There are movies from the 80s and 90s that are delightful because of how unrepentantly dumb they are. Take, for example, Predator 2. Dissecting the plot will leave you deeply confused, as it insinuates a single Danny Glover is equal to an entire squad of highly trained military officials, but that’s not the point. It’s loud, bombastic, and it’s pure fun from start to finish in terms of sci-fi action and one liners. In the same respect, Blade Chimera, the pixel perfect Metroidvania from Team Ladybug, has a plotline that feels paper-thin and downright overplayed, a fact that never, for a single second, let distract me from the combat, the action and the game itself. I’m not here to understand the lore of demons and humans and all that jazz: I wanna beat the hell out of yokai with style, and you’d best believe I did that a ton.

But, for the sake of exposition, let’s take a look at the plot. You play Shin, a demon hunter who lives in a post-apocalyptic Osaka decades after the Demon War (a very literal title) destroyed most of the world. The survivors banded together to find ways to thrive and recover, and this lead to the creation of the Holy Union: equal parts religious sect and corporation that specializes in keeping humanity safe and demon free. Shin has no memory, but is a good little soldier who is efficient and ruthless at his job. But when Shin is saved by Lux, a mysterious demon that masquerades as a powerful sword, he now must find room in his head to balance the black and white of his directives with the gray area of life itself. He must uncover the truth, find out his past, and all that jazz.

Let me be perfectly clear that I don’t consider the plot of Blade Chimera to be bad, not by a longshot. Without divulging too many of the twists and turns, there’s an excellent development into the existence of demons and what it means for the world at large at about the halfway mark, and Shin is a pretty solid protagonist. In spite of my earlier moniker, Shin showcases a surprising amount of depth and consideration from the get-go, arguing and hearing counters about the nature of honor, duty and law from people on both sides of the table.  The fact that the game unfolds in such a way as to make the storyline coherent is a good bit of planning, and I enjoyed things overall. 

Blade Chimera is a really well put together metroidvania that chooses to let players approach it in whatever way you’d like. Initially, you’ll start with a ranged weapon and then quickly find your first melee blade, each of which has their advantages. Over time, you’ll start to lean into one type of combat or another, with some rare instances demanding that you only use one (the plasma rifles will electrocute you if used underwater, for example). There are a couple different storefronts where you can get new firearms and swords, as well as passive “techs” that give you different stat bonuses or otherwise affect your environment. The best stuff, naturally, is found through exploration and curiosity, so keep an eye on where you haven’t ventured yet at all times.

Combat gets hairy at times thanks, in part, to some excellent variety from Team Ladybug. Rather than have some of the same mobs over and over again with different colors, it feels like each section and area within the game’s world is full of diverse and singular approaches that match the environment. A majority of the monsters are yokai, so you get flying tengu with wind attacks, skeletal samurai who send kareening kanji after you, and terrifying rokurokubi whose ever-stretching neck seems to chase you across the whole damn screen. You can even fight mechanical Abraham Lincoln, who crops up in one of the game’s odder but more exciting areas to investigate.

The best part of this fighting aspect is you really have to figure out the right way to deal with everything. Meshing ranged and melee attacks with the magical damage that Lux allows for (being able to throw a sword really helps) creates a dance of destruction where you need to get the steps just right. The magical attacks can heal your HP, and physical attacks can replenish your MP. In theory, you could get into a loop of absolutely perfect combat that keeps you at peak condition at all time, but there is a catch: you have to not miss a single step. Especially later on, some of those monsters can positively WRECK you in just a couple hits, so the balance, though it can seem overpowered, can tip in the blink of an eye.

Moreover, this combat ideology lends itself well to the boss fights of Blade Chimera. After the initial encounter with a massive dragon that has fairly predictable routines, you might get complacent into thinking that boss fights will be straightforward. In actuality, the minor and major defenders of each area had distinct patterns and approaches, including multiplle forms that made me come back for more again and again. One particular boss, a massive fish enemy, found beautiful and unique ways to kill me. After firing multiple projectiles, it finally just bucked the shipping container I was standing on, knocked me into the water and swallowed me whole, Jonah style. This was my demise no fewer than ten times.

Yet Team Ladybug then stepped up their game by surprising me with how I could surprise the enemy. Through sheer luck, I pulled the trigger a split second before the fish was about to insta-kill me, and the tides changed. Not only did I NOT die immediately, but I decimated the boss’ HP, allowing me to quickly transform Lux into a huge hook to catch the fish when it made a desperate jump over me, like Free Willy. Only instead of spawning four sequels and keeping a Michael Jackson song on the radio for months on end, this made the fish turn into an angry water lady who then had brand new ways to murder me over and over. This boss fight took so damn long, and I sincerely enjoyed it.

Yes, Lux, my demon sword companion who is totes a secret, can turn into things. Lux’s ability to morph and control the world of Blade Chimera is something that sets it apart from other Metroidvanias, creating a boon and a bane for the game as a whole. On the one hand, Lux is pivotal to many things, from becoming a platform by hurling the sword into a wall,to controling an aspect of time and recreating what was once in a certain location. When you’ve got sweeping laser pendulums, it’s helpful having Lux at the ready to become a barrier that existed previously.. You need to get good at recognizing the activation points for using Lux and, in the same breath, being in the right spot to turn them on (with the X button) and not accidentally swinging your sword uselessly (also X button, but slightly to the left).

But the reliance on Lux can also turn into a bit of a hassle, particularly when it does cost so much MP time after time. While this gets easier with the advent of new skills and items, it still becomes a chore when, for example, you have to kill a bunch of kappa underwater because bullets will kill you and your regular sword does no damage. Additionally, the presence of demon-killing UV lights is clever, but navigating those spots can be tricky, especially when you don’t know they’re coming. I got hit by an enemy, knocked into the next room, and had so much velocity I fell into a UV spot, frying Lux and giving me a game over. What the hell, man? It didn’t happen a lot, but it clearly left a mark on my psyche.

The skilltree really is the star of the show when it comes to innovations within Blade Chimera. Starting off relatively small, Shin gradually expands the skills he is able to learn throughtout some story-related moments that expands his understanding and synergy with Lux. You go from being able to add some basic concepts (jumping downward attack, decreasing magic use for demon attacks) to crafting whole new Lux forms (magical barrier to prevent all damage) and some bold new movement systems (sliding dash, knockback jump recovery). You can also add skills like “turning into a platform doesn’t use MP,” which is probably my second favorite thing to come out of the skilltree because it just makes sense.

But the best damn thing is a very early, very cheap ability simply titled “warp.” For two skill points (so level up twice), you can teleport to almost any room on the map, scott free, and just be there. No waypoints, no conditions other than you need to see the room at least once, just Nightcrawler bamfing around the game to your heart’s desire. Instead of wasting my life trying to crawl back to a save point and fast traveling from there, I just go, and that’s delightful. My biggest complaint with Metroidvanias is how much time gets drained retracing your steps, and Shin wastes NO time with that nonsense.

The skills also can adjust how you play the game and find the different secrets and bonuses of Blade Chimera. You want to do things in a linear fashion? Fine by me, just keep following the clearly marked quest points and go with God. But if you want to really get down and dirty in it, go ahead and unlock the double jump and start exploring this world. That slide from earlier? You certainly don’t need it, but it’ll let you find puzzle pieces (which unlock secret doors and extra areas) and make some puzzles silky smooth. This whole experience really becomes your playground as you see fit.

Now, the quest points for the main quest are crystal clear and I never had any problem following what I needed to do next. But Blade Chimera also has a bunch of side quests where you can get cash, and these bugged the hell out of me. The explanations are usually not clear: for every “go fight monsters in Phoenix Gardens,” there’s also “I want to see a thing!” that doesn’t really tell you what or where the thing is. Additionally, while main quests are highlighted on the map, the side quests just have a sort of GPS arrow that only shows up at the save points and don’t actually point to where you’re going. I managed to finish a couple sidequest, but they were completely by accident: this whole system needs to be seriously reworked for anyone to actually participate in a meaningful amount.

Complaints about the sidequests aside, Blade Chimera is, at the end of the day, an absolute delight to behold visually and aurally. The animation is top notch, with incredible detail to character design, minor movements and articulation from every mob, NPC and major event. The pixel graphics have been polished to a T and I am stunned with how well it performs on the Switch: I unabashedly compare it to Dead Cells and the wizardry that makes that game look astounding. Coupled with a digital drug of a soundtrack that encompasses all forms of electronic music (plus some wildly pleasing vocals thrown in here and there) and I couldn’t not play this game, locked in with headphones and both eyes on the screen. This isn’t a “play with a movie on” type game. This is “clear your mind and focus” level of enjoyment.

Fans of the genre should absolutely dive into Blade Chimera. Tight, brutal and engaging, I could spend another two thousand words singing the praises of the combat, the items and the overall world building. But I think seeing is believing, and you won’t believe what you see. PCor Switch, you should go ahead and gear up: Blade Chimera is ready for you, even if you’re not remotely prepared.

Graphics: 9.0 Simply incredible work bringing the world of Blade Chimera to life in such vibrant, authentic tones with the Nintendo Switch. Amazing array of enemies, landscapes and weapons, it cannot be overstated how well it looks and runs on a system as dated as the Nintendo Switch.	Gameplay: 8.5 Exploration, leveling and combat are all top notch. Gameplay style changes depending on if you favor ranged or melee. Side quest system feels completely broken, but I’m also not sure if I just don’t get it? The number of secrets to discover and the skill tree’s generosity makes for a thorough investigation of all things Shin.
Sound: 10 Let me buy this soundtrack. Let me bop around Osaka feeling like a badass and enjoying every moment of living vicariously like I’m part of the Holy Union, and enjoy the blend of electronica, synth and chiptune that makes this aural joy.	Fun Factor: 8.0 Totally locked in from the get go. Found no problem always wanting to return, only got lost/mixed up a couple of times, and hit the wall at the perfect moment to put down my Switch. I actually wanted to explore instead of feeling like I needed to. If I could figure out the sidequests, it’d be golden.
Final Verdict: 8.5

Blade Chimera is available now on PC and Nintendo Switch.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Blade Chimera was provided by the publisher.