Halen: Ballad of the Blade Thief is a slick third person action platforming adventure with a great sense of humor in which you and a sentient sword attempt to escape from a deadly robot-filled temple.
In Halen: Ballad of the Blade Thief you play a lone thief who, after being betrayed by her closest allies, has been given a job she can’t refuse. She’s sent to the planet of Teltona in search of a powerful artefact, but soon finds out the artefact is way more trouble than it’s worth for two major reasons – it’s a sentient sword that fuses itself to her body and there’s a massive army of robots between her and the exit.
Halen: Ballad of the Blade Thief blends precision platforming, parkour, fast paced run and gun action and close quarters melee combat. There’s a high level of polish, a nice variety of gameplay and lots of fun surprises as you attempt to escape the temple but surprisingly it’s perhaps the voice work and narrative that impress the most.
The high quality visual design, intriguing narrative and witty conversation between Halen and her sentient sword transform Halen: Ballad of the Blade Thief from a great game to a must play. The dialogue manages to add character, charm, humor and narrative to the game without ever slowing down the pace of the gameplay. It’s a great bit of game design that builds an intriguing story and characters that you really care about.
Halen: Ballad of the Blade Thief was originally created as a university project and has since been vastly fleshed out to form the debut release from the fledgling game development studio Skypyre. Considering the level of inventive game design, stylish visuals, character design and voice work, it’s hard to believe this is the Skypyre’s first game. We’ll look forward to seeing what they come up with next. Highly recommended.
Controls: WASD – Movement, Mouse – Look, LMB – Fire, RMB + LMB – Powershot, E – Dash, F – Sword Strike, Spacebar – Jump/Double Jump
Available On: Windows
Gameplay Video: Here
Download Halen: Ballad of the Blade Thief Here