Wulverblade
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Rating Summary
Based on 45 critic reviews
OpenCritic Rating
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Score Distribution
Unscored Reviews
Top Critic
Overall, Wulverblade is a pretty interesting game with classic action and a heavy helping of history, but it's also a game that is primarily for hardcore brawler fans who enjoy the pain of control issues and merciless gameplay. If that's not your cup of tea, you may want to look elsewhere.
[W]hile the controls and general mechanics take a little getting used to at first and lend themselves to moments so frustrating that the thought of throwing a controller through a window suddenly doesn’t seem so crazy anymore, it doesn’t take long before your muscle memory adapts. Wulverblade is a gem, then, though one occasionally marred by some questionable design decisions that seem to prioritize style at the expense of the gameplay.
Scored Reviews
Top Critic
Horrendously entertaining, boundlessly violent and with one eye on ancient history, Wulverblade provides an exceptionally thoughtful and enticing roadmap for the growth of the side-scrolling brawler. Pick up your controller and prepare for war; the North beckons.
Top Critic
With very few caveats, Wulverblade is an exceptional game that no genre fan should miss.
It is hugely obvious that a whole load of love has been thrown into this game over the course of development, and whilst that alone shouldn’t be the single reason you buy it, when you combine that commitment, that passion and that love with brilliant gameplay mechanics, fantastic visuals and a story that just keeps on unfolding, you’ll get a great outcome.
Overall Wulverblade is an absolute masterpiece of a game and for people who have been bemoaning the lack of quality beat-em-ups available it should provide many hours of meaty combat and carnage. To enjoy it you’ll need to overcome falling into old and sloppy habits and learn to work with all of the moves and nuance made available to you. Your reward will be a very viscerally satisfying and overall bloody good time, with some crazy surprises you won’t want to miss out on!
Top Critic
Overall, Wulverblade is an absolute masterpiece and for people who have been bemoaning the lack of quality beat-em-ups it should provide many hours of meaty combat and carnage. To really enjoy it you'll need to overcome falling into old habits and committing to learning all of the moves and nuance made available to you. Your reward will be a very viscerally satisfying and overall bloody good time, with some crazy surprises you won't want to miss out on.
Offering a classic arcade mode, and a story mode, Wulverblade has a little something for gamers of all types. Add in the educational bits as well as incredible sound design and you have a wonderful game wrapped up in a nice neat, bloody package.
Top Critic
Wulverblade is an excellent game. The mix of beat ‘em up with side-scrolling hack ‘n' slash creates a superb adventure that, added to its thrilling story and lovely artistic design, it stands as a great acquisition, even though it lacks long-term content.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Top Critic
Run to the Eshop and purchase this game. Sit down, draw your weapon, and fight alongside three powerful warriors in a stunning adventure that begs to be played.
WulverBlade is the piece project, which in any case should not miss, especially if You are close to the theme of the Vikings and the genre is Beat'em up, a gorgeous art style, mixed with great music will not leave indifferent players is far from the genre, fans will be delighted with the attention to detail and multifaceted, the game's combat system.
Review in Russian | Read full review
There are times when Wulverblade can be very difficult, especially with some gameplay mechanics that work against players. However, the experience became more enjoyable as I became master over them. The finale is also one of my favorite gaming experiences of the year.
Top Critic
Wulverblade is a simple game that brings well-known gameplay mechanics loved by many players, especilally those who love the 16-bit generation. The story of the campaign mode, despite being different, ends up giving the players an interesting historical overview.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Top Critic
Wulverblade offers a decent amount of tactical play that is equal parts rewarding and refreshing
Wulverblade's attempt to capture the past hold it back in some ways, But its excellent sense of mysticism, brutality, and craftsmanship overcomes most of its flaws.
Wulverblade is a fun side scrolling beat'em-up which might feel out of time, but remains a passionate creation from a team that clearly was influenced by the 1990s classics. A great start from Fully Illustrated, and we can't wait to see more of their upcoming work in the future.
Top Critic
Wulverblade is a blast to play, it looks and runs well, and it has rolling heads and slow motion death kills. It's colorful yet dark, it's a game yet it offers an educational aspect. It can feel hard at times, but the checkpoint system helped elevate that most moments. Grab a friend, a joycon, and do some split screen skull bashing because Wulverblade is a fun nostalgia romp and worth the price of admission.
Top Critic
Despite its modest hack-and-slash origins, Wulverblade manages to pack in a lot of content, depth and unlockable elements, and these allow it to transcend the usual limitations of the genre. The action rarely becomes too repetitive because there are always multiple ways of dealing with the hordes of enemies which present a genuinely stern test, even for seasoned players who fondly recall pumping coins into the likes of Golden Axe and Final Fight all those years ago. Simply finishing the game's epic story is the kind of challenge that will keep you glued to your Switch for a considerable length of time, but the Arcade mode – which goes truly old-school – awaits those who feel cocky (or foolish) enough to take it on. Wulverblade's lack of hand-holding reminds us of a time when games really did push the player in order to maximise their enjoyment, but it could prove too taxing for those who are entering their genre cold; with this in mind an easier "casual" mode might have been a wise choice as we fear some will give up when they encounter one of the game's many painful spikes in difficulty. Like the games that inspired it, Wulverblade is best played with a friend – not just because it's more enjoyable, but because it blunts the almost sadistic difficulty level. Wulverblade therefore might not be to everybody's tastes, but if you have even a passing interest in genre then we can confidently predict you'll get along with this famously – and you may even learn something about the history of Roman Britain in the process, which isn't something you can say about every video game.
Top Critic
Wulverblade is an enjoyable update to the classic brawler genre that works well as a quick play game while also offering depth and challenge. If you don't like brawlers, this won't change that, but if you're looking to satisfy an old school craving, Wulverblade will more than settle that while delivering stunning environments and rich animations to boot.
The two niggles I have about the game are that sometimes hit detection seems to be a tad off, and that items on the ground that are dropped by the enemies you defeat disappear too fast so you need to either focus on grabbing items as soon as they're dropped or on defeating all the enemies around you.
Wulverblade is a nice looking beat 'em up with plenty of action and a nice challenge, especially during its boss fights. A lot of love went into making this game, as you'll notice when you check out all the information and lore for the weapons and settings used in the game
Top Critic
Wulverblade might not be the most innovative of titles, but what it does it does really well. This is everything you ever loved about the beat 'em up genre, put into one stylized little package. It doesn't reinvent the genre, or even really add anything new, but at the same time it doesn't really need to. Fans of the genre will love what this has to offer though, and it might even manage to draw some newcomers in as well. With some slick and enjoyable combat and a unique, interesting visual aesthetic, it is hard to not be immediately drawn in by Wulverblade. It really is a great title, so grab a sword and start slashing your way through medieval Britain.
That makes your quest for freedom in Wulverblade a memorable one, and while some balancing is needed to make it less of a frustrating experience and more one to be wholly savoured, it’s hard not to come to appreciate everything that this brutal, historical retelling has to offer.
Wulverblade can be finished in a few hours, but this retro beat ‘em up packs a punch. The presentation uses solid visuals and engaging sound as you push the ancient Roman army out of Britain. With multiple modes and difficulties, there is plenty of value here for anyone looking to swing a sword and cut your way to freedom. You might even learn a historical tidbit or two along the way.
Top Critic
An adult and awesome experience, full of action, violence and an extremely addictive gameplay based on a 2D side-scroll system.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Wulverblade is not perfect, but it's difficult, art, design and its outstanding soundtrack manage very convincingly to take us back to those days at arcades.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Top Critic
Wulverblade is a good take on the classic brawler genre, telling a compelling story about bretons against roman army of the 9th Legion.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Top Critic
Despite some issues Wulverblade ended up being a rather enjoyable beat 'em up wrapped in a great historical package.
Top Critic
Wulverblade is a classic style beat'em up game that deserves attention. Although the gameplay is highly repetitive, but the aesthetics of comic-style graphics and fast gorey fights, can truly spark an addiction. finally i must say that despite some issues that the gameplay has, Wulverblade is a worthy game to experience.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Seth recently tackled the hardcore sidescroller, Wulverblade, available on Nintendo Switch at this link.
This is certainly a beautiful game and Wulverblade was an enjoyable time despite the intense difficulty present.
Top Critic
If you're itching to play a retro-inspired beat 'em up then you can't do much better than Wulverblade with its solid gameplay, high quality presentation, and rewarding replay value.
Top Critic
Despite the setbacks, I enjoyed romping through Wulverblade's long levels with hordes of Romans and converted natives to slay in the name of freedom. I appreciated the historical edge the game had to it, even learning a few things without ever being pressured that I was being educated. Even though the controls and balance need refining a fair bit, I still recommend this ultraviolent take on British history.
Top Critic
It's nothing hugely original, but Wulverblade certainly has heart and style.
Top Critic
A fine addition to the scrolling beat-'em-up genre. The story and its historic backdrop is interesting and the combat is meaty and fun. Arcade and arena modes will keep you coming back for more, as will co-op.
Top Critic
Wulverblade brings the old school beat'em up gameplay to the Nintendo Switch, this time with a proper plot and a unique art style. If this is enough to make the game stand out, its merciless and absolutely ruthless difficulty level will most certainly filter the vast majority of players and leave only the most determined (and fanatical) left.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Top Critic
While certainly inspired by the cult-classics of the 90s, Wulverblade lacks their natural class and their inherent appeal: it's still a game that will entertain you, but one that eventually won't leave you with much more.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Top Critic
If you're a fan of the side-scrolling beat 'em up genre then Wulverblade certainly does enough for you to consider checking it out, but it just doesn't feel mechanically sound enough to truly impress. It's a shame, given the game's strong art direction, historic bent and variety of gameplay modes.
Top Critic
Altogether, this is good enough to stand alongside the titles that inspired it.
Top Critic
Wulverblade is a welcomed addition to an already impressively broad catalogue of titles on Nintendo Switch. It's exactly these types of games that make the Switch so appealing, giving it a varied selection of superb smaller titles on top of the big blockbusters. Challenging, nostalgia-filled, brutal, and fun - it is an arcade classic in a brand new form for all the '80s and '90s gamers out there.
Wulverblade is a solid beat ’em up arcade title that is beautifully wrapped in pleasing aesthetics. It covers a well-trodden path seen in numerous games before, but it manages to deliver an experience that is still its own. The combat is satisfying, especially in terms of sound, but it is held back from being a more rewarding experience due to limiting control factors. Furthermore, the entertaining cooperative play completely forgoes online connectivity, meaning two people will have to play on one machine. Still, hindrances and all, there’s something enjoyable about Wulverblade’s loop that helps carry it through the somewhat short campaign.
A decent side-scroller that echoes nostalgia, but with modern improvements.
There’s a lot of Wulverblade that I do like. It takes on a historical story with a serious demeanor, letting players learn as they complete the campaign. Its customizable gameplay experience caters to all types of players, even if the difficulty curve is a bit rocky. Its art style, while somewhat questionable, is an accomplishment in and of itself. Despite all that, Wulverblade is a video game, and the gameplay that is supposed to tie everything together falls flat. Unless you’re already sold on a history lesson, this beat ‘em up doesn’t do enough to justify itself over countless other arcade revivals.
Top Critic
Wulverblade is a game about killing things in all sorts of manners, except on occasion your fallen enemies drop elegantly written pieces of history. The historical setting, the devotion to detail and colourful artstyle are sure to draw its share of fans, and the gameplay is also a perfectly functional modern reimagining of 80's era beat-em-ups. It is my dream that there forms a devoted fanbase who appreciate both of those things, but for now this is a game divided between two aims.
