Bound by Flame Review

 Hack-and-Slash Action RPG’s have always been popular, and since the successes of Dragon Age and The Witcher there’s been a reasonable increase in the amount of smaller studios tackling the Genre; some successfully, some not so much, but none reaching the dizzy heights of success seen by other definitive titles.

So with a barrel full of ambition, from Spiders comes Bound by Flame, a new IP with a bunch of potential, but does it measure up to the standard set so high by AAA titles?

Bound by Flame is a dark fantasy RPG set in a dying realm besieged by the undead hordes of the Ice Lords. You play as Vulcan, a member of a mercenary band sworn to protect the Red Scribes as they search for a way to save the realm once and for all. It’s a different kind of storyline for this kind of game, and one which I feel is very welcome, bolstered even more so by demonic possession of our Hero or Heroine.

Yes, like Bioware before them Spiders have chosen to give their protagonist a genderless alias to allow for male/female customisation and the ability for the player to forge their own story through an internal struggle with the presence sharing their mind. There’s a lot of inspiration taken from the aforementioned titles actually, with player choice forming a solid foundation under everything else.

Choice is primarily made through dialogue, with what can only be described as a binary alignment system underpinning character progression. The choice between Vulcan’s human and demonic sides is often an easy one; to be nice or to be a complete dick, but the fact that it’s clearly a Demonic influence makes the binary, black and white nature of it forgiveable.

The consequences of choosing one side over the other are much more violent than you’d expect, with decisions not only affecting events but changing the appearance and stats of Vulcan directly.

Through embracing the darkness and the power gifted by the demon you become monstrous, growing horns with flesh fiery enough to burn through your own armour. This obviously prevents you from wearing helmets and degrades your armour to be less effective, but grants you increased power. On the flip-side, staying good makes you more durable in battle, so it’s a difficult decision to make purely on these aspects.

The dialogue itself isn’t half bad, matching it’s rivals in general writing. The only real issue I take is the often expletive nature of the language. Now, I understand it’s supposed to have a gritty tone, but I would argue that having so much swearing undermines the narrative which is so obviously meant to be “Mature”.

Whilst I’m on the topic, this isn’t the only thing which is inconsistent tonally. The story is built up to be dark and moderately depressing, and a little bit of sarcastic comedy often works within those parameters; the Elf, Rhelmar, is a great example of this. However, it’s hard to take the antagonists seriously when their names are all puns on their Icy status. Some would say it just isn’t cool to give the seven mages destroying the world stupid names. It undermines the dread that Spiders was obviously trying to build up. The characterization is generally just as jarring with the rest of the painfully generic ensemble cast and companions, so whilst I desperately wanted to care about the world and the characters I encountered, I just couldn’t. The only character I really connected with was the warrior, Randval, who had a surprisingly interesting, if stereotypical back-story.

The questing doesn’t do much to improve the story, although the large amount of side-quests are very much welcome.

Moving on, on a nicer note the combat is much more interesting. Similar to The Witcher, you can change fighting styles and stances on the fly to overcome your opponents. There are three skill trees, each with their own benefits; the first dealing with a two handed, slower weapon, the second reliant on speed and dual-weapons and the third handling demonic pyromancy. I stuck to the two-handed and demonic trees mainly, as the ability to set my sword on fire was immediately appealing, though the speed at which the faster style played was also fun. Generally the combat is meaty and satisfying, and could have progressed to be fantastic if it wasn’t for the much weaker level design, encounter execution and levelling system holding it back drastically. It requires rhythm and skill, parrying and dodging, but there’s only so much of that you can do when you are stuck in very narrow corridors, with enemies who run away and heal fully if you pull them too far from their starting positions. Also, I’m all for skill trees and elaborate progression systems, but when I find my health and magic doesn’t increase much in comparison to the bloated health bars of my enemies it starts to feel a bit unfair.

Something I love about Bound by Flame is its crafting system. You can use the various debris and parts you collect in the field and from salvaging weapons to upgrade your other weapons and armour. These give them better stats, useful abilities, and most interestingly actually change their appearance. It’s refreshing that the crafting is so well executed and fleshed out; I only wish that the rest of the gameplay had the same polish.

I also like the graphic style, which, whilst not stunning by AAA standards is much better than you might expect from a game which wears its influences so readily on its sleeves. The camera control could have been much better, as it’s easy to find clipping and look inside the environment, but that’s forgiveable. The soundtrack is also really good, making much of the otherwise awkward scenes much more atmospheric.

I really wanted to love Bound by Flame. It had so much potential, with an interesting concept in the demonic possession, a great crafting system, the foundations for some really good combat and aspirations to be a decent character-driven RPG. However, it’s the execution which ultimately lets it down with poor level design, some painfully generic moments and a tone which can go from Game-of-Thrones serious to silly in seconds.

If you’re desperate to have some fun in the same vein as Dragon Age and The Witcher you might just find some of that here, but otherwise I can’t really recommend it at it’s current price.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.