Dinoblade

I'm not gonna say this game is good. There's jank, there's repetitive music, there's basic mobs that I wouldn't even describe as canon fodder, and the voice acting isn't even in the same zip code as decent. But after just that one sentence, I've already done too much thinking. I didn't get this game for polish, for story, for graphics. I didn't get this game to think, or to engage in deep lore or intricate gameplay mechanics. No, none of that. I got it because theres dinosaurs with swords. What other game allows you to play as a spinosaurus with a greatsword that is to it's body almost on par as Gut's greatsword is to his? That's right, none. What other game lets you bust out actual anime style moves as a frickin dinosaur with a frickin greatsword? Not a single one has the cahones. But this game does. That's why i got it, and that's why you should too. No complicated story, no several minute long cutscenes, no endless walking through a massive world. Just a beautiful blend of dinosaurs and swords

Dinoblade is a testament to the meaning of "Labor of Love". It is amazing, it is a mess, surprisingly detailed, infuriatingly janky, and even while you are constantly struggling with this push and pull of emotions you can't help but to think "Hell Yeah" after every sick dinosaur execution. This is a game that I will readily recommend to those who are experienced with hack n slashers and souls-likes, those who know how to adapt their playstyle to something as inconsistent as this combat system feels at times. The parry windows never seem to line up how you think they would, the camera work during fast boss fights looks like you threw your phone off a cliff mid-recording meaning you can't see anything but your own spinning screen, and Small enemies are very hard to see in general. The playtime (at least in my experience) was also very short. You might think "That is a lot of negatives!" but honestly, given that this is one mans passion project, the game is absolutely stellar and I had a blast playing through it despite my gripes. The Music is top notch. The amount of build variety is very surprising and there was a healthy amount of enemy diversity. I never once felt like the bosses were repetitive, all having their own unique gimmick and design. There is even an attempt at some deep lore, but it goes as deep as you would expect from a game about dinos with swords. All in All great game, just needs some tweaks.

The absolute peak of gaming. What does every grown man love? Not women, not money — I’ll tell you what: swords, dinosaurs, and heavy metal. Testosterone is pouring out by the gallons from this masterpiece. Every studio spending millions on games and advertising should be taking notes from the creators of this game. 10/10. Absolute cinema.

Peak male experiences: 1º. Born. 2º. Discover Metal. 3º. Play Bloodborne. 4º. Play Dinoblade.

The History Channel at 3am:

I like it cant believe this game spurred from a meme. the music is great

I really, really don't want to mark this as not recommended. Yet again, I wish there was a "mixed" option. As it stands, Dinoblade is a great idea, and the game shipped as it is performs as a great prototype. I checked the store page again after playing for an hour, thinking that surely, the game had been released in early access. It had not. It absolutely should have been. I remember seeing the video originally posted of the Spinosaurus (or whatever other dino it was) swinging the sword years ago. I didn't follow the creator religiously, but I was extremely excited when I discovered that they really had developed a game based on that premise! I loved the promotional material, and bought the game on launch day, but sadly, the game does not live up to the hype. Pros: - Epic Spinosaurus sword combat - Incredible combat animations - Decent lighting - Great optimization and graphics settings - Quick loading times - Good mechanic tutorials - Quick combat - Respeccing stats - Easy to read menus Cons: - Cheap UI (more on this later) - Terrible case of invisible-wall-itis - No map - No clear direction - Unpolished menu It looks like the developer spent the vast majority of the budget on rigging, texturing and animating the dinosaurs (which is great), but the combat itself is very clunky. The hitboxes are extremely forgiving for all parties involved, and it's often very hard to tell what you're actually getting hit by (especially with the third boss). In fact, so much of the budget was spent on animation, that the devs neglected to test the hitboxes of their environment! Piles of rubble will be near impossible to jump over without sliding off the side, and areas that appear to be explorable are blocked off with invisible walls with no clear indication. While I was looking forward to this game, when the game opened up, I actually laughed. I feel really bad for saying it, but I did. The piano notes feel so cheap until the guitar comes in, and that paired with the cheap, barebones UI just cheapens the whole experience. The HUD is clipped and cheap compared to the actual menus themselves, and in some cases, appears on TOP of the pause menu. If you open your character page, you can see a counter labelled "DeathCount" which just screams programmer art. It's all these little things that cheapen the experience, but ultimately, not being able to tell whether or not I'm going to get hit because of the hitboxes and the TRACKING ATTACKS (which I hate) seals the deal for whether or not I can wait for the game to get an update. I simply don't love the game enough to play it over others. Again, I want to recommend this game. In fact, if you really like dinosaurs and dark souls, pick it up anyway! You'll have a lot of fun. I already don't love this genre, and I really wanted to love this game, but I just didn't have fun at the end of the day. I wish the devs the best, and I hope they continue to improve the game so it gains all the traction it truly deserves.