Are you a fan of games like Elden Ring? If so, give this free-to-play indie Souls-like game a try. The game’s name is Blood Spear and it’s a rather short game. Despite being made by a group of students, it’s quite impressive. It has gotten Overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam, and that says a lot.
Developer
The developer is simply known as the “Blood Spear Dev” on Steam. It was a graduation project by a group of students. Their aim was to gain experience in the industry by creating a game, and for now, they haven’t announced any further projects. In the Discord server of Blood Spear, one of the developers announced that the team will split for now. Because they’re newcomers to the gaming industry, they’re planning to gain more experience by working with other companies. So, Blood Spear was a one-time project, unfortunately. However, he also said that the team will get back together in the future to create more projects or improve Blood Spear.
The Gameplay
The core mechanic of Blood Spear’s gameplay is ranged combat. It’s somewhat unusual for a Souls-like but it works well. You wield the titular Blood Spear and the combat system is based on throwing the spear precisely at enemies. With each throw, a new spear comes to your hand and there isn’t an ammunition limit. You can also throw multiple spears into other enemies and shatter them to deal a burst of high damage. The combat isn’t as difficult as in the Souls games or Elden Ring, but it’s clear that they drew inspiration from those legendary titles.
The movement and animations aren’t as fluid as those of a AAA game, but they’re far from clunky. In terms of defensive capabilities, your character can dodge. Dodging causes you to appear as a red mist for a moment and that’s an invincibility frame.
When the player dies, the Blood Spear comes “alive” and you can possess the body of another knight. You control the Blood Spear as you did the character to seek knights. As a knight yourself, you can interact with these “bodies” (they look spectral) to learn about the lore.
The Story
In terms of a story, there really isn’t much. It’s about the titular Blood Spear which is sentient. The story does have a lot of potential. I refrain from spoiling it, and I encourage you to play it yourself.
The Game World
This game world is surprisingly well-built and beautiful. The architecture and design of many objects are very intriguing. It’s a dark and gloomy game by nature. It’s also quite atmospheric.
You can check out Blood Spear on Steam.
