![]() ![]() One challenging yet fun room had me using my newly minted double jump to perform a treacherous climb up a series of moving and disappearing platforms to reach the top before a timer shut the door, and one wrong move would send me hurtling back to the start, but I was pleased to find I could quickly course correct with a dash or wall-run to salvage my progress. While the Hollow Knight influence is clear elsewhere, these areas reminded me more of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker than anything else. Temple of No TimeĮarly on, your pint-sized hero is occasionally asked to assist the gods – under assault in their own temples – in entertaining little mini-dungeons full of puzzle rooms, keys in chests, and locked doors leading to new abilities and corrupted bosses. Once I found some very hidden equippable Spirits that enhanced my character with increased dashing length (on top of a second consecutive dash), a third jump, and more, it almost felt like cheating as I strafed circles around opponents and cleared rooms without ever touching the ground.Seeing these areas in a new light helped soften the blow of Blue Fire’s reliance on backtracking. By the end of my 12 hour adventure, I was practically able to fly across early areas that once had me carefully plotting every single jump. This might not have even worked were it not for the satisfying ability to do targeted dashes, allowing me to zoom straight up to floating adversaries otherwise out of reach and resulting in some very entertaining killstreaks.Ī few areas are locked away until you reach specific parts of the story, but most are instead gated behind enticing ledges, bridges, and platforms left just out of reach until you obtain the right movement abilities – be that an extra jump or a series of wallruns. The impact of these attacks resulted in a comedic Looney Tunes moment of frantically dashing back into the fight before gravity kicked in. ![]() Fights never become crushingly difficult, but Blue Fire’s protagonist is remarkably squishy – so much so that even using a shield spell to guard melee attacks would knock me backward several feet, frequently sending me skidding off the narrow platforms I was fighting on. I could dash circles around sword swiping foes, or refill my midair dash and jumps by striking them from the sky, turning my diminutive fighter into a very agile and angry hornet. You’re only able to block attacks with the help of a shield spell that drains fairly fast - and also shares a mana pool with a quick and lightweight ranged fireball spell, so the best defense usually turns out to be moving quickly to avoid getting hit altogether.įighting these enemies also let me incorporate movement abilities in interesting ways. With short combo attacks both on ground and in the air, your character can slice and dice with dual swords that can be swapped out for upgrades as you explore - but don’t expect to be able to take many hits in return. When you aren’t dodging spike traps or pits full of corrupted ooze, you’ll be strafing and zipping around shadowy creatures looking to tear you to pieces. Certain encounters can line spikes along the walls to stop you from parkour past enemies, or limit your time on the ground with deadly shockwaves and hazards to make sure you’re constantly in motion to find relative safety. Every area, every challenge room, and every boss fight makes clever use of its terrain (or lack thereof), pushing you to experiment with your platforming powers and figure out how to best come out on top. You’re only able to utilize one dash and double jump (unless you equip the right Spirits) each time you take to the air, which turns every platforming segment into a series of calculated decisions. The inclusion of a small stamina bar for wall-running and jumping is a godsend when learning the limits of your parkour abilities, as most all surfaces are applicable - including weaving around pillars to jump at different angles. Your character’s quick mid-air dashes can be lengthened or stopped short at will, and lock-on targeting allows you to dash towards or away from foes at any angle. And yet, developer Robi Studios has built Blue Fire’s platforming mechanics in a way that feels tailored for 3D space, with a level of control that nearly always left me with no one to blame but myself whenever I met my demise.
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