Focus Interactive is coming out with two great RPGs in the next several months. Bound By Flame will be coming out on May 9th and serves up some action combat, a dark story, and the chance to play as a demon warrior capable of mass destruction. So if you are looking for a solid RPG that goes into the darkness of a man’s soul, then continue reading.
You begin as a mercenary, your group was hired by The Red Scribe, a group of priests who are bent on stopping the necromantic forces from ending their world. If it all sounds dark and sinister, well it is, there are no good guys in this game. You specialized in two fighting styles. The first is great weapon which gives you access to swords, axes, and hammers, all of which are two handed. The second fighting style uses two short swords. This style adopts the stealth moves of backstabbing and quick attacks offering speed over brute strength. You can switch at any time between either style. Great weapons offer you area attacks, the chance to smash shields, and counters to charges. The short sword style is tied into how well you dodge attacks and is very fun to watch as well.
Your fighting styles are enhanced by skill trees, typical to your RPGs of the modern era. You can choose what skills you want to specialize in. The first tree is the Warrior which boosts the great weapon styles. The Ranger tree works with the daggers. The third is the Pyromancer which does different types of damage and is enhances your attacks. The Pyromancer is not really a Mage style specialization, standing back and dealing damage or anything, as it works with your mercenary melee fighting style to add oomph to your attacks.
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There are lots of abilities to choose from on each tree. The developers explained that you can probably spec out one tree fully and go up your second tree about halfway depending on how you want to play. Each tree does have an ultimate ability at the end.You also have access to Feats which are single abilities that really define your character in combat.
There are companions in the game as well. Depending on what you need, there are archers or healers that will join you. The game has up to five different types of companions to choose from.
You do also have access to ranged weapons, namely a hand crossbow which has different types of bolts with it. The first are the explosive bolts which can take out groups of enemies. There is also poison bolts which can spread into area effect damage or be used against a single opponent.
The game supports a full crafting system. You can trade, change, and even customize your weapons. We watched in the demo as they created a sword. You had options to choose the blade, hilt, and even pommel that you wanted from their choices. This system worked with all the different weapon types. You can also upgrade your weapons as equipment has gem slots to boost the power within each. With all types of elemental magic active in the game it helps to create items which will protect you or deal certain damage types depending on the creatures you are fighting.
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If it sounds like there is a lot to do its your character, there’s even more. As the Red Scribes are performing a ritual in the game, you get caught up in it. Your mercenary becomes possessed by a demon. With the demon blood flowing through you you have a further set of options. You can choose to suppress the demon inside you and stay as human as possible. Or you can embrace the demon within and use the powers to stop the necromancers. The demon changes how your character looks and you will even grow horns. If you go full demon, you will get boosts to mana and firepower from some of your Pyrotechnic attacks. however the drawback is that your equipment is not as good anymore, you are on fire after all. The demon choice you make drives the storyline for the game and concludes with several different endings depending on which way you play.
Bound By Flame has a massive world to explore. There are four full chapters and about 25 hours of game play. There are lots of enemies to fight of all different types. Monsters, undead, evil necromancers are against you at every turn. The game has a full day and night cycle which can bring about different encounters as the times change.
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The real highlight in Bound By Flame is the action combat. It moves very quickly and is very fluid, and fans of The Witcher series will definitely be pleased. The game can be played on the PS4, XBox 360, or PC when it launches in May. We really liked what we saw with Bound By Flame. The dark fantasy setting and demonic spell effects really add to the grim reality of the world. Playing as a mercenary also adds some bravado in how you go into all of your encounters. There may be a lot of RPGs in the works, but Bound By Flame is definitely one to keep an eye on.
Garrett Fuller / Garrett is the Industry Relations Manager for MMORPG.com. He cosplays as an orc, plays X-Wing on weekends, and loves Adventure Time. You can follow him on Twitter (when he uses it) @Gfulls.
Check out our Bound By Flame game listing here.
