Developer: more8bit
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified
Rrp: £8.50 (Gog.com, Humble, Steam and Epic)
Like many games Bleak Sword DX has taken inspiration from the Dark Souls series, specifically the ‘dropping something when you die’ mechanic. In this game you fight monsters in a series of levels each of which is depicted as a diorama. If you die any items and experience are dropped within that level and can only be recovered by completing that level without dying again. Much like Dark Souls your blocking and making attacks depletes your stamina however, dodging does not.
Uncomplicated is what I’d call this game, which is no bad thing. You only really have two types of attack (three if you want to be pedantic) which is a basic attack and a heavy attack, the third would be a counter attack successfully blocking an incoming attack. The main things you have to watch for is getting swarmed and your stamina.
I personally found that the chromatic aberration that this game starts with hurt my eyes, so I recommend turning that off at the earliest opportunity.
This is definitely one of the most interesting takes on the Soulslike genre I’ve seen for a while and I found myself really getting into the simplistic back and forth nature of the combat.
