The Die By The Blade Demo Makes The Cut
First things first: the Die By The Blade demo does not currently work well on the Steam Deck. On the upside, this one-vs-one combat game is the spiritual successor to Bushido Blade we (I) have been waiting for since the late 90s.
Nothing has come close to the definitive one-hit-kill samurai/ninja game from Square, but Kwalee and friends’ beat ’em up undoubtedly takes the title even in this early stage.
Evade and counter techniques are fundamental mechanics; there’ll inevitably be a system here. One-hit-kills will piss on your chips pretty damn quick if you can’t defend and counter an attack. Any rookie can hold block all day, but timing a parry is essential for your success – Die By The Blade is not a button masher, silly.
Die By The Blade Demo
Unlike the unforgiving Sekiro, the counter system here is more user-friendly, but timing is still important. Your character will autoblock incoming attacks, pending you match the stance of the aggressor. Think For Honor, and the controls will feel familiar. Stances are top, mid, and low. Mirroring the stance will ensure a perfect block, but time a parry right and the next slash you take won’t be on your neighbour’s roses.
But you’ll end up dying by the blade rather than your opponent if you’re going to go all Daniel Russo and not strike first. Again, attacks are based on the stance, horizontal and vertical attacks. Whether you can chain these attacks depends on how the opponent responds and whether you have enough resolve, a.k.a. stamina.
So, on to the Die By The Blade gameplay, and it’s quite limited, but let’s stress the word demo. Other than a basic tutorial (which is essential to play), there’s the option to play an offline local player game with another human or against some AI. There are three characters available, each with four stat gauges; attack speed, speed, resolve, and willpower.
Slash, Slash, Backslash, Escape
Naturally, the characters are the children of most beat ’em ups, as we have an all-rounder, a brute, and an agile fighter. Though it’s important to stress that the stats are subtle, and while each person handles differently, along with their choice of a katana or wakizashi, their style doesn’t go down that route of extreme. Sure, it’s not the Spring catalogue you’d expect from feudal Japan, but the slight cyberpunk aesthetic is wicked.
Visually though, the game can be sketchy. Character models and animations are excellent, but depending on your PC’s horsepower, you may need to tone things down. My setup is seldom altered, and I play at high or epic levels, but with this experience, epic was not on the cards as the framerate was affected. Even though the Steam Deck was set to low settings by default, it looked pretty good on there. Just don’t expect to see all the video scenes at the Valve rectangle.
Die By The Blade’s UI, on the other hand, is uninspired and riddled with speling mistaiks and br ok en Eng lish. Most players will have their bloodlust on and won’t care, but some of the interactive bits between fights are clunky. The lobby looks good, though, and one would assume that the core audience will be online gamers as your Steam avatar displays while playing each round.
On The Line
Features-wise, it’s just the offline and tutorial options, but there’s a Challenges section, Practice mode, and Replays option (currently locked on the demo). Online has the most options, including Ranked Tournament, Ranked Duel (available in the demo), Host Tournament, Host Duel, and Leaderboards. The offline mode is versus a local player/AI and a locked Create Tournament option. Finally, a Customize section serves up custom weapons, characters, banners and taunts – again, we’ll have to wait for the full game.
Bushido Blade was – still is – one of the best beat ’em ups I’ve played. Back in the days of offline play only, it was the go-to game for having a samurai showdown (eh – eh?) with your mates, or in my case, dad. By far, Die By The Blade is a multiplayer game – be it local or online. Whether there will be a story mode is far from a deal breaker, as this is an essential purchase when the time comes.
For me, it’d have to be on console as local play is the lure – PC doesn’t cut it unless you’re playing online. Without a doubt, Die By The Blade continues to be one of the games I’m most excited about this year and eager to revisit those battles with my dad again. Go seek it out!