Die by the Blade Review (Steam)

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Die by the Blade Review, Vanquish your foes with a single strike in 1v1 weapon-based fighter Die by the Blade. Dive into a samurai punk world and wield a range of traditional Japanese weapons to determine your moveset. Outwit your opponent in intense, tactical battles and master the art of the one-hit kill!

Die by the Blade Review Pros:

  • Decent graphics.
  • 11.31GB Download size.
  • Steam achievements.
  • Full controller support.
  • Graphics settings – resolution, display mode, v-sync, resolution scale slider, and gamma correction.
  • Advanced graphic settings – quality preset, textures, anti-aliasing, effects, shadows, foliage, post-processing, view distance, motion blur, lens flares screen space reflections, bloom, ambient occlusion, Nvidia DLSS, and Nvidia DLAA.
  • Offers an optimization button to sort the graphics out for you.
  • Colorblind support and severity slider.
  • Fighter gameplay.
  • You can turn the gore off.
  • Three ways to play – offline, online, and single-player.
  • Seven characters to unlock and play each with unique stats for – attack speed, speed, resolve, and willpower.
  • Buy new costumes for each character.
  • Single-player has a tutorial, practice mode, and challenges.
  • Online modes have – host duel, host tournament, ranked duel, ranked tournament, and leaderboards.
  • Offline modes – versus mode, and tournaments.
  • Invite friend code generator.
  • Local play support.
  • Resolve is very important and you use this to perform actions in a fight. Resolve generates slowly but you can speed it up with parrying.
  • Running out of resolve is game changing as you cannot auto block anymore and your attacks will be really slow.
  • Dots show on your health bar and the bar gets smaller as you lose lives.
  • Three stances in the game and they are low, mid, and high stance. You need to keep an eye on your stance it it makes your attacks, linking attacks, and guarding better.
  • Linked attacks are a triplet in that you do 3 actions in sequence – movement direction, stance, and attack.
  • Full 3D battle arena and the walls disappear as you go near them so you can see your characters.
  • Four Ai difficulties.
  • The controller can be set to Xbox or Playstation button icons and you can remap controls.
  • The whole thing is you die by just one hit and you kill with one hit so dodging, blocking, and parrying is just as important as it is to plan your stance and attack.
  • Full dismemberment sequences and hits.
  • You earn coins and exp from playing any mode even against Ai.
  • Tournaments support up to 8 players.
  • You can see your opponent’s stance marker.
  • It feels like a spin on the Nidhogg formula but in an arena.
  • Customise character has other options from clothes, you can buy and equip different weapons, banners, and taunts.
  • Fast-paced action matched with hardly any loading times.
  • Very satisfying when you nail a kill or link a load of moves together.
  • A thinking man’s fighter.
  • Ten arenas to fight in – robot factory, garden, office, village, downtown, prototype, dojo, winter ruins, ancient forest, and street.
  • Banners let you change the icon, color, style, and material.
  • You can trigger cool slow-mode kills called finishers.
  • Games can last mere seconds.
  • It’s a game that will be interesting to see how top-tier players go at the game.
  • Fundamentally simple but has a deep undercurrent of combos and skills to learn.

Die by the Blade Review Cons:

  • Only has 13 achievements.
  • Many modes have to be unlocked before you can play them.
  • Only a handful of clothing choices for each player.
  • Small text in places and you can hardly read it when on the big screen.
  • Spelling mistakes in places.
  • Learning sequences is really hard initially and the tutorial doesn’t do a good job of breaking you in or helping you through it.
  • The menus are all over the place, I mean you adjust controller settings in the duel setup screen.
  • Shame the weapon unlocks are just cosmetic.
  • You cannot customize your character for ages due to needing credits but also to level up enough to unlock the ability to even look at options.
  • Can feel like a grind at times to get unlocks and the game to get going.
  • Levelling up has no fanfare and it’s only if you happen to glimpse at the bar that you even know you levelled up.
  • You cannot pause the game even in offline single-player.
  • The camera can go a bit weird and zoom in at the wrong time or pan around.
  • EXP earned is always the same no matter the life count in single player modes.

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Die by the Blade:

Official website:

Developer: Grindstone

Publisher: Triple Hill Interactive

Store Links –

Steam

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 7/10
    Sounds - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Accessibility - 7/10
  • 7/10
    Length - 7/10
  • 8/10
    Fun Factor - 8/10
7.4/10

Summary

Die by the Blade is a game that offers a unique blend of fast-paced action and strategic gameplay. It has decent graphics and a download size of 11.31GB. The game supports Steam achievements and full controller support, with the option to set the controller to Xbox or Playstation button icons. The graphics settings are comprehensive, including resolution, display mode, v-sync, resolution scale slider, and gamma correction. Advanced graphic settings include quality preset, textures, anti-aliasing, effects, shadows, foliage, post-processing, view distance, motion blur, lens flares screen space reflections, bloom, ambient occlusion, Nvidia DLSS, and Nvidia DLAA. There’s also an optimization button to sort the graphics out for you.

The game offers three ways to play: offline, online, and single-player. There are seven characters to unlock and play, each with unique stats for attack speed, speed, resolve, and willpower. You can buy new costumes for each character. The single-player mode has a tutorial, practice mode, and challenges. Online modes include host duel, host tournament, ranked duel, ranked tournament, and leaderboards. Offline modes include versus mode, and tournaments. The game also supports local play and has an invite friend code generator.

The gameplay is centered around the concept of resolve, which is used to perform actions in a fight. Resolve generates slowly but can be sped up with parrying. Running out of resolve changes the game as you cannot auto block anymore and your attacks will be really slow. There are three stances in the game: low, mid, and high stance. Keeping an eye on your stance makes your attacks, linking attacks, and guarding better. Linked attacks are a triplet in that you do three actions in sequence: movement direction, stance, and attack.

The game is set in a full 3D battle arena and the walls disappear as you go near them so you can see your characters. There are four AI difficulties. The game’s unique feature is that you die by just one hit and you kill with one hit, so dodging, blocking, and parrying is just as important as it is to plan your stance and attack. You earn coins and exp from playing any mode, even against AI. Tournaments support up to eight players.

The game feels like a spin on the Nidhogg formula but in an arena. You can customize your character with other options from clothes, and you can buy and equip different weapons, banners, and taunts. The action is fast-paced, matched with hardly any loading times. It’s very satisfying when you nail a kill or link a load of moves together. It’s a thinking man’s fighter with ten arenas to fight in. You can trigger cool slow-mode kills called finishers. Games can last mere seconds. It’s a game that will be interesting to see how top-tier players go at the game. It’s fundamentally simple but has a deep undercurrent of combos and skills to learn.

However, the game has its drawbacks. It only has 13 achievements. Many modes have to be unlocked before you can play them. There are only a handful of clothing choices for each player. The text is small in places and can be hard to read when on the big screen. There are spelling mistakes in places. Learning sequences is really hard initially and the tutorial doesn’t do a good job of breaking you in or helping you through it. The menus are all over the place. The weapon unlocks are just cosmetic. You cannot customize your character for ages due to needing credits but also to level up enough to unlock the ability to even look at options. It can feel like a grind at times to get unlocks and the game to get going. Levelling up has no fanfare and it’s only if you happen to glimpse at the bar that you even know you levelled up. You cannot pause the game even in offline single-player. The camera can go a bit weird and zoom in at the wrong time or pan around. EXP earned is always the same no matter the life count in single player modes. Despite these issues, Die by the Blade offers a unique and engaging gaming experience. I could easily boil it down to… Its Nidhogg but all grown up and that would be fine but honestly, the game is good enough and deep enough that it deserves to be called by its own name, It takes some inspiration that game but that’s it, What they have done here is make a game that is not initially easy to get into but is so rewarding and deep.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!