Daimon Blades was provided by StreumOn Studio for review. Thank you!
This is an early access title, so our final thoughts on Daimon Blades will most likely change as it develops. This review is based on our thoughts of the initial release of the game.
When I was at Gamescom this year, one of my favorite appointments was with Streum On Studios to take a look at their newest upcoming game: Daimon Blades. I loved my short time with it. It felt as if E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy was instead focused on sword fighting and melee combat. It was cryptic, brutal, and seemed to have lots of avenues of depth to the game. I was excited to try it out on my own and see if they could live up to the promise that I felt at Gamescom. For those who don’t know the series, it’s going to look really confusing from the outside. From those who know the series, it’s still going to be pretty confusing. However, once you get the hang of it, Damion Blades becomes an intense roguelike with satisfying, brutal combat that only slightly overwhelms at times.
When I spoke to the team at Gamescom, they noted how they were hell bent on creating the melee-combat game they have always wanted to play themselves. So far, it turns out this was the melee-combat game I also wanted to play. After starting the game and choosing one of your six starting weapons, we will go through the tutorial and then dive right into the action. And boy, is there a ton of action.
The general gameplay loop sees you going through levels, slicing down demons throughout the range of environments. We have general and charging attacks, dashing with a dash attack, a ranged attack that needs to be charged up, and a special move to deal significant damage. We can also block and parry attacks, double jump, and get an Alchemy ability that we can earn and use to help dominate.
The actual fighting is probably one of the most intense parts of a game. I’ve played in recent times. The sound of the sword slicing through flesh, blood, exploding out of the demons, body parts flying around, it’s pure chaos in all the right ways. Sometimes it can get too chaotic, making it hard to discern where you’re facing, and if you need to move anywhere, but the immense amount of effects and watching as body parts you slice come off, fuels the adrenaline and makes it all worthwhile. It's just pure brutality, and it's addictive.
Each level we run through has its own mission or goal, and once completed, we will go to a new room to get some rewards. These can range from increased max health, perks, upgrades for the wealth of attacks you have, and get Alchemy attacks that can be upgraded as well. There will also be a multitude of different currencies and materials we can find throughout to use at the forge and upgrade ourselves when not in a run.
We will also have to manage our own Corruption meter as we go through the run. Our run ends once our meter has hit 100, and each time we die, it goes up by 20. This essentially means that as long as our Corruption bar isn't at 100, we can keep reviving. There are some spots in the levels that can reduce Corruption, specifically eyes in the wall, but there will be enemies to fight if we use them. Still, it gives us a higher chance of being able to revive again, and I like that. There are also Human Sacrifices, which refill our health and potion vials, at the cost of a little corruption, and Obelisks to level up respective skills we have discovered.
When it comes to roguelikes, progression and replayability are very important, and for an early access title, I would say Daimon Blades has a lot going for it. The biggest reason to keep on playing and slowly get better will be getting new weapons. Throughout the run, you can get new blades that fit into those initial six categories. Each weapon has different stats, as well as a Daimon that is attached to it. While weapons can't be upgraded directly, the Daimon attached to it can, and it usually has an assortment of positive and negative effects.
Daimons in particular are a big feature for the game and influence it a lot. Each Daimon is procedurally generated, including all of its abilities, both good and bad, and there's a new one attached to each weapon. During the run, we can also Ascend, which is essentially leveling up and gives the weapon some extra bonuses, which are procedurally generated. There's also a relationship meter, which gives extra experience when it's better, or your Daimon can play tricks on you and make it hard to use during the run.
On top of that, we can get Celestial Stones to permanently upgrade our stats, find books to unlock new skills that can be found in future weapons, and scrolls that can unlock new Alchemy skills to use. There are also Divine Talismans that can give elemental resistance, damage mitigation, and increase the chance to find loot. The forge can also be used to create new Talismans, cosmetic skins for weapons and armor, and create more Celestial Stones to upgrade ourselves and Daimonic Orbs to upgrade our Daimon abilities. Talismans, new weapons, and orbs are found in treasure chests throughout each level, and these become fairly common the more we play, so I never found that using my orbs to upgrade a Daimon I wouldn't use later on hurt me in the long run.
All of these work really well together to create a compelling and addictive reason to keep coming back to Daimon Blades for more. It also helps that this can all be done in co-op with up to four others, which just adds to the chaos and keeps the game feeling enjoyable. The UI is a little rough around the edges, and the chaotic nature can be easy to get lost in, but StreumOn has created something special here, and I look forward to seeing them expand it through the early access process.
I will hold my thoughts on the story for now, but I do expect it to strike a balance between intriguing and confusing. The story of E.Y.E. never hit with me, and I definitely see lots of similarities. Still, I would say for this early access launch, the gameplay carries it all the way and makes the entire experience worthwhile.
Keep in mind that Daimon Blades is in early access, so performance on the Steam Deck will change as the game is updated.
Daimon Blades feels like it could be the perfect game to play on the Steam Deck, but it isn't there just yet. Even on the lowest possible settings, with TSR upscaling at 50%, there will be some big drops when fighting against enemies, and it gets tough. It can stick around 40-50 FPS in general, and smaller fights are playable, but it will drop pretty quickly when it needs to stay up.
The game's UI also cuts off on the sides of the screen, and there isn't a way I could find to change it just yet. The team has stated they want the game to be playable on the Steam Deck, so I am hopeful they will be optimizing the game down the line.
There is an accessibility tab to change the camera intensity and weapon swing intensity. We can also change some UI elements like the damage indicator, wound hitmarker, and dash on double move input. We can also change the language and audio sliders.
The game technically has 16:10 resolution support, but it's stretched across and cuts off the UI. It does have cloud saves and controller support, though. There are no HDR settings.
I was elated to hear that StreumOn was returning to their original IP, and Daimon Blades is a strong return. The melee-focused combat is brutal and chaotic, while the procedural generation and roguelike elements kept me feeling invigorated and motivated to go back in for more. It can be a little too chaotic at times, and the clunky UI did make it hard to navigate, but the actual core gameplay and it being co-op give me more than enough reasons to keep on playing.
While I wish it were decent to play on the Steam Deck, it is just tough to enjoy with the drops in combat and UI cutoff. I look forward to this improving throughout early access, and I can't wait to play this on the go wherever I am.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Daimon Blades is a fantastic first-person melee-focused roguelike and a great start to a hopefully short early access timeline, though it does need some optimizations for Steam Deck.
