Blade Chimera Review – An Exceptional Cyberpunk Side Scroller

When it comes to games in the platforming genre, there is no shortage of titles thanks in large part to indie developers, with games like Hollow Knight and Ori and the Will of the Wisps having rightfully become the torchbearers for that style of game. Every once in a while, however, we get an indie platformer title that, while doesn’t redefine the genre, reminds you why we can never really have enough of those types of games. Enter Blade Chimera – a small title made by Team Ladybug that proudly wears its influences – a number of popular platformers – on its sleeves.

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The first thing that stands about Blade Chimera is its artwork, which is drop-dead gorgeous at times. Making use of pixel art, Blade Chimera quite easily stands head and shoulders above other similarly designed titles thanks to just how vividly detailed its sprites, animations and environments tend to be. While just about any scene of the game looks great on its own, seeing characters move around, attack, or otherwise be in motion is where the game’s visuals truly start standing out.

The smooth animations and Chimera Blade’s great implementation of its art style is further compounded thanks to excellent use of an excellent color palette. The game is able to seamlessly provide a fantastic atmosphere in just about any of its various locations by making use of striking color combinations. This can range from the muted ones to dull colors of an underground train system, from scorching orange hues in the sky in its more industrial zones to the lush greenery when you enter the science lab. Even the streets of the game’s main setting, a cyberpunk rendition of Osaka, absolutely oozes with atmosphere thanks to well-lit neon signs, flickering vending machines, and even animatronic displays of a roadside stand.

"The first thing that stands about Blade Chimera is its artwork"

Backing up the great visuals is its engaging soundtrack. While Blade Chimera has its fair share of intriguing ambience, especially when there is a lot of exposition happening, the game’s soundtrack manages to easily put you in the mood to hunt down some demons thanks to its thumping electronic soundtrack. The fast-paced techno music might not top any gaming list charts, but it’s definitely well-suited for on screen actions like jumping around, avoiding energy beams, and taking out Japanese yokai inspired demons.

However, what separates a good platformer from a great one are the gameplay mechanics, and while Blade Chimera largely feels addictive to play, there are some minor nagging issues with it. The biggest issue is that the game doesn’t tend to explain its mechanics very well. Sure, you’ll be jumping, shooting, and doing all sorts of cool things in no time, more advanced ideas, however, like how certain abilities might interact with each other, or even just a more convenient way to compare equipment, is never really explained. In fact, the game feels decidedly old school in that respect; you’re going to have to grab a pen and paper to write down the stats of your currently-equipped plasma gun so that you can easily compare it to a new one in the shop to figure out if it’s an upgrade.

Information about side quests is similarly obscured from the player. While you can quickly figure out what you’re supposed to be doing once you’ve accepted the side quest, there is no real way for you to see these details before the quests begins. This problem is somewhat mitigated by the game having no penalties for abandoning side quests and picking up ones more suited to the area you’re currently exploring, but the quest system could have been fined tuned for a much smoother experience.

"What separates a good platformer from a great one are the gameplay mechanics"

One notable spot where the lack of information provided led to some frustration for me was the first time you come across a demon termination zone. Wielding a giant floating sword “Lux”, that is essentially a shape shifting demon, means you can’t cross this zone without the sword taking damage, which could lead to the character’s death. While the game intends for you to stick the sword on the floor, run through the zone, and then summon it to you through a wall, Blade Chimera doesn’t even hint it to you that this is an option. I managed to accidentally sidestep the puzzle entirely by teleporting to its end. In this instance, having a simpler version of the same puzzle earlier in the game would be of great benefit in training the player to think about the demon sword as its own entity that can go through walls for the difficult puzzles down the line.

With all of that out of the way, the gameplay in Blade Chimera is definitely some of the best in recent times. The controls feel incredibly responsive, and the game makes good use of its unique demon sword mechanics to present fun and interesting platforming and exploration challenges. These abilities range from the relatively mundane, like being able to swing across a large gap by using the demon sword as a grappling hook, to more complex ones, like summoning a bridge that existed at the spot at some point in the past, allowing you to cross the gap. The abilities that Lux provides you with are what contribute quite a bit into making Blade Chimera feel like a traditional platformer.

Much like you would expect from the genre, quite a bit of your time will be spent exploring the game’s labyrinthine map. In the process, you will unlock new abilities for yourself and Lux, allowing you to enter previously-inaccessible zones. The game also locks off a few areas behind having you hunt down collectibles shaped like puzzle pieces, but at no point in the main story do you actually need to go out of your way for them. Instead, exploration tends to be rewarding with quite a few great pieces of equipment hiding in obscure corners.

"Much like you would expect from the genre, quite a bit of your time will be spent exploring the game’s labyrinthine map."

Speaking of skill points, Blade Chimera features a relatively simplistic form of progression. Killing demons gets you experience points, which in turn will level you up, rewarding you with a new skill point. These skill points can be spent in a small tree to unlock new abilities, which can range from having niche uses like having Lux shoot out a barrage of projectiles at enemies at a significant MP cost, to skills that feel absolutely mandatory, such as one that allows you to fast travel between different points in the map.

The game’s combat also works pretty well despite its simplicity. While there aren’t many complex combos that you will have to learn, most melee weapons only tend to have 2-3 hit combos. However, the depth in the game’s combat instead comes from the types of enemies you’ll be facing. Just about every demon has its own quirks, and you will be constantly switching between your swords, guns, Lux, and even magical abilities to take them down depending on the situation. This also carries over into boss fights, which tend to be a lot of fun without being obnoxiously difficult. Bosses tend to have complex move sets that can be easily learned in the course of a single fight, and these moves tend to be satisfying to avoid or even exploit.

Tying all of these aspects up together is the story. Blade Chimera is trying to be a gritty cyberpunk story with hints of a neo-noir vibe, and it largely tends to succeed. While there aren’t any grand plot twists, the game’s story still manages to be quite interesting thanks to some surprisingly intricate world building. As noted earlier, Blade Chimera takes place in a cyberpunk version of Osaka which is seemingly ruled by a cult that has taken it upon itself to cleanse the land of demons. Players take on the role of one such demon killer named Shin, and in the wreckage of the fight against a particularly big demon, finds and befriends a seemingly innocent shapeshifting demon named Lux.

"Blade Chimera takes place in a cyberpunk version of Osaka"

Together, Shin and Lux set out to complete more demon hunting quests. After a mission where Shin finds himself embroiled in complex scenarios (like can a person be killed based on just a suspicion whether they are a demon or not), the duo set out to further explore to find out what happened to the world and their loved ones. Generally speaking, Blade Chimera’s story gets the job done when it comes to sending players out to explore its world. The voice acting is also well done, as is the fact that you don’t really need to piece things together by yourself.

All in all, Blade Chimera is a fantastic platformer, and is an easy game to recommend to fans of the genre. For players that might not be too familiar with some of the genre’s more esoteric elements, however, the way Blade Chimera tends to hide some crucial gameplay information might just end up feeling obtuse and annoying for some players. Thankfully, these issues are relatively minor, and don’t spoil what is otherwise an intriguing experience.

This game was reviewed on PC.