The past several days have been packed to the brim with game announcements and reveals, soStray Blade’s unveiling may have slipped past some people’s radars. Showcased during the Xbox Gamescom Showcase 2021,Stray Bladeis a new title fromShock Tacticsdeveloper Point Blank Games. Published by505 Games,Stray Bladeplans to offer a fantasy action RPG with focuses on complex and intense combat and an evolving world to explore.Stray Bladewill launch in 2022 on PC and next-gen consoles.
As noted,Stray Bladeis described as focusing around two core components of gameplay. Combat seems to be the primary component. Point Blank is building a “high noon” melee combat system highly dependent on reactions and precise movement. There’s a clearDark Soulsinfluencevisible, as combat involves a lot of circle-strafing, dodges, and quick attacks that take advantage of vulnerable moments.Stray Bladehas also added a fishing move system that’s familiar fromBatmanandGod of Waraction games.
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The second core aspect ofStray Bladeis said to be exploration of its large world. Point Blank describes diverse environments including overgrown city ruins, frozen caves, and winding canyons. Exploring will lead to a variety of discovered rewards, including materials, recipes, gear, lore items, and beautiful locations. However, the most interesting aspect ofStray Blade’s world is described as an ever-changing environment. Rather than time resetting like inSoulsgames,Stray Bladehas time “move forward,” so areas where enemies have been defeated will change and become repopulated with new, more challenging encounters.
There’s obviously muchmore toStray Bladethan just combatand exploration, of course.Stray Bladefeatures a robust crafting system based around collecting materials from enemies and hidden locations. It also supports a thorough gear system with item drops and item rarity. And whileStray Blade’s progression systems haven’t been detailed yet, one screenshot appears to show that there is leveling.
Stray Bladedoes not try to hide that it’s aSouls-like game, but it also clearly isn’t trying to apeDark Souls' entire gimmick. It has a more vivid and colorful world, akin toKingdoms of Amaluror MMOs. It has more humor, with its unique wolf-kin sidekick. And it steps forward fromDark Souls' gameplay in some exciting ways, like how time moves forward to create new encounters in familiar areas.
Suffice to say, Point Blank’s new game is going to be worth watching forgamers who likeDark Soulsgamesbut want the subgenre to be iterated on, too. Expect to hear a lot Bladein the months to come.
Stray Bladereleases in 2022 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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