Blue Flame

[h1]Introduction[/h1] Blue Flame is a top-down action game where you play as a pyromancer. Dark Souls is an obvious source of inspiration, but it has a fresh take on the genre that elevates it past the point of being a shameless ripoff. [h1]Gameplay – Souls-like Elements[/h1] Blue Flame doesn’t have the class variety that a game like Dark Souls has. Instead, you are forced to play as a mage. Given the indie nature of the game and its obviously low budget, it makes sense to focus on making one satisfying class rather than a dozen mediocre ones. Blue Flame also doesn’t have stat upgrades or a complex stat system in general. You get more health and stamina as you defeat bosses, but there isn’t an experience system that allows you to grind up your stats when you get stuck. You can grind health potions which makes combat a lot more manageable if you are struggling. Somewhat confusingly, there doesn’t seem to be a limit on the number of potions you can stockpile. You get a minimum amount when you die or use a bonfire, but it can go well beyond that, to at least 20, making some boss fights laughably easy. This mechanic would have worked better as a difficulty setting, allowing casual players to hoard potions to use when they get stuck while also limiting veteran players to help preserve the game’s difficulty. As it stands, you are forced to play suboptimally if you want a challenge. The game’s bonfire system is also a bit of a headscratcher, although this might be due to the ubiquitous nature of Dark Souls bonfire mechanics. There’s no fast travel, so bonfires only function as respawn points. Activating them also reduces your maximum mana, making it more difficult to cast multiple spells in a short time. It’s an interesting idea but ultimately feels like a failed experiment. If executed better, it could force you to decide between checkpoints, which are only useful when you die, and mana, which helps you avoid death. Instead, it feels like a trap mechanic because of how easily it can cripple your combat ability. The only way to remove the mana loss is to defeat a boss, but if you have a small mana bar, it can make fights too difficult, even for talented players. [h1]Gameplay – Combat[/h1] Combat is based on using your variety of spells while avoiding hits with dodges. Dodging gives invincibility frames, allowing you to play aggressively and use short-range spells with high damage. This requires decent reaction time and mechanical skill, but a long-range, careful playstyle works just as well without being as challenging. Due to the prevalence of AI pathing issues, combat can occasionally become boring, especially if it happens in a boss fight. Outside of these bugs, most boss fights are enjoyable and unique. Nearly every boss has multiple phases where they change up their tactics but retain their combat style. Sometimes, you are given hints that tease what the next boss fight might entail, but they are all well designed, both in gameplay and visual design. There are times where the game would benefit from being more explicit about its mechanics, but it typically works out. The one instance that hurt the game for me was in the catacombs level where ghosts attack you. I may have missed the dialogue where ghost mechanics were explained, but I couldn’t figure out if they were supposed to be killable or not. Even after beating the level, I was still unsure. [h1]Gameplay – Level Design[/h1] Levels are designed to be open, interconnected areas that let you explore on your own terms. The central issue with this design choice is that the bonfire system actively contradicts playing in an open world. You need to play the game linearly in order to unlock new spells and improve your health and stamina. It feels like Blue Flame was made open world because that’s how Dark Souls does it, rather than being done because the game is designed around it. The lack of a map lends itself to open-world exploration, but it falls flat when you have to do each boss fight in a relatively specific order. Even though world design is lacking, the individual levels are designed well and keep the game interesting. Most feature some interactive elements, such as a maze level that allows you to light lamps to keep track of where you are going or a forest level with fallen trees that you can burn. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it adds some flavor and character to an otherwise barebones game. [h1]Presentation[/h1] Blue Flame varies wildly in its presentation quality, indicative of a low-budget indie game. Some animations, especially “cutscene” animations like opening a gate, look fantastic and extremely polished. They are smooth and elegant, even though they are pixel art. Combat animations are less polished, but still hold up well, excluding the running animation, which has strides that seem too long, almost in slow-motion. When running backward, the animation is played in reverse and looks even more awkward. The environments look fine but can get repetitive for certain areas, especially outdoor sections. Thankfully, a few maps have interesting gimmicks to make them stand out, like the living forest with moving trees. Graphically, the game reuses plenty of assets, but the quality is high enough that it’s excusable. Music is almost nonexistent, leaving the sound effects to do all the heavy lifting. Unfortunately, the sound effects are only passable and don’t add much to the game’s disappointing soundscape. Some effects get played so often that it’s almost better to play the game muted. [h1]Story[/h1] Storytelling in Blue Flame revolves around short conversations with NPCs. You come across only a handful of them in the entire game, so story elements are minimal at best. The basic premise is that of a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. It’s interesting and fits well with the gameplay. You don’t fight hordes of enemies because it wouldn’t make sense given the setting. The world looks barren with a grim atmosphere. The plot isn’t particularly engaging and is often forgettable, but the writing is passable. It does its job and nothing more. There are a few easter eggs that feel really out of place and abruptly pull you out of the world. Overall, the story and worldbuilding are fine for a game focusing mostly on combat mechanics. [h1]Technical Issues[/h1] The technical side of Blue Flame is probably its weakest. Most of the game is mediocre at worst, great at best. Bugs and general coding issues are the biggest drawbacks, likely stemming from limited development time or a lack of experience. There was only one “game-breaking” issue, and the developer quickly resolved it after submitting a bug report. The majority of issues involved enemies becoming stuck, either from their attack animations ending outside of the game area or their pathing getting stuck on an obstacle. This ruined one boss fight because it couldn’t attack me. There were also a handful of significant frame drops in which the game began running like a slide show. It didn’t cause any real issues; it was just a recurring annoyance. Outside of these bugs, the game ran smoothly, although a budget PC may have issues. [h1]Verdict[/h1] Blue Flame is a good game for players that enjoy challenging top-down action games and don’t mind a lack of storytelling. It’s rough around the edges, lacking the polish of a game from an established studio, but it’s clearly made by a fan of games like this, and it has plenty of character. The combat can get repetitive, but the varied boss designs help alleviate it. The game also looks exceptional for a cheap indie title. I still wouldn’t recommend Blue Flame to everyone, but it’s a short and sweet action game that’s reasonably well executed for the price. It’s worth a shot if the genre interests you, but it’s not a “can’t miss” game. [h2]6/10[/h2] [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/36214917/]Follow our Curator Group for more in-depth reviews and recommendations[/url][/quote]

Ever since my first Iron Pineapple video, I have been snatching up and playing almost every souls-like game that looks worth my time. Heard about Blue Flame. Googled Blue Flame, but nothing came up. Googled Blue Flame Twitter, found an Adult Entertainment twitter profile. Looked through it. Realized I wasn't in incognito. Cleared my browser history and came to Steam properly. Added this baby to my wishlist only to realize that it was releasing the next day. Release sale, 20% off, under 10 bucks. Dev diary says game's about 3-4 hours with about 7 bosses and more content is coming. Can always refund it if bad... It's Friday, let's play games. Open game, title screen is beautiful, almost want to just stare at the title screen background, but need to play. Start her up, read some lore, watch a hundred people die, Feels Bad Man. Oh that's me! I start to move, I can shoot, controls are crispy. I laugh at my own pun as I burn bushes and fallen trees. But wait, it looks like gauntlet legends. Let's try a controller. Switches seamlessly. Already might not refund it. Get through tutorial, more lore, happy player. I can burn trees again. Giant centipede makes me poop myself, but it runs away. A wild chonkers slug appears... is this a boss? I shoot it repeatedly, nothing happens. Oh, I can talk to it. More lore?! Light my first bonfire. Officially a souls-like. Explore map, get whooped by archers. Ahh the memories. Epic Music begins. Fight my first boss battle. Super easy. Phase 2 starts. Spoke too soon. Die lots, finally win, Health and Mana get buffed, feels good man. Check the clock. It's been an hour and a half. There are supposedly 6 more bosses and 6 more areas. Do I refund? still 30 minutes left. Absolutely not. I know this game came out just today, but I cannot believe I'm the first to review this game. If there's actually as many areas and bosses as the dev log says, and that the developers are going to be adding even more content throughout the year, under 10 bucks is friggen' steal. Probably worth at full price.

Oh dear, this game is relentless, but good. The cons: -Difficult to the point of unfairness. Bonfires are for providing checkpoints and refilling your health. They also reduce your maximum mana (the only way of attacking) substantially and permanently! If you manage to kill a boss, you'll get a little bit back, but I found myself constantly in the negative and started avoiding them all together. This seems like a broken system, bonfires are supposed to provide a sense of relief. -The enemies are incredibly bullet-spongy, really dragging out every encounter and making them tedious. Why on earth does a little archer dude take 8 hits to kill? -You slow down to a crawl and attacking has about one second of delay before a fireball is launched. The enemies, however, may attack constantly without telegraphs much faster than me. It began to feel like my character was inadequate, not my actual skill. -The fireball spread spell only seems to work 3% of the time. I'm very confused on how that works or if it's a bug. -When you die, you respawn without any health potions, leaving you kind of in a tough spot and unable to progress. -Although you can change your key bindings, they kept resetting on me and I eventually gave up. This is a bug and will probably be patched. Pros: -This games atmosphere is fantastic. It's quiet, foreboding, and subtle. The few characters you meet are charming and I always was happy to see Sebastian. -The world splits off into several paths very quickly, leaving you with a sense of adventure. -You start with three spells, a combust, fireball, and shield. You may defeat bosses to gain more spells, this is a good and rewarding system. -The bosses I faced are really cool and have a diverse move set. The last one I died on is near impossible, but still cool. -The art style is great with pre-rendered and pixelated 3D models. It's consistent and cohesive, although not incredibly polished. All in all, this game is worth trying. I want to go back to it, but I'll need to build up the energy for another ass kicking. A few more bug fixes and difficulty adjustments will go miles with this game because it's got a solid foundation and great setting.

Blue Flame is a Challenge, and fun for those who are looking for that. I look forward to every update.

Fantastic Game, Enjoyed it so much. Dying is always an Adventure until a Tree crushes you ;) Highly recommend and save and use your potion wisely!!

I really like this game! At first, I was thinking that the zoom level is a bit odd (too close up to my taste), but it works really well. It reminds me of Diablo, in a good way :) The game is fun to play! I love the pixel art graphics and I especially love the details such as the possibility to light up trees. It is challenging, at least for me, but it also feels quite rewarding when I succeed.. The only improvement I would suggest would be to improve the UI a bit, as I did not read in the help how to use the potions and I had to guess and press random stuff until I got it :D

This game is a souls experience for sure. Main problem is that it was too easy. ♥♥♥♥ the maze tho, that was just not a great experience, im not buying a maze game. That being said tho, was not too bad took maybe 40 mins of running around. Only had problems with the Harypys, all the bosses pretty much was a first try. Game seems too short too. Overall not too bad, but the lack of players that own the game and the smallest community I have ever been in makes it a problem to even google anything about the game. Wait for sale tho becuse, the game is 4-5 hours and you must likely wont be playing it more then once or twice. I hope the devs add more stuff and maybe a Wiki for the important things like achivements and a small guide for getting stuck on directions despite it being a souls like. 1 thing they could add is more options in the settings menu and maybe a ng+

So it has charming graphics but the combat is very repetitive and to be honest there's a lot of empty wandering/ uneventfulness to the game. Unfortunately this game is just very boring and I really don't see the appeal.

Real EPIC work of art! Nice story. Fairly hard gameplay. Definitely worth the prize. Nice Job!