Naraka Bladepoint Review

 

Are you a gamer stuck in the monotony if playing the same thing over and over?

 

League of legends, Apex, Fortnite, COD… They’re all getting a bit… dry.

And I don’t blame you.  I’ve been there too.

 

Don’t get me wrong, its not like those games aren’t fun.  But many of us have been waiting for something fresh to come out.  Something that will break up the regular flow of gaming.  Something to “spice it up”.

Well let me tell you.  Naraka Bladepoint does it all.

This is one of the best games currently on the market, and I truly believe that.

 

The gameplay is fantastic and unlike anything I have played before.  The graphics and customization are top of the notch, and the “melee focused combat” is damn near perfect.

 

So here is what I’m gonna do.  If you’ve heard of this game and you’re on the fence, I’m going to walk you through EVERYTHING I can think of to convince you.

 

Because I believe in everything this game is doing.  And I believe in the developers.

 

COMBAT:

Rating: 9/10

Unbelievably in depth but also simple.

What I mean by that is that its relatively simple to learn.  There are light attacks, heavy attacks, and counters.  This works as a rock paper scissor mechanic.

 

You can be a relatively decent "button masher" if you understand this combat.

But oh boy is it also in depth if you want to take the time…

You can dodge by sidestepping and EVEN duck under horizontal "light" strikes.

 

Its pretty fast and you can move around like a true ninja, which feels FANTASTIC as you play.  Again, you can certainly work to be at the top skill gap, but you will find that with a basic understanding and little practice you can still be pretty decent and feel like a boss.

 

There is also a grappling hook mechanic.

While Naraka Bladepoint isn’t the first game to do this, it IS the first PvP game to do this “well”. 

You can find the grappling hooks all over the map or from fallen bodies.  It is very simple to use. You just press the button, aim and fire.  Then get ready to fly through the night like batman over Gotham City.

 

And the best part?

You can grapple right onto someone’s face.  I can not possibly describe just how fun it is to backflip over a sword strike of an enemy who thinks they have you cornered, and then grapple right onto their facehole and slice through the air like Captain Levi.

 

It NEVER gets old.

As far as the combat goes, I am very hard pressed to find something that does it as well as Naraka Bladepoint.

 

GRAPHICS:

Rating: 9.5/10

I can’t name a single BR that looks more beautiful than this game.  The Japanese art style and environment detail is unbelievable.

From character detail down to the leaves on the trees, this game is near flawless.

The closest I can think to relate it would be ‘Ghost of Tsushima’.

If you’re into Japanese culture or Anime, this game is going to visually blow you away.

 

CUSTOMIZATION:

Rating: 10/10

This is the insane part.  One of my biggest complaint with multiplayer games are the inability to really customize your character.  BR's typically put out a ton of skins that can differentiate you from many others, which this game does too….

 

But what it does on top of that is the most intense RPG-style customization that rivals even the BEST customization in any game.  I’m talkin down to the eyebrows.

When you open up the tab to change you’re character you can start with “default” faces.  I expected to slightly be able to change things like eye color or hair (which you can do btw).

 

But you can customize everything. And I mean EVERYTHING.

 

Eyebrows, nose height/width, cheeks, lips.. you name it.

 

There are enough options here to make your character look like anything you want.  I’m in the process now of making my favorite look like Zero Two from ‘Darling in the Franxx’.

 

HERO SELECTION & ABILITIES

Rating 8.5/10

One of my biggest complaints, especially in BR’s, is when heroes have certain abilities.

There’s usually always one or two that are just WAY BETTER than the rest.  Essentially making you feel like you’re at a disadvantage if you don’t play them. 

Naraka Bladepoint handles this issue nearly perfectly.

Yes, there are certain abilities which "seem" to be the best for solo play, but it really doesnt make a huge difference if you even kind of know what you're doing.  You will likely fight someone during their ult and get clapped a couple times, but once you figure it out its almost like learning a boss fight in an MMO.  Everything CAN be beaten with practice.

 

And the abilities aren’t “that” strong.  Since there are so many movement mechanics that everyone has, like dodge or the grapple hook, the abilities take a ‘side seat’.

 

Some let out a small heal, or throw a fireball.  Which are both really cool and useful in their own respect...

But honestly nothing seems that overpowered.  Plus with all the customization options, you can just pick your favorite and change their face to whatever you want.

 

BOTS:

Everyone needs to shut the F up about this…

Yes there are bots.  But everyone complaining is being such a cry baby about it.

THEY ARE NOT A BIG DEAL.

The developers added bots to the early stages of the game.  By doing so they are helping introduce players to the combat.

Why?

Because EVERYONE GETS THEIR PANTS WET OVER FPS.

There is a significantly smaller portion of the population that has played something with similar fighting to Naraka.

If they didn’t’ do this, tons of people would give up before giving the game a real chance.

And no it’s not “all bots”. 

You will notice that your first match will have a bunch.  Your second match will have less, and your third will have less than that.

And so on…

And honestly? If people weren’t such babies about doing something slightly difficult, they wouldn’t have added bots in the first place.

So get over it, it’s not a big deal.

They help you to feel better, learn the combat, and be more confident.  As you climb the ranks there will be less bots. I promise.

 

A Few Other Mentions

 

Game Modes: There are essentially 3 game modes right now. 

Battle Royale Solo’s

Battle Royale Trios

Bloodbath

The battle Royale modes are exactly what you would expect.  You pick your drop in point, find gear, and fight to the death.

The bloodbath mode is essentially “lone wolf” from halo.  This is only available for solo que.

It’s a small arena where you pick your weapon at the start, and fight to see who can score the most points by killing people.

This is by far the BEST way to hone your skills and learn the combat very quickly.

 

A Few Improvements I would like to see

 

All in all I have very little complaints about this game.  What I WOULD really like to see are modes like "bloodbath" but for teams of 2 or 3.  The combat is so excellent in this game that would really benefit from other multiplayer game styles.  I think most people are getting bored of BR anyway.

Another issue is controller support.  The controller works fine for the most part, especially using the “lock on” feature.

But where this fails is in item management. 

For some reason opening the menu to look at your items and change them out seems like a chore for controller players.

While its not an issue on PC, on controller you have to use the D-Pad to navigate and its too slow.  It leaves you vulnerable for too long and it’s very annoying to get hit while sitting in the menu.

Its not a HUGE deal because you can still learn to do it pretty quickly, but a small improvement here would be a great quality of life change for controller players.

Conclusion

Do yourself a favor. GET THIS GAME.  It so SO WORTH 20 bucks.  I have played for 27 hours already (week 1).  That would be like I paid $0.75 an hour for some of the best entertainment I've had in gaming for years.

 

If you enjoyed this post please consider supporting me. Check out our Website for Custom Engraved Anime Merch (Like Below) and more Blogs like this! CLICK HERE: Nerd-loot.com