into its grimdark dioramas
with impressive ease.
The retro pixel art presents a rustic, aberrated
look to the player, but with wonderfully fluid
animations and a high frame rate, Bleak Sword
ultimately feels right at home in 2020. This ‘less
is more’ approach is felt in everything from
presentation to mechanics, and all the way
through to the victory screen that truncates
each quick-fire level. This screen is often where
you’ll pick up an upgrade after toppling a
carefully selected squad of beasts and acquire
the XP necessary to level up; often a very simple
statistical bump to your attack power or defence.
It’s impressive how well Bleak Sword gathers
up the main elements of the Souls-like genre and
presents them in a stripped-back mobile game.
Any muscle memory from Dark Souls and its
ilk remains useful here – constant rolling and
patience until you find a proper opening is
key – but it’s been seamlessly warped into a
top-down experience that feels right at home in
your pocket.
Modifiers are thrown into the fray as the game
progresses and you move between each world,
with status effects inflicted by cobwebs and other
environmental traps making the whole thingfeel much more claustrophobic and challenging.
This claustrophobia is perhaps Bleak Sword’s most
effective feature, managing, as it does, to create a
similar pang of adrenaline felt in a more standard
Souls-like title.
With some subtle screen shake effects, Bleak
Sword makes every attack feel impactful, as
if you’re plunging through your enemies with
each strike. Enemies toy with your expectations,
like quadruped red-eyed canines that race
across the map and then pause for a breath,
forcing you to both react and think before hitting
back. Paired with some of the game’s more
robust (or exploding) enemies and impassable
environmental objects like trees and rivers, your
route to victory is constrained and figuring out
the puzzle of combat becomes a brain-tickling
treat. It’s like trying to navigate a haunted Animal
Crossing town full of murderous leeches and skull-
wearing forest spirits.
Boss encounters feel grandiose, dropping
behemoths and Goliaths armed with unavoidable
attacks into the arena, each undone with extra-
careful swipes and taps. A thrilling, aesthetically
unique mobile Souls-like with all the flair of its
console stablemates, Bleak Sword is a welcome
addition to your home screen and an ace in the
hole for Apple Arcade.Bleak Sword
I
VERDICT
Providing haptic combat
puzzles in the comfort of
your hands, Bleak Sword is
a terrific alt-Souls-like.85 %
ReviewRated
HIGHLIGHT
Encountering projectile-throwing
enemies mixed things up nicely.
+art fW tYe Wun |as figurZng fut tYat
getting close to them would see
these once-static foes engage in
melee attacks, adding yet another
layer of complexity to proceedings.REVIEWED BY
Jordan Oloman
Charging your sword offers a
satisfying and useful
audio-visual cue of when it’s
time to wallop your enemies. Environment variety in Bleak Sword is seriously
impressive, from murky swamps to dank dungeons
where skull totems block your path.