Bound by Flame

Game Info

 

I personally have been paying close attention to this title in hopes that it would be a silent gem and with the lack of retail games on PS4 it was worth a try.  Bound by Flame is a third person fantasy RPG adventure that places you in the role of a mercenary who became possessed by a demon, which will forge your destiny upon choices made.  By taking the more sincere route you will resist the demon taking over your soul and choosing the evil side of things will change everything from quests, relationships and even appearance.  It will be releasing at $49.99 for PS4 and $39.99 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Once the opening to Bound by Flame commenced all I could notice was the very bland and monotone voice acting, and that is one key factor that can make or break a game in most cases.  No matter what the characters are trying to express they don’t have much emotion behind their words and that makes conversations somewhat boring.  You are being ambushed near the start, which is the beginning of the tutorial in combat and commands.  I’ll be honest, I almost stopped playing right from the start as it didn’t draw me in with anything notable or worth playing for.  As I trudged through the tutorial and first main quest I noticed the game getting a little more enjoyable in combat terms.  The combat is very timing oriented, similar to Dark Souls where you have to attack and know when to stop and block or you will lose a decent chunk of your health.

The visuals are really detailed and well done when it comes to the enemies, armor and weaponry.  Especially some of the overly huge and giant bosses have some nice design and detail put into them, which is very welcome when it comes to fantasy RPG titles.  The character models in general are very generic and typical, which doesn’t make any certain character stand out more than the other.  Bound by Flame also has some good lighting effects that make those flame spells look really nice during a nighttime fight.  I also noticed that there are a few framerate drops with lots of enemies or effects going on at once it still doesn’t make it unplayable or frustrating.

There are three fighting styles to use that can be changed freely even during combat depending on which you prefer.  Warrior is the fighting style that utilizes a two-handed sword for slow, but very powerful attacks that can even throw enemies off from their own attacks.  The other two are ranger, which is a more quick stealth enabled dual-wielding dagger combo, and pyromancer.  The pyromancer fighting style is spell based limited to only fire due to the demon within you, but you can imbue your weapons with flames to cause burn damage with normal attacks.

In Bound by Flame, there is a skill tree for each fighting style to level up which one you prefer over the other.  The other skill area to level up in is actually quite different, where you have to meet certain requirement goals to be able to select that skill (ex. kill # with sword).  The crafting system is probably one of the most redeeming factors in the game, which allows you to upgrade everything on your armor and weapons from shoulder guards to sword hilts.  Upon killing enemies or looting areas you will acquire items that can be used in upgrading your current equipment to your liking and each one will add its own attribute to aid you in your quest.  Potions and other typical items are even able to be crafted to help on the go if you aren’t near a village with a merchant.

If you choose to let the demon take over your soul you will notice your appearance change to fit the role of your choices.  Depending on dialogue choices, you may tarnish friendships and create rivalries or even start a romance with some.  You can bring companions along with you on quests and they prove to be very useful when fighting tons of enemies at once or a boss.

 

The Recommendation

Bound by Flame was a game that we all hoped to be that next RPG to grace our collection, unfortunately it is a bit too generic for most.  The voice acting was possibly the worst part of the game all together and made it hard to differentiate whether your character was being good or evil in dialogue choices.  The combat was rewarding in a way once you grasped the Dark Souls type concept of taking your time and learning the animations.  Crafting has to be the part of the game that the creators focused on most, which makes you hunt for those specific ingredients to upgrade certain parts of your equipment.  If you can look past the monotone voice acting then you might be able to enjoy the game to play through at least once, but it isn’t going to be that game where you will see something worth playing over and over.