For a long time, virtual reality was treated like a pipe dream. There were the occasional attempts to break into the mainstream, most notably with Nintendo's Virtual Boy console, which could only display in black and red pixels. In recent years, though, devices like the Oculus Quest and HTC Vive have made VR a possibility again, and no game captures what that means better than Blade and Sorcery does.
For the uninitiated, Blade and Sorcery is a VR medieval fighting game, equipping players with a broad suite of melee weapons and a few spells to add spice to the action. While the included arsenal is a selling point on its own, it's how Blade and Sorcery couples the weapons together with core gameplay that defines what it is, and what VR should be.
Blade and Sorcery is all about delivering a tight core gameplay loop that puts players into the world - literally. VR falls flat if players aren't fully immersed in the action, because full immersion is the core of what it's trying to accomplish. But not every game has managed to do so well, and even those that are able to get "full immersion" often struggle with making gameplay compelling. Blade and Sorcery, however, has fully realized that a successful VR experience is a visceral one.
Blade and Sorcery's Combat
Combat in Blade and Sorcery is unlike most other games out there, simply because it allows players to do whatever they want with their bodies. Compared to games like Skyrim, where there are a finite number of animations for players to view, it opens up a world of possibility. It's brutal, but players are given full reign to wreak havoc on their enemies, and the reward is inherent in the loop – it looks cool.
Blade and Sorcery isn't the only game to attempt that kind of combat, but it's the only game that allows enemies to respond accordingly. Players are able to grab, pick up, and manipulate combatants around them with their bodies, using anything at their disposal as a weapon. That includes the environment, where players are able to slam debris at their enemies, bash their faces, shove them into spikes, and a ton of other brutal options.
This ability to perform actions that other games simply can't is what makes Blade and Sorcery so special. Other games pitch the player as a cunning warrior or wise wizard, but only Blade and Sorcery turns the player into that specific archetype. It's visceral, and it allows players to break free of the confines of what video games have traditionally been able to. That, above all else, aligns perfectly with the elevator pitch for virtual reality as a whole. Players want to feel immersed, but most of what's happening in the VR scene plays out like an elaborate arcade game.
Blade and Sorcery's Movement
On a more granular level, Blade and Sorcery's promise isn't about what it's doing for combat, it's about movement. Players are free to move around realistically because they've been plunked into the world. When they move their hand, they see the action replicated in real-time in a digital space; when they walk to the left, their player walks along with them. It's a merging of body and mind that feels like something out of a sci-fi flick, meanwhile, other games struggle to nail the basics of locomotion.
Not to mention, players are only really restricted by the environment they're playing in when it comes to moving around in Blade and Sorcery. Even the game's architecture, which, in some cases, means large towers, can be climbed freehand, with players able to move around as if they were parkouring in Assassin's Creed. It's that lifting of restrictions, the feeling that the player can go anywhere, that sells just how deep Blade and Sorcery can go.
This isn't necessarily unique to Blade and Sorcery, either, though there's a bit of an asterisk here. There are other games out there that grant players the freedom to climb endlessly and lift the restrictions typically found in a game's map. The most notable example is Breath of the Wild, which features a surprising number of parallels to Blade and Sorcery when it comes to improvising in combat. It just so happens that Breath of the Wild is often hailed as one of the best games of all time – maybe there's a correlation between movement and quality.
Blade and Sorcery's Future
Part of what makes Blade and Sorcery so impressive is the fact that it isn't even out of early access yet. The developers still have big plans for the game down the road, with plans to introduce a bevy of new content as the game approaches its full release. The core gameplay has already proven itself worthy of a full game and then some though, so whatever comes next will be icing on the cake.
The question, then, is just how far the developers can take it. It's no small feat for a game to be so impressive in such an undefined field, and it's even more impressive that Blade and Sorcery can stand toe-to-toe with Half-Life: Alyx when it comes to how much fun the game is to play. The foundation to build on is already there, and it's an undeniably strong one. There are still quirks in the DNA right now, as there are with every early access project, but it's easy to move past those when players are presented with so much to enjoy.
Right now, Blade and Sorcery is one of the definitive reasons to invest in a VR headset, like the Oculus Quest 2, especially considering the leaps that are being made with linking budget-oriented headsets with desktop VR experiences. Again, the game isn't finished yet, but it's absolutely worth keeping tabs on Blade and Sorcery to see where it ends up. There's just too much to enjoy there right now for it to be swept under the rug in favor of traditional experiences.
Blade and Sorcery is available now for PC.