Blade Chimera is the brand-new metroidvania from developer Team Ladybug, a studio that is no stranger to the genre. Fans may recognize Team Ladybug for its work on the critically acclaimed metroidvania Touhou Luna Nights along with Record of Lodoss War: Deedlith in Wonder Labyrinth, and the team is back with another round of exploration-focused gameplay. Playing as demon hunter Shin, players are tasked with traversing a vast, futuristic cyberpunk world, using a range of attacks and abilities to eradicate its monstrous and demonic denizens.
In a recent interview with Game Rant, the indie game developers at Team Ladybug discussed some of Blade Chimera‘s unique mechanics. Among the most notable is the ability to warp anywhere on the map whenever the player wishes—barring some key narrative moments. This is highly unusual in a genre that typically asks players to backtrack as part of exploration and progression, making this a unique approach that turns convention on its head.
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Blade Chimera – Official 3rd Trailer
Check out the official 3rd trailer for Blade Chimera, a cyberpunk metroidvania developed by Team Ladybug and WSS playground.
Blade Chimera Lets Players Fast Travel at Will
Traditionally, metroidvania tends to feature a lot of backtracking through areas that have already been visited. This usually coincides with the player acquiring a new item or ability that gains them entry to previously inaccessible locations. While it’s often fun and painless, some fans of the genre would argue that it’s one of the more tedious characteristics of the genre, especially if they have to travel through a particularly difficult or unenjoyable biome. Blade Chimera‘s radical solution is to allow players to open up the map and warp anywhere they please. Team Ladybug details this idea:
”I think the most unique thing about this game is the ability to fast travel anywhere on the map. Once the player learns the warp skill, they can travel to almost anywhere on the map they’ve been to before in an instant. I made some locations and items only accessible by warping to make warping one of the main characteristics of the game. Once I got used to this feature, you might find yourself feeling a little annoyed when you play other Metroidvanias without it.”
Blade Chimera Includes a Useful Combat Mechanic
The best metroidvania games balance the key elements of combat and exploration equally. The thrill of finding a hidden item or loot box or toppling a brutally difficult boss thanks to a new combat upgrade helps drive player engagement in the gameplay loop, with titles like Nine Sols and Hollow Knight being strong examples. Blade Chimera‘s approach to combat features an interesting mechanic where players can recover health or MP quickly depending on how they choose to attack. Team Ladybug elaborates:
”In this game, enemies tend to deal a lot of damage, and using Lux’s abilities cost a lot of MP, so players might find themselves running low on HP very quickly if they’re not careful. However, melee attacks recover your MP, and Lux’s attacks recover your HP. So switching up your attacks and using both your weapons and Lux’s attacks can allow you to quickly deal with enemies without having to spend many resources at all. Mastering this loop of recovering MP and HP makes gameplay pretty satisfying.”
This dynamic adds a new layer of strategic thinking to every combat encounter. Rather than strictly adhering to the tried and tested metroidvania formula established by the titular Metroid and Castlevania franchises, Blade Chimera puts its own stamp on the genre with some flavorful twists. Team Ladybug is intimately familiar with the genre and its conventions, and it’s refreshing to see how that familiarity leads to genre-pushing ideas.
Blade Chimera is available now on Nintendo Switch and Steam.