Beat Blade Assault in 11 hours and 42 minutes, with some downtime paused while eating twice, so probably more like 11 hours. This one is very much on the OK rogue action 2D platforming arena games. I think games like Neon Abyss are better, while this is probably around the same level as Critadel, although I think that one is better.
First of all the screen can be very hard to read. The game has generally nice 2D pixel graphics, but when a lot of stuff and effects are out it's impossible to see things. I almost didn't want to use a screen filling attack because it sent lightning everywhere and was hard to see things. The controls will be very hard for non controller users, so I highly recommend one. The music is alright with better tunes reserved for boss fights. The shooting sounds are also good.
I don't like how non weighty it all feels. You just go around and dodge and attack as much as possible to do damage to enemies and bosses that can be HP sponges. The final bosses suffer this in particular, and that's without any penalties. You can charge attacks and have a sub weapon, but the action is too frantic a lot, so I use these less. The action is alright, but just feels a bit hallow. The difficulty level spikes a lot for the later levels and will have you grinding everything to get a semi optimal build. I highly recommend the items that prevent status effects (especially shocked) because some enemies are cheap in spamming these effects.
Frankly you have a core (ice/fire/lightning) and a weapon/sub weapon and try to get as many items, health/energy, and other cores to become strong. Everything does more damage to certain things, and it's all about improving the numbers to deal as much damage a bit at a time. The story plainly sucks and doesn't amount to much.
I also need to mention that this game is buggy. Often my game would freeze and need to be closed. This seems to be a known issue as when you come back the game is right where you were in the level. During my last run it crashed 3 times I believe. This is an annoyance, but not ultra major, but it makes the game worse.
Overall this is one of those games that I feel is good enough to play and try to beat, but it's missing something for a lot of replay value. You really don't unlock new items like Neon Abyss or Enter the Gungeon, so you always see the same items. It helps to keep a consistent build, but it's a bit boring. Overall it is decent bundled, but after my win I wont touch it again. 7/10
