If you have been living under a rock, then you might have missed this one. Viral hit game by Mythwright, giving you the opportunity to craft swords of your own creation. Bladesong is a game that I’ve been personally keeping an eye on for quite some time. So when given the opportunity to cover the Early Access build, I couldn’t wait!
Don’t Hold The Pointy End
Now you might think that Bladesong is a pretty shallow game. You would be massively wrong. This game has so much below the surface, so sit back and let’s find out what you are up against.
Gameplay
While you may think that Bladesong is just a run-of-the-mill shop simulator, you’d be semi-right. In essence, you are the Swordsmith of Eren Keep, taking orders for new blades as well as requests to repair others. Making sure you craft the swords to the buyer’s requests, length, width, and even down to the materials. With an easy-to-pick-up mechanic where you just time your mouse clicks for that perfect impact.
There is a sandbox-style mode where you can just create your own masterpiece. I would urge you to play through the story, though. It has some great storytelling. After your character is attached, you awaken at Eren Keep. Now it’s time for you to explore by using a classic system. Select your interaction options, whether you want to carry on talking to someone or not, and even what response to give them. Bringing back those old nostalgic memories of days gone by, walk forward into the forest, if you dare.
As you venture further into the first chapter in this build, you will meet some interesting characters. Some are just there to progress the story slightly, and others you will interact with regularly.
Mastering Your Craft
As you progress and take orders, you’ll earn XP. When you level up, you get skill points that you can use towards unlocking different abilities. These can be as simple as creating engravings on your blades, all the way through to advanced blade shaping. These all allow you to expand your mastery, as well as give you more variety of blades to craft.
Sometimes, when you are crafting a blade for someone, they might give you a reward as well as money and XP. Make sure you break these down to their component parts to keep your stocks up. You don’t want to run out of iron to craft those swords. I just don’t think wooden swords would cut it.
Graphics & Audio
Graphically, Bladesong is pretty basic. There is no environment when you are creating swords, instead just a seemingly endless darkness. To be fair, I quite like the darkness; it allows you to just concentrate on hammering your blade. The images on screen as you go throughout your journey are perfect, though. There is so much detail in each of these images that it really does pay to look closely as you progress.
From an audio point of view, there is nothing that really stands out in my opinion. Not that that is a bad thing, I guess it would be out of place if it had a heavy metal soundtrack, or massive over-the-top voice acting.
Longevity
Bladesong has plenty of replayability, especially when you count the sandbox mode. Playing through the story is a lot of fun, and you can easily sink a few hours at a time progressing your character, becoming the best you can be. With a total of 5 chapters to be released, there is also plenty of content coming down the pipe. Giving those who invest in the game early something great to look forward to as 2026 moves on.
Final Thoughts
I’ve enjoyed every moment of Bladesong so far, and I will continue to enjoy it through the year. It has elements of so many genres that it really fills so many of my gaming cups. Nostalgic adventure, straightforward blade creation leading to more complex swords.
I can’t wait for Chapter 2!
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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