Stories by blackwind Pc#

You can pick up Blackwind for PC through Steam for $19.99 USD, which isn’t too hefty a price. Instead of being pushed to try again, you’ll just end up putting your controller down and stepping away. It lacks the elegance of a Souls-like game that kills you often, but challenges you to learn from your mistakes and improve. But the balance is all off, most notably and crucially in the enemies you fight. Slice, no diceīlackwind has a lot of the right ingredients for an engaging and challenging hack, slash, and shoot action game. The emotions sound forced, if they exist at all. It sounds like the characters are reading from a script instead of living the story. Then, they will prevent others from doing bad things and forget all about the harm they caused.Ī lot of the voice acting from characters other than the main protagonist is flat. Humans are greedy and will do bad things to ensure they’re the strongest force around. I also liked the misdirects that cause your perspective and journey to dramatically change. I spent far too much time fighting against things off the screen.Īs for Blackwind’s narrative progression, I liked the initial setup. Since enemies like to rush straight at you and bombs litter the pathways, you end up in a bizarre situation where you walk around constantly shooting your gun at areas just out of sight. So, instead of an aerial view of your surroundings, you can’t really see where to go. But the camera often looks straight down at the ground from a position too close to the player. It’s a cool idea that feels great when it works well. Watch where you’re goingĪs you roam about in Blackwind, the camera will move around dynamically. I’d say there isn’t really room to develop your skills at all, and that’s a shame. The combat loop doesn’t reward your skill. Neither of those options feel satisfying. It’s easier to defeat them if you run away while shooting or use your ultimate ability. But the tougher foes that should challenge your skills, simply don’t. Most of the targets you encounter are cannon fodder, and you can slice them up or blow them away without breaking a sweat. I think the main problem is that the difficulty balance regarding enemies of Blackwind is off. This ability renders any foe obsolete, bit I didn’t like that the only way to get through some sections of the game was to use it. Thankfully, the game gives you an easy pass to any fight in the form of an ability that empowers your mech and slows everything around you.

It closed the gap to me in a flash and, again, killed me with no chance for me to dodge or counter. You can empower your abilities through a simple skill tree.Įventually, I came up against a foe that I couldn’t outrun. If I missed my parry as it attacked, it would kill me in two or three hits. However, if I blocked before the new blade-wielding enemy attacked, it would just stare at me until I lowered my guard. I thought this would be where combat became challenging and push my fledgling skills. Soon enough, I encountered an enemy that required me to parry it to be able to break through its defenses. It’s a bit odd that all other enemies stop and watch you tear their partner in crime to pieces during these short clips, though. You can also perform finisher moves for some extra brutality. Your mech can perform a few combos, and slicing enemies to pieces is enjoyable. I love melee combat in top-down action games, so I opted to focus on my energy blades in the beginning. You’ll set off to battle aliens and find your father. The mech’s AI will run you through the basics of controlling your new weapon of massive destruction, and then it’s go time. Two, you need to wade through who knows how many hostile aliens to find your father. One, you’re going to die of hunger if you can’t get out of the mech. It gives the narrative two excellent issues to grapple with from the start. I really liked this immediate problem you’re faced with. However, only your dad’s voice can override the mech’s command to keep you inside. To save your life, your dad sticks you in the prototype and ejects you to the planet below.ĭown on the planet, you try to pop the hatch on the mech to get out. Just as your good ol’ dad is telling you about the incredible prototype mech he’s been working on, which includes a built-in AI, your ship is shot down. The game begins with you, a young James Hawkins, riding in a spaceship with your father to deliver new mechs to the military on a far-off planet. I was optimistic about jumping in, and Blackwind wasted no time throwing me into the action. I love top-down games, fast-paced action combat, and battling mechs. That’s ticking a lot of the right boxes for me. Blackwind is a top-down, sci-fi action brawler and shooter that has you piloting a cutting-edge mech with some sharp-edged laser blades.

Stories by blackwind