Blades of Fire is an upcoming action RPG where you play as a blacksmith wielding a legendary smithing hammer! Read our review of its free demo to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying when it comes out!

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Everything We Know About Blades of Fire

Blades of Fire Gameplay

Players take on the mantle of Aran de Lira, a warrior and wielder of an ancient divine hammer that is able to forge various weapons immune to the Queen’s curse. He is accompanied by Adso de Zelk, a scholar who provides support by playing as a strategist, keeping track of all the enemies they encounter inside a helpful compendium.

Blades of Fire features a unique combat system where players can specifically target parts of an enemy’s body to find their weaknesses. When paired with the right weapon and dealing either slash stab, or bludgeon damage, with the right strategy, any enemy of any type can be eliminated. Enemy attacks can be blocked and parried, preventing health loss and even regenerating stamina (blocking) or opening a window for a powerful counterattack (parrying).

With his hammer blessed by the Forgers, Aran has the ability to forge a large range of weapons across seven different weapon families. Over 30 Forge Scrolls can be discovered as players progress, which are essential in weaponcrafting. Forged weapons can be extensively customized to the player’s liking, both in quality and in appearance. The power of the weapon relies on Aran’s skill and how the weapon is made, with properties such as durability, penetration, and edge quality needing to be considered.

Blades of Fire Story Plot

In long-past ancient history, the world was then ruled by a mighty giant race called The Forgers. Blessed with wisdom, they ushered in an era of magnificence, innovation, and wonder…until a catastrophic war ended it all, leaving their civilization in ruins. Some Forgers survived the aftermath, but they were nonetheless threatened by extinction.

In an attempt to carry on their legacy, the Forgers created human beings, bestowing them with knowledge and the race’s most treasured legacy—the secret of The Steel. Armed with these skills and overflowing ambition, humanity rose high on the ranks and came to rule the world in their creator’s stead. Thus, the world was at peace.

That was a thousand years ago. However, the present King of the Empire has passed, and his daughter, Nerea, ascended to the throne in his place. People looked to her with hope, hoping that she would follow in the footsteps of her father and to bring in a new time of prosperity and greatness. Unfortunately, the now Queen Nerea has unleashed a long concealed part of her, and has cast a curse upon the land that turns her enemies’ steel into stone, rendering it useless.

It is now up to the queen’s childhood friend, Aran de Lira, who possesses a sacred hammer that lets him forge steel weapons immune to the curse, allowing him to stand ground against the tyrant. Alongside his young scholar companion Adso de Zelk, the duo makes the journey across the land to make it to the Royal Palace to put an end to her and her crimes, once and for all.

Blades of Fire Release Date

Fire Up the Forge on May 22, 2025, Pre-Launch Demo Available Starting May 15

Developer MercurySteam and publisher 505 Games have announced that a demo featuring the first few hours of the game will be launched on PC (Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on May 15, 2025. Additionally, save data and progress from the demo can be carried over to the full release.

Meanwhile, the full version of Blades of Fire will officially release on May 22, 2025 for PC (Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Digital Storefronts
Epic Games		PlayStation		Xbox
$59.99

Blades of Fire Review [Demo]

Completely Un-forge-ettable!

Have you ever backed out of something you were dead-set on just moments before—and had it turn out to be the right call? For someone as impulsive and indecisive as I am, that’s basically a Tuesday (the backing out part, not the “it being the right call” part). Fortunately for me, it was the right call this time around, as my first run-in with Blades of Fire nearly convinced me to pass on it entirely, and I would’ve missed out on something I ended up loving more than I expected. What started as a rough, underwhelming showing eventually forged itself into the kind of distinct experience the single-player RPG space has been craving for a while.

Yes, I’m saying all that about a demo—but stick with me through this review, and you’ll see how I went from completely disinterested to absolutely fired up to grab this game the moment it drops. Let’s get those forges burning and take a hammer to this review, shall we?

No Ashen Ones or Unkindled Here—Just A Humble Blacksmith!

We begin this review with the raw, misshapen lump of iron that is this game’s introduction. I wish I could describe it differently—especially knowing what it eventually becomes—but there’s no getting around it: this is Blades of Fire at its absolute weakest. And kicking things off with a low point is rarely a good idea.

The game opens with Aran de Lira, a blacksmith working deep in the forest, hammering away at something when a distant cry for help draws his attention. Grabbing an iron axe, he rushes to the scene and manages to save a young Apprentice—though not the Abbot they were traveling with. Aran brings the survivor back to safety, and… that’s it. That’s the entire opening.

If it feels like I’m skipping something, I’m not. That is the beginning. No cinematic intro aside from a quick establishing shot and some text fading in on the screen. I get it—it’s a demo, some parts aren’t fully fleshed out yet—but even The First Berserker: Khazan had proper dialogue and cutscenes woven into its tutorial. This? It just sort of drops you in and hopes for the best.

Speaking of dropping you in, this is also where the game teaches you how to fight. I was expecting something simple—maybe Dark Souls–style combat, where basic attacks are just light or heavy swings. Instead, what I got was something much closer to For Honor. Blades of Fire uses a directional combat system, letting players strike with overhead, body, or lateral attacks from either side. Each of these also has a heavy variant if you hold the appropriate button.

I’m not going to lie—I didn’t like this at first. Just like with For Honor, it felt clunky, unfamiliar, and, frankly, kind of pointless. Unlike For Honor, the enemies here don’t block directionally, so the angles seemed like more of a stylistic choice than a mechanical necessity. But, as with many things in this game, my opinion shifted once the game opened up more.

After the tutorial, you’re introduced to different damage types—blunt, pierce, and slash—all of which interact differently with enemy armor. Some enemies resist certain weapons, and some are outright immune, but the game helps you out with a clever color-coded targeting system. Swapping between weapon types becomes key to survival and strategy, especially as the game ramps up its enemy variety.

Add in solid parry, block, and dodge systems, and the combat loop transforms into something surprisingly fresh, not because of flashy animations or spammable skills, but because of the satisfying interplay between its otherwise simple systems. It even makes sense in real life—and this is coming from someone who’s a bit of a medieval weapon buff. Unarmored enemies take damage from just about anything. Mail-armored enemies shrug off slashing and piercing. Plate-armored foes? Immune to both, but they’ll crumble under the weight of a mace or hammer. And blunt weapons? Not so effective against hulking beasts with thick, leathery hides—think trolls and ogres.

You could honestly go into this game after watching a video on medieval armor and come out on top just by applying that knowledge. It’s a breath of fresh air from what initially looked like a cookie-cutter fantasy title. And yet, even that’s just scratching the surface. You haven’t seen anything until you get your hands on this game’s weapon crafting system—because whatever you’re imagining right now? Trust me, it’s not enough.

No Weapon Drops Here Either—You Gotta Make Your Own!

Indeed, Blades of Fire does have a weapon crafting system, though I wouldn’t go comparing it to Monster Hunter just yet. You’re not slaying massive beasts and cobbling together oversized fantasy weapons from their bones. Quite the opposite, actually. You’re gathering basic, grounded materials to forge some of the most detailed and realistic melee weapons I’ve ever seen in a video game.

Now, obviously, take that with a grain of salt—real weapon forging is neither quick nor simple enough to translate directly into gameplay. But what Blades of Fire has achieved here? It’s about as close as a game can realistically get.

Here’s how it works: everything starts at your divine forge, introduced mid-tutorial as your central hub and workstation. Before any hammer hits metal, you sketch out the weapon you want to create. Let’s say you’re making a spear. Most games would just ask for ingredients and then spit out a finished product. Maybe a more advanced system lets you tweak stats or swap materials for different effects.

This game, however, wants everything—every fine detail, every nuance. It’s the most involved, customizable crafting system I’ve ever seen, and it doesn’t stop at surface-level choices.

Now that you’re designing the spear, you’ll choose the shape of the spearhead, its cross-section geometry, the length and type of the haft (shaft), and the specific materials for each component. Switch to crafting a sword, and suddenly you’re also deciding on the design of the cross-guard, the shape and size of the pommel, and—again—the materials of every single part. And just when you think you're done, the game asks if you want to mix materials into custom alloys, letting you fine-tune your weapon’s performance to extremes you didn’t even know were possible.

The best part about this is that none of this is just cosmetic. Every choice affects your weapon’s stats and performance. You’re not just building something that looks cool—you’re creating the perfect tool for the job, tailored to your combat style and the enemies you’re up against.

And we’re still not done. Because once you’re satisfied with your design, that’s when the real forging begins.
As you might’ve guessed from my earlier impressions—yeah, the forging minigame isn’t great at first. It’s confusing, poorly explained, and leans more on trial, error, and patience than immediate skill. In that sense, it’s surprisingly faithful to actual forging. You're not just clicking a button and watching sparks fly—you’re shaping heated metal with precision and care.

Here’s how it works: you're given a set of sliders that represent the metal’s form, and your goal is to redistribute them into a specific shape based on the weapon you designed. Hammerheads are broad and blunt; spearheads are slim and pointed. Every strike you make—its angle and strength—affects how those sliders shift. Misjudge it, and you can warp your weapon beyond saving. Do it right, and the quality of your final product increases. It's a clever, if initially frustrating, system that genuinely evokes the feel of shaping something by hand.

You will mess it up your first few times. But once the mechanics click, there’s a surprising satisfaction in nailing a perfect forge. Even better, the game lets you save your finest creations as instant templates, so you don’t have to go through the full process every single time. It’s a smart reward for mastering the system.
And with that, we come to another standout feature in Blades of Fire—its other unique mechanics that continue to push the boundaries of what this genre usually offers.

New Blueprints, Weapons as Checkpoints, and Weapon Altars

As you may have gathered, since you’re forging all your weapons in this game and there are no traditional weapon drops, “loot” manifests as new blueprints, materials, and parts for you to mash together at the forge. Blades of Fire handles this in a rather unique way—actually, in more than one.

The first and most straightforward method is through enemy encounters. Every enemy type wields a distinct weapon, and once you’ve defeated enough of a specific kind, you unlock the ability to craft their gear. Footsoldiers eventually grant you swords, captains unlock warhammers, and those invisible assassins? Dual knives. It’s a hitlist-style progression system that encourages engagement with enemy variety—and it works beautifully with the game’s respawning foes, who reappear each time you rest at your anvil, Dark Souls–bonfire style.

Speaking of the anvil, it acts as your checkpoint and resurrection point. When you die, this is where you respawn. It’s also where you can recycle or repair worn-out weapons, and access the full Forge for weapon creation. So yes, this is your hub for just about everything.

The second method of unlocking new gear comes via Weapon Altars—wooden sculptures depicting warriors holding specific weapons. If you interact with one while wielding the same weapon it shows, you’ll unlock new components for that weapon, such as alternative blade shapes or haft styles. It’s a subtle but effective way of rewarding experimentation and repeated forging.

And if that doesn’t keep you crafting, the game’s take on Dark Souls’ souls system definitely will.

There’s no traditional currency here—since you make everything yourself, there’s no need for gold. So, what do you lose when you die? The weapon you were carrying. That’s right—you drop your currently equipped weapon upon death, and you’ll need to backtrack to retrieve it. Hope it wasn’t your magnum opus, because if you die before reclaiming it, it’s gone. Die enough times, and you’ll run out of usable weapons altogether, forcing you to return to the forge and start crafting anew.

And so, the loop continues—forge, fight, fall, and forge again. It’s tight, it’s easy to understand, and it strays from what you expect without being completely alien. I love it to pieces, but some aspects of this game betray the cracks in its make.

God Awful Voice-Acting with Unfinished World-Building

Sadly, not every initially off-putting aspect of this game evolves into something worthwhile over its generous 3-hour runtime. The voice acting, for instance, is atrocious from start to finish—and I genuinely shudder to think what the full game might sound like once everything’s in place.

Now, it’s not entirely on the voice actors themselves; the recording quality is suspect at best. Some lines sound canned, others are muffled, and a few really should’ve gone in for a second—or third—take. The delivery rarely feels convincing, and I absolutely abhor the casting choice for the Abbot’s apprentice.

The world-building doesn’t fare much better. There’s a concerning amount of exposition with little to no payoff, leaving the story feeling largely unimportant. Yes, it’s a demo, and we can give it a little slack for that, but even within those few hours, not one setup plot point is given any sign of follow-through. If the narrative doesn’t tighten up in the full release, it’s going to be a serious weak link in an otherwise promising game.

Not A Game For First Impressions

If Blades of Fire’s demo is any indication of the full game’s quality, then this is one you’re going to have to trust the process on—because it’s definitely not a game built for strong first impressions. Fittingly enough, it’s a game about taking something raw and unrefined and hammering it into shape, slowly crafting an experience worth investing in.

The demo showcased some genuinely creative mechanics paired with a mixed bag of everything else, which means there’s still plenty of room to grow. Half-forged or not, I already see the makings of a masterwork here. It might not end up being the crown jewel of 2025—but it’s certainly not a game you’re going to forget.

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Blades of Fire Product Information​

Title	BLADES OF FIRE
Release Date	May 22, 2025
Developer	MercurySteam
Publisher	505 Games
Supported Platforms	PC (Epic Games) PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X|S
Genre	Survival, Multiplayer, Horror, Action
Number of Players	Action, Adventure
Rating	ESRB M
Official Website	Blades of Fire Website

Aaron Bruce Albert..

A massive fan of roguelikes, turn-based RPGs, and open world adventure games. His gold standard games include The Binding of Isaac, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and Dragon Quest Monsters Joker.