Blade and Sorcery

What could we say about Blade and Sorcery that isn't in the title already? Well, it's a VR game for a start. But it's pretty easy to imagine what happens next - an offering of first-person Blade and Sorcery, perhaps? That's exactly right. The VR platform is making a lot of headway - but still has a ways to go offering games outside of trivial mechanics.

The intriguing aspect of Blade and Sorcery is the threshold it's crossing the development of first-person melee combat. There have been plenty of VR games that come across as more comical than actually immersive. Slowly but surely - developers are starting to get it right, though. Here's why Blade and Sorcery is a milestone in VR progression.

Gladiators, Are You Ready?!

There's not much detail in the backstory or narrative of Blade and Sorcery - keeping the standard of most VR games released. You put on your headset, grab your controllers, and transform into a bloodthirsty combat-driven arena. There are no objectives other than to hack your way through hordes of enemies - ending their lives with your gladiatorial skill.

Before you enter the battle, you are presented with a few options to customize your experience. You can choose the level of difficulty and one of the 3 arenas to fight in. Most significantly, you get to choose the weapons you will take into combat with you. Each of your hands can contain a variety of shields, swords, daggers, and axes.

Once you're all set - let the arm flailing begin. Blade and Sorcery feel like more of a showcase into what can be done with VR first-person combat. It's a lot more refined as you physically defend yourself against attacks - and retaliate with steel racing and blood spurting. There's some magic to be used if you really want your foes to suffer, too.

The visuals aren't fantastic, and the game's limitations make it weary pretty quickly. The combat does allow for versatile approaches to cutting down your enemies, though. It does stretch out the game to immerse you as a mighty warrior in a grand arena setting. But once you've left a fair few corpses in your wake, you'll shrug your shoulders.

Occam's Daggers Cut Deep

The whole point of Blade and Sorcery was a simplistic combat approach. We watch movies where we fantasize about ourselves as the hero smiting hordes of enemies. The game capitalizes on that by providing a refined VR combat approach that far outdoes its rival GORN.

Pros:

• A milestone in first-person melee combat for VR
• Complete control of fighting style against your enemies
• Breaks boundaries in combat realism

Cons:

• Gets repetitive quite quickly
• A limited number of options to make the game more challenging
• Visuals are a bit lackluster