Team Ladybug’s games feel good. I don’t like the term “game feel” as it doesn’t explain anything on its own, but sometimes the way a character moves as you press buttons on your controller gives you the same sensation as rolling downhill on a bike. That’s what Touhou Luna Nights feels like, that’s what Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth accomplished, and once again Blade Chimera, their newest outing, was a joy to experience from start to finish, bolstered heavily by how satisfying it is to interface with every aspect of it.

Blade Chimera is the fourth major release from Team Ladybug (they made three smaller adver-games before that), and their fourth Metroidvania (one of those adver-games was a Jack Frost Metroidvania to advertise Strange Journey Redux! It rules!). I was a massive fan of Touhou Luna Nights, their first wide release, for its slick movement and the time stop mechanic, but Wonder Labyrinth had stiffer movement and less interesting gimmicks, leaving me feeling lukewarm.

Luckily, Blade Chimera’s movement and gameplay options match Luna Night’s quality. Our protagonist, Shin, has amazing air drift complemented by a swift, spammable air dodge. He wields a variety of weapons with aplomb, and each upgrade you find contributes significantly to movement, combat, or a combination of both. Blade Chimera’s main gimmick is Lux, a ghost woman bound to Shin that turns into a sword. She can do damage which heals you, cling to walls to make platforms, and interact with the environment by manipulating time and returning things to how they were before. Your regular attacks refill the magic meter that Lux’s attacks use up, so there’s a great loop of using both kinds of attacks to keep yourself topped off.

Many of these interactions are pretty simple, but swiftly accessing them mid-combat is enthralling. Every combat encounter, from standard enemies to bosses, glides like butter on a hot pan. You unlock more movement options through a pretty standard skill-tree, and each of them makes combat deeper and allows for more exploration of the map. Dodging leads to air dodging, which leads to a double jump, which leads to sliding across the screen without delay. By the end of the game I was bouncing off enemies’ heads with a divekick, not touching the floor for minutes at a time. I was tearing through bosses’ life bars, deftly maneuvering around their counterattacks. There I was, taking my feet off the pedals and cruising down the hill on my bike.

The detailed, slick sprite work matches that smooth gameplay. I was quite happy to be sliding around the screen, constantly air and ground dodging, leaving an afterimage behind with each dash. Consistent animation cancels that still look fluid in sprite form are a huge boon. The key word here is flow. Every movement, every frame of animation flows together consistently throughout the game, keeping a brisk but not rushed pace as you upgrade your weapons and abilities and dive deeper into the game. The enemies are pretty standard youkai fare, but are easy to read and have a good amount of personality. The bosses are huge and impressive to watch, and their mechanics are easy to understand. The details in all of the sprites, big and small, is second to none. 

There’s a story here, and it’s not bad, but it’s here for framing more than anything. Shin is an amnesiac, he works for a holy group that exterminates demons, and he begins to see fraying at the seams of the group’s intentions. Pretty basic stuff, but I’m not gonna fault them for it. I didn’t go to Team Ladybug’s previous work for rich narratives, and honestly this is their best effort yet. More backstory is given to you through “memories” that you unlock alongside your abilities which only add a little spice to what’s already going on but are still welcome. The plot goes exactly where you expect it to go in most ways, and while there are a few cool twists at the end, there’s not any major character work going on here. That’s fine, though, and doesn’t take points off here. I come to Team Ladybug games to explore a map and move in cool ways, and they did that amazingly here.

Team Ladybug’s titles are very similar to one another, very simple, and very slick. Blade Chimera joins its siblings in the pantheon of good-ass games, and I pretty much knew I was going to eat this up as soon as it was announced. Not every game needs to be a surprise, sometimes you see something and just know it’s gonna whip ass. Another banger from Team Ladybug, as expected.

5 stars

Okay but Luna Nights 2 would hit too

"Superb"

Team Ladybug made another slick, gorgeous, fun metroidvania, Blade Chimera. It's not a surprise, but it's still very welcome.

About John

John Michonski is Gamesline’s Editor in Chief. He’s a fun man who likes to do good.

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