Unexpectedly, a re-release of the old action game from an online game developer Friv2Online Severance: Blade of Darkness, which gave players heat long before the release of your Dark Souls, is released on Steam. It's time to remember and replay one of the most hardcore games of the past.

The original slasher was released in 2001, but only over time gained cult status. And at the time of release, it turned out to be financially unsuccessful, which is why it did not receive a proper continuation and after a while it was completely removed from digital stores. Fortunately, the General Arcade team has worked on a re-release, thanks to which everyone who wishes can touch the classics of hardcore games today, and I prepared a small review on this occasion.

Please don't throw tomatoes at me if I hurt your nostalgic feelings, as I haven't played the original, so I'll review Blade of Darkness from a "beginner's" point of view.

In fact, the re-release made few changes - support for widescreen monitors and resolutions up to 4K was added, some image settings appeared and the stability of the friv game itself was improved. Outdated graphics, clumsy motion animations, and most importantly - the gameplay - remained intact, which will help you quickly feel the spirit of old projects.

The game has an epic but simple plot - we find ourselves in a dark fantasy world in which something happened and because of this, the forces of evil and armies of disgusting creatures poured into the Central Kingdoms. The fate of the chosen one is shared by four heroes who have already encountered the minions of Chaos - one of them will have to find the mysterious Sword of Ianna, endow it with runic power and send the leaders of darkness to hell.

The idea smoothly brings us to the four main characters, personifying the classes - the knight Sargon, the barbarian Tukaram, the Amazon Zoe and the dwarf Naglfar. Each has its own set of weapons and abilities - for example, a short warrior has the greatest defense, but his growth affects the attack. Tukarama is strong, but with stamina problems. Each of these faces has a first level - a unique backstory. This is one of the little things that I love about old games , and that shows the efforts of the developers.

Blade of Darkness is brutal for several reasons. The first and most basic is a deep and hardcore combat system based on the principles of a fighting game , in a simple way - on various combos. For each weapon, there is a list of different attacks, tricks and ultimates, for which you need to correctly combine the attack and movement buttons.

You will have to get used to this, without it you will quickly lose. On the other hand, once you get used to it, you feel the depth of the combat, and the battles become elegant.

Enemies seem to have looked here from all fantasy worlds - here you have zombies, and spiders, and skeletons, and demons, and vampires, and minotaurs, and golems, and many others. I don’t really want to fight them, but the real fear in me was caused by the boss-knight, which is found in the prologue for Sargon. He has "only" 1000 health when the rest of the enemies have maxed out at 50 before, and that's just the start of the friv game.

So, the second feature is the opponents, each of which feels like a mini-boss. They deftly block attacks, dodge and furiously strike after blow, just barely breaking through your defense. They hit hard, but if you manage to get the upper hand, then the enemy will face a brutal reprisal due to dismemberment.

Yes, what is there, here you can not only chop off the limbs of enemies, but also take them and use them as weapons. Thanks to these details, the battles in Blade of Darkness are more interesting and spectacular than in the same Dark Souls.

Well, the third reason is that the developers do not accompany you by the hand. The locations turned out to be varied, linear, but with carefully hidden secrets, some of which are necessary for passing.

For example, one of the runes on the Crypts of Ethera level is barely visible among the scenery, while on other levels it is often necessary to return to the beginning and go around every corner in search of key items.

Blade of Darkness also has RPG elements, but they do not distract from the passage. The hero can level up, but few of his stats (defense, health, damage) improve automatically. Of the weapons - more than 70 types (15 types for each hero, and a couple more not tied to the class).

While Blade of Darkness didn't bring me tears of nostalgia, this 2001 game impressed me with its atmosphere, deep combat system, spectacular combat with dismemberment, and intricate levels that are difficult to explore due to clumsy motion animations. I don’t consider the latter a minus - nevertheless, these were good old games, and this is how we remember them to this day.

I recommend it not only to those who are familiar with the original, but also to everyone who likes hardcore slashers.