Wulverblade Reviews
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
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.
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!
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.