Blade Chimera

Genre: Metroidvania

Players: 1

.

Review:

Blade Chimera is a Metroidvania released in 2025 on PC and Nintendo Switch. Set in a future version of Japan overrun with demons inspired by Japanese mythology, players take the role of Shin, a demon hunter working for Holy Union, an organization with the goal of protecting humanity and eliminating the demonic threat. However, his charge to destroy all demons runs into conflict when his life is saved by Lux, a woman whose spirit inhabits a sword. Soon after, he starts to learn that his organization may not be what it seems, and Lux may hold the keys to uncovering the secrets of Shin’s past.

While Blade Chimera certainly has a unique world, I do feel like its approach to story leaves something to be desired, as we don’t get much of an introduction to that world or its characters, including Shin. As such, I think the story is more of a decoration for the gameplay than a selling point in and of itself.

To its credit, Blade Chimera has a solid presentation, with detailed and well-animated 2D pixel art visuals (with occasional use of 3D) that seem reminiscent of the Castlevania series, while having its own distinct style with the odd juxtaposition of kooky Japanese spirits within a futuristic world. This is backed by a decent synthesized soundtrack that I think does a decent job mixing its futuristic and spiritual themes, though I don’t have any examples I can share at this time.

When it comes to the gameplay, Blade Chimera has a few interesting mechanics that help to set it apart from other games in the genre. To start with, players can equip two weapons at any given time, and will generally want to equip a melee weapon and a projectile weapon for the best versatility. In addition to this, players always have access to Lux, a sword with a variety of different attacks you can unlock as you progress via a skill tree. Lux uses up magic when you use it/her, but defeating enemies with Lux helps players to regain health. Meanwhile, defeating enemies with the other weapon types refills magic, encouraging players to mix their attack types.

More than just being a magical attack, Lux can also act as a defensive shield against incoming attacks, and a platform to stand on if flung into a wall. What’s more, Lux can “rewind time” in context-sensitive situations, returning objects to their former state, restoring objects that are no longer there, or removing walls that did not used to be present.

While many of these mechanics are clever, each of them has their problems. The ability to use Lux to heal at any time pushes the game to have enemies do massive amounts of damage to keep the challenge level high, meaning a mistake or two (or simple unfamiliarity with how to combat an enemy type or combination of enemies) is all it takes to change an area you can breeze through into a massive difficulty spike. And while the time-rewind mechanic is a nice idea, it is always only context-sensitive, meaning you never feel like you’re using this to solve a puzzle so much as you’re just doing what the game wants you to do. Even worse, the fact that this mechanic is tied to the same button you use for all of Lux’s other abilities means you can easily accidentally do one when you intended to do the other.

Beyond these issues, I also think Blade Chimera is somewhat lacking as a Metroidvania. There are long stretches of the game where you find no significant secrets, and it’s rare that you find any new ability that allows you to reach previously-inaccessible areas. It’s far more likely that you’ll unlock an ability via progressing the skill tree, or by collecting enough floating puzzle pieces to unlock the doors spread throughout the game (also, unlocking doors by collecting puzzle pieces? What is this, Banjo-Kazooie?).

Don’t get me wrong, Blade Chimera has many fine qualities. The combat and enemies are varied and interesting, the world is creative, and the art style this game uses is really appealing. But both this game’s unique mechanics and its basic design have enough flaws that I can’t really consider Blade Chimera to be among the better Metroidvania games I’ve played.

tl;dr – Blade Chimera is a Metroidvania set in a future overrun by demons, where a demon hunter fights using a demonic sword. The game’s world and art style are excellent, and there are multiple clever ideas in the gameplay, but often those ideas have problems that make them more trouble than they’re worth, and the Metroidvania level design is lacking in areas too. Overall this is still a solid entry in the genre, but it’s not a truly great Metroidvania.

Grade: B

.

This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2025 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Metroidvania

.

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Jamie and His Cats, Ben, Ilya Zverev, Andy Miller, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Jared Wark, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}