Blades & Battles review – A Golden Axe inspired beat ’em up that disappoints

The side-scrolling beat ’em up renaissance continues, with this latest entry in the genre by QUByte Interactive taking inspiration from the classic Golden Axe as well as Arthurian Legend. As appealing as that may sound, however, Blades & Battles ultimately proves to be rather disappointing.

The Kingdom of Camelot is under attack, with enchantress Morgana le Fey having unleashed an army of mythical beasts and supernatural abominations upon it. Luckily there are two heroes who may be able to fight the forces back: Arthur and Lancelot.

With only two playable characters, then, Blades & Battles starts to disappoint from the outset. And things don’t get much better from there. You’ll quickly find that the gameplay is quite basic, for example, with you unable to grab enemies or pick up alternative weapons to use. On top of that, the gameplay can feel a little clunky at times, and the visuals are pretty dull and uninspired.

Still, despite all this, Blades & Battles is certainly playable. While standard attacks are your bread and butter here, numerous special attacks can be performed to get enemies airborne and more, allowing you to perform some snazzy combos. A Desperation Attack is available to get you out of sticky situations, too, while collecting magic vials allows you to perform a devastating magic attack. So, you do have some options available to you.

A playthrough of the game will likely take around half an hour, with local co-op available if you’d rather play with a friend or family member alongside you. And if you want to see all of the game’s stages and defeat all of its bosses you’ll have to play through it at least two times, with multiple paths available at key points.

You’ll perhaps get some fun out of Blades & Battles if you’re a fan of the genre, but there are much better options available. That’s to say it’s not a bad game, just a basic and disappointing one, with a lack of playable characters, limited mechanics and a visual style that just isn’t all that attractive.

This review of Blades & Battles is based on the PS5 version, with a code provided by the game’s publisher. It’s available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC.