Bound by Flame Review: Steam

Bound by Flame is game that just popped up for me one day. I had never heard of it before, and the developers said “hey wanna check this out?” So, I entered into this RPG experience with a blind eye, and after about an hour I wondered “Why the Hell hadn’t I heard of this before?” While not perfect, Bound by Flame is the best RPG I’ve played since Skyrim. It isn’t a big sandbox world like and Elder scrolls game, but it is still an in depth expansive RPG that is mind blowingly good.

Pros:

Soundtrack: The score for this game is incredible. From the title screens dark epic ballad, to the subtly eerie dungeon music, to the peaceful noises of towns and other safe zones this game has sound design down pat. This is one of only a small handful of game soundtracks that I’d be interested in owning, and it adds so much to the games overall atmosphere.

Graphics: Normally games that go for dark gritty realism get on my nerves. That has become almost the norm in many shooters and action games due to this desire to push graphical limits. In bound by flame though, it works. The story (I’ll come to that soon) reinforces the dark gritty realism that the art style pushes. On top of that the game itself is beautiful. Animation quality is superb, character models are very realistic (even on the lower required settings of my laptop), and the world is gorgeous. There is also an incredible level of detail in weapon models, armor, and little world details. Everything from barrels to bugs are fully textured and rendered in beautiful quality. Overall, I’d say this is the best looking game I’ve seen all year so far.

Story: The premise sounds pretty standard. Some evil warring wizards are trying to destroy the world, they are succeeding at doing so, and you are the only thing that can stop them. The execution though is what makes this story shine. The wizards are humanized and relatable because they are given real flaws, supporting characters are genuinely interesting and have motivations of their own for helping you, and you have actual serious issues to deal with. Your character, Vulcan, is possessed by demon. Much of the story revolves around you either choosing to fight to maintain your humanity, or giving in to the demon for its power but relinquishing control of your humanity. I won’t spoil to much, but the decision you get to make carry real weight to both the story outcome and difficulty of the game.

Vulcan: The main character himself is pretty awesome. They allow you to name him (or her) whatever you want, but he goes by his mercenary nickname Vulcan. He has a great personality that you can control somewhat, but overall he’s a gruff loner who is a bit of jerk. The demon possession only makes it worse. It’s hard to explain a jerk as being a full character because most games that go this route screw it up, but they really pulled it off.

Combat System: This game has an amazing combat system for a third person RPG. If you’ve ever played Kingdoms of Amalur it’s as responsive, diverse, and satisfying as that. If you haven’t there are three pure combat styles, with a lot of combinations between them. You can play as a heavy melee fighter with powerful two handed weapons and heavy combos, a rouge who focuses on quick attacks and stealth combat, or a pyromancer (mage) who focuses on magic attacks and abilities. You can actively switch between the three combat styles, and you aren’t locked into anyone by a class system. Instead you simply level up your skills and perks to suit your play style. I for example play a battle axe wielding mage in heavy armor.

Then, on top of all of that, the combat system itself is incredible. Attacks and abilities have good response time, and feel appropriate. Heavy weapons take longer to swing, but have a high chance to knock down enemies and interrupt their moves, while light weapons swing fast but unless you can chain together a good combo your enemies will strike back hard due to small weapons lack of stopping power. Magic feels genuinely powerful as well, and most enemies can’t take to many fireballs before they kill over. Overall it is probably the most satisfying third person combat system I’ve ever used.

Crafting System: Overall the crafting system is incredibly in depth. You can craft just about everything in the game once you level up enough, but along the way you can heavily modify weapons and armor. Those start more as shells than full on items. It isn’t that they don’t work, but they can be modified so much that they can become entirely different items altogether. If you play this game on higher difficulties the crafting system really can make or break your game. For example going to battle with armor that isn’t resistant to poison is very detrimental in some of the early swamplands you explore, due to most of the enemies being able to poison you. However, if you build your first set of armor to be poison resistant you can almost breeze through the area if you don’t get reckless in combat. The same applies to weapons, as some upper level weapons can have half a dozen craftable extras for you to add different damage types and/or boosters.

Cons:

Controls: This game is really optimized for a controller, but if you want to play with a keyboard and mouse you will have some issues. Keys can be rebound which will help a bit, but the game really has a complex set of controls. There are so many different powers, attacks, and special abilities that it can get quite confusing and hard to keep up with on the keyboard. It controls great on a 360 or comparable controller, but if you don’t have one you may have a difficult time.

Pacing: For everything this story gets right, it does get pacing wrong. It starts out fine, with an exciting and gripping opener, but then slows way down for awhile. You spend some time in a town performing sidequests and killing time to advance the main story. This up and down pacing continues for awhile, with a gripping mission or two broken up by really long slow sections. I know that a game can’t be balls to the wall all the time, but better balances do exist.

Conclusion:

This game is amazing. It draws you in with a wonderful story and mechanics, and keeps you hanging on despite its occasional slow section. The amazing combat alone is enough to play this game, but the whole package is guaranteed to be one of the best gaming experiences you’ll have this year. You should absolutely pick up Bound by Flame next time you are looking for a wonderful RPG or great story. It is worth it’s full $40 dollar price tag.