Swords & Bones Review

Every 500 years, humanity is invaded by the demon world where the Demon World constantly bullies the Kingdom of Vestus; which has been left with no hope. Until one day, a nameless warrior decided to stand up to the forces of evil with his trusty sword. Will our protagonist save humanity?

Swords & Bones is a 2D action platformer where our nameless protagonist needs to traverse a handful of areas overcoming a variety of enemies and dodging deadly obstacles. Destroying crates, and barrels and killing enemies will reward players with money and jewels that can be used at the shop. At first, our hero only has a basic jump and his trusty sword to overcome the hardships.

Once you’ve cleared all areas, which take on average 2-3 minutes to get through (depending on how many you die), you’re going head-to-head with a boss. Once dead, he’ll drop a hefty amount of cash. After you’ve completed an area, you’re free to keep going or go to the world map to either revisit previously cleared levels to grind some money (more on that later) or pick up missed items or access the shop.

The shop has a handful of items that will aid you in battle. You can buy additional health, buy new magic skills; new skills like double jump, or be able to break cursed blocks between you and items. Or if you don’t want to bother looking for chests’ keys, you can buy them. Things that can be purchased multiple times such as health or keys will increase in price after each purchase. While most of the items aren’t mandatory, they will make your life a bit easier for the most part and allow you to reach new areas.

The game is not without issues that will damper your fun. The first nuisance is that very helpful things at the shop are crazy expensive. Even after completing the first area, I barely had any cash for 1-2 items. You’ll need to replay levels to grind more cash in order to buy as many things as possible to make your life easier. Another unnecessary frustration is some enemy spawns. For example, in the second area, there are birds that will scream to alert you of their presence, but they are the same color as the background so you’ll spot them at the last minute. And that’s just one of many circumstances.

The game looks great; like a late NES game. Very minimalistic but surprisingly detailed. Each zone is uniquely designed to offer a different challenge in each section of the game. Although there is some questionable level design. Enemy variety is decent but bosses are quite underwhelming. The soundtrack, while fair and mildly enjoyable, is quite underwhelming as well. It feels kind of out of place for an action game.

The further you get into this game, the more frustrating and cheap it becomes. I wanted to come here and say BUY THIS, but I just can’t. The first world is fun and perfectly balanced, but with the second area of the world map, cheap enemies and questionable level design come into play. Take into consideration that upgrades cost a lot to the point where grinding is required and feels like a chore. It’s a vicious circle: Grinding for cash is annoying and repetitive, but the upgrades will be beneficial in the long run. It’s somewhat enjoyable, but be prepared to face cheap attacks and grinding.