Look, I’m not ashamed to say that Bleak Sword DX beat me up, took my lunch money, made me watch it buy a really fancy quiche, and then ordered a nice bottle of chianti to wash it all down with. While I’ve beaten the likes of Elden Ring, Bloodborne, and Returnal (without dying to a single boss, by the way [yes, that will be going in the obituary, thanks for asking]), Bleak Sword DX just made me feel bad. Bad at the game, bad at games in general, and bad mentally as I continued to throw myself at lo-fi brick walls. People who love a challenge will no doubt love the fun of attrition on offer here and while it’s certainly a good game overall, Bleak Sword DX isn’t for everyone.
A remaster of an Apple Arcade favourite, Bleak Sword DX adapts the mobile experience for more traditional platforms while also adding in new content, such as the titular DX mode. This is a longer campaign with extra chapters and new enemies that’s set across 12 absolutely arse-whipping chapters, with the ultimate goal of lifting the curse of the Bleak Sword. What this means for you is essentially slashing away at whatever twisted pixels come your way until the nightmare diorama you’re fighting in is empty.
Bleak Sword DX is very simple to understand yet fiendishly difficult to master. Players can perform light or heavy attacks, parry briefly with a shield, and dodge roll. Your tiny knight also has a stamina bar, which means he can only attack a few times before he needs to disengage from a fight, giving things a nice push/pull feel. And that’s about all there is to the formula here, which makes for some easy to approach gameplay that may eventually feel tedious for those who want some more action RPG elements where your character unlocks more tools and moves. The enemies get stronger (and cheaper), while you stay more or less the same, barring health and defense upgrades.
Developer more8bit does bring a pretty interesting twist to the table that is somewhat Souls-y, though Bleak Sword DX is far from a Souls-like overall. Every time you clear a level, you earn XP, and if you level up, you get to choose one of those aforementioned upgrades. However, if you die, you’ll lose your XP and any items, which typically take the form of stat boosts or consumable health items, and you then have to clear the level in order to get it back. It’s a system that certainly ups the stakes, but can feel akin to bailing rainfall out of a shallow grave during a storm. Once the difficulty starts cranking, levelling up will begin to feel like a concept.
All of this probably makes it sound like I hated my time with Bleak Sword DX — that isn’t the case. I had great fun with it overall, but it got to the point for me personally where it stopped feeling rewarding to overcome a seemingly insurmountable hurdle, as there’s little tangible reward for fighting through the frustration. Figuring out enemy patterns, iframes, and sometimes kooky hitboxes while clearing stages might be a compelling hook on its own for some, but I just wanted something a little more from Bleak Sword DX — whether that’s a progression system, build variety, or even any real story to speak of — to make the suffering worth it.
Retro action adventure fans and masochists will no doubt get a kick out of what Bleak Sword DX’s campaign has to offer, along with the new additions like a wave-based survival mode called Arena and a boss gauntlet by the name of Boss Run. It’s also quite the looker with its minimal visuals full of blacks and reds calling to mind the masterful Downwell, while the audio is chillingly sparse.
Bleak Sword DX is definitely a game worth recommending, just with about a hundred different blood pressure related caveats. If you’ve got a Steam Deck or a Switch and desperately need a reality check or found Cuphead a little too forgiving, take up the sword — and then take up pottery shortly after.
A Steam key was provided by PR for this coverage.
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