Stray Blade is a fantasy action-adventure RPG, which is one of the many titles that are being revealed at Gamescom 2022! Here, you play as the rogue adventurer together with his trusty wolf companion, Boji from developer Point Blank Games and publisher 505 Games. Stray Blade is planned to be released sometime in 2023 via PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Stray Blade Trailer Unveils Crafting and Character Progression
As part of the Future Games Show Event at Gamescom, a gameplay trailer featuring Stray Blade’s crafting and progression system has been revealed. Although it is not as in-depth, they do provide us with an overview of what’s to come as we explore the forgotten valley of Acrea. From forging swords to gathering materials, you will not run out of things to do to enhance your character’s capabilities. Let us break this down.
Stray Blade - Crafting and Progression Mechanics
Welcome to the Lost Valley of Acrea, a forgotten world filled with memories of a once magical civilization. As a rogue adventurer, you stumble upon this land. Several decades after, you are mysteriously brought back to life, only to find out that you are constrained from leaving. Your goal is to discover the secrets of this once harmonious place in the hopes of bringing back its former glory.
As you explore this not-so-desolate valley, you happen to discover a forge, which will allow you and your companion to craft powerful weapons and armor to go head-to-head against roaming hostile ravagers. Initially, you only have a simple and rusty sword. When you slay enemies and unlock chests, you increase the chances of gaining blueprints for a variety of gear such as the Assassin Sword and Winged Helmet. you’re able to also gather materials like the Bandage Weed and Bonedust, as well as mine minerals for crafting.
Next is character progression in terms of enhancing your weapons and unlocking corresponding attributes. Using your swords frequently in combat improves your mastery level of it. And as a result, you unlock special attacks together with certain Skill Tree Attributes when you reach a Mastery level of 100% for these specific weapons. In the trailer, there are huge Skill Trees for you as the fighter and another for Boji as the main craftsman. Successfully battling it out against enemies levels up your character. Meanwhile, for Boji, finding and acquiring lore notes improves his crafting abilities.
What’s also apparent is that there are 4 weapons with associated attributes next to them, however, it remains to be seen whether or not armor will also be included in your Skill Tree or if it is limited to just weapons.
Stray Blade - Customization Options
As you are traversing Acrea, you will come across pigments like the Green Customization Color, for example. There are 3 color wheels under the Customization tab indicating that you can probably go in quite deep when it comes to changing the looks of your character. It makes me wonder whether this feature is only available for colors or if we can alter the finer details of our other equipment as well.
Melee Combat and Boss Fights
Stray Blade focuses on what Point Blank Games calls a “hyper-responsive combat system”, which relies on fast response times coupled with precise movements to deal the most amount of damage possible. You must be quick on your feet to anticipate the actions of your enemies. Based on the trailer, there is also a parry mechanic that would stagger them, allowing you to execute your special attack!
Encounters are not limited to regular-sized hostiles since you will be going against God-Kings, who are creatures responsible for the civilization’s downfall and ascendancy into darkness. Slaying them will let you harvest a portion of their powers to unlock secrets and learn more about Acrea. Here’s hoping that doing so will also unlock special skills for us to make use of in more challenging fights!
The Lost Valley
Stray Blade boasts of an art style, which is not hyper-realistic. Instead, it leans on bringing a world vivid with bright and dark colors to create gorgeous landscapes worth exploring. This reminds me of anotherFantasy Action-Adventure RPGcalledAsterigosthat is set to be released this year. There are so many places to visit ranging from frozen terrain and caves to bandit outposts and overgrown forests, each of them holding onto stories of the past that are ripe for the taking.
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