Unraveling the Weaponry Tale in Video Games
General Surplus of Weapons in Video Games
Video games in general seem to have an excess of weapons. Just imagine if there was a freelance budget available; one might commission someone to tally them up. Just give an approximate total for the entire industry. This way, when a shiny-eyed producer presents the prospect of enchanted lazurite rapiers at a preview event, one can ask about the exact number and visualize a scrolling image similar to those for stars and planets. It's like a cosmic mountain of points and pommels, with the new game's armoury forming a pixel-wide foothill in the bottom left corner. "Are there not enough enchanted lazurite rapiers?" one might kindly inquire as the producer weeps.There is a need to think more about each individual weapon in the absence of an artform-wide disarmament project. Games could teach players about the design and history of weapons and how they fit into ongoing stories. Bladesong seems to be a step in that direction.
Bladesong: The Blacksmithing Game
Bladesong is a unique blacksmithing game where you make swords to play out the tale of a mighty fortress. It's a spotlit model-editing garage filled with icons, fields, and sliders for things like "distal taper" and "flamboyance". There is minimal hammering as seen, and no actual in-game singing despite the title. But one can imagine blacksmiths singing to their creations to regulate the rhythm of their strokes.The game offers a nerdy extravagance of options and the requirement to meet specific buyer requests that factor into the narrative. There are those who need lightweight training swords for their first tutorial rat hunt, others want a hefty blade for slashing in tight spaces like city guards, and some just want a shitload of pretentious glowing sigils like a witcher.
Player Control and Story in Bladesong
It would be great if there was an option to deliberately fail commissions and saddle people with minimally hardened or heat-treated swords. Imagine a story in the papers about a git noble splintering his bejewelled katana against a peasant's scythe while trying to collect taxes.The Steam page doesn't give much sense of the story and player control. The morsels from the trailer suggest a lot of text but it's tersely phrased. There's no room for roundabout adjectives when commissioning weapons. Lazurite, incidentally, is a tectosilicate mineral often used in painting and probably not the best for making swords.
Public Playtest and Recommendations
Bladesong will have a public playtest from 4th - 13th December. You can sign up on the Steam page. In the meantime, if you're looking for other games where you mainly make weapons for people, there are a few out there. It's an interesting aspect of gaming that deserves exploration.New
