Blue Fire [Xbox]

Robi Studios’ Blue Fire is a 3D action-platformer set in the mystically beautiful, yet desolate world of Penumbra - a floating castle hidden away from the treacherous Black Shadow using the God’s essence; Blue Fire. A sprawling world filled with environmental traps ranging from huge, threatening spikes to acid-filled lakes; it is mostly uninhabited aside from enemies, and a handful of survivor NPCs through whom you can gain access to side-quests. You must work your way through Penumbra, vanquishing the enemies plaguing the world.

There are Voids to complete, each with their own difficulty rating; standalone platforming sections similar to the Super Mario Sunshine’s secret levels, with entrances found throughout the world. Here you’ll collect ‘Void Souls’, as you find your platforming skills tested in progressively more challenging ways. These are highly enjoyable to play, deviating a little from the rest of the core gameplay, keeping things fresh and interesting; some are particularly challenging, and this just encourages you to keep on trying, even if you have to continue through the game and come back to the Void later. Completing a Void also rewards you with an extra life, in a similar fashion to Zelda’s heart containers.

It controls really well, with satisfying combat utilising a triple combo attack and tightly responsive jumps that make it feel super fulfilling to move around, utilising jumps, dashes and wall-running to get around quickly. It feels very much like a Mario/Zelda hybrid, with precision platforming reminiscent of Mario, and satisfying target-locked combat akin to Zelda titles. There are Fire Shrines located throughout the castle that act as a Checkpoint of sorts, allowing you to save as well as equip Spirits, extend your Mana meter and Fast Travel (once unlocked). When you succumb to too many hits, you’ll awaken at the last Shrine you visited - and this will happen more than you’d necessarily expect, due to how squishy our little hero is, and it can be quite frustrating due to how far you may have travelled since your last checkpoint.

Blue Fire is visually stunning, with distinct areas throughout the game with some truly gorgeous scenery. It’s got a simple, yet well detailed look to everything, with clean edges and great use of bright colours as well as the almost monochromatic Voids. There’s a decent variety of enemies to fight, including small leeches that will launch towards you, Bombers that will explode as soon as they get close to you, and powerful Phantom Knights. Of course, there’s also a bunch of Corrupted Guardian bosses for you to take on, including Gruh and Croh, as well as the Queen’s Guardians such as Lord Samael, who all look and feel very much like dungeon bosses from Zelda, with readable attack patterns. It has a very atmospheric, evolving soundtrack that blends from somber to light, and is enjoyable to listen to.

With treasure chests dotted around the world, you can find different weapons and tunics, with tunics able to also be purchased from Ari the Crafter, or be offered as rewards for completing various NPC quests. There are also panels known as Emote Pads that you can find on the floor with various emote symbols shown; when you perform the required emote, this will unlock additional chests - but if you haven’t unlocked the relevant emote yet, you’ll have to remember to come back later - there’s a banana cloak you definitely don’t want to miss, just for the sheer hilarity of it, but it requires a lot of skill (as well as abilities) to reach it. You can equip Spirits to fine-tune your movement, gaining abilities such as higher jumps, double dashing as well as hovering; slots for these can be purchased using the Void Souls you’ve earned.

There’s a fair bit of backtracking required, with areas and treasure that will be out of reach until you’ve upgraded enough. You’ll find plenty of Ore throughout the world, and you can sell this to Mork the Book Keeper to gain currency for other purchases. There’s no in-game map, so it can be a bit baffling at times to figure out where you need to go, whether back or forwards, but the more agile you become, the less of a pain this is. Additionally, you will have access to Fast Travel between Fire Shrines, which can quickly get you from place to place. Overall, we had a great time with Blue Fire - and if you like the sound of everything here, then you can pick it up on the Xbox Store for £16.74. There’s a full free strategy guide available on Graffiti Games’ website too, so if you need a little push at any point, you always have that to help out.

In the end, we decided to give Blue Fire the Collecting Asylum rating of 9/10.

Have you played Blue Fire yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x

Thank you to Robi Studios for the Blue Fire Xbox review code!