Arcane Legends: Blade Code (Demo)
A downloadable game
In a land where honor and loyalty once reigned supreme, the unthinkable has happened. The entire royal family has been assassinated in a brutal coup, plunging the kingdom into chaos. The perpetrators? A shadowy terrorist organization known as the Sanctus, whose radical agenda threatens to tear apart the very fabric of society.
You are Ryuho, a young soldier sworn to protect the realm. With the kingdom's future hanging in the balance, you and your steadfast friends must rise to the occasion. Assemble your party, hone your skills, and embark on a perilous journey to uncover the truth behind the assassination. From the treacherous dungeons of the underworld to the majestic halls of forgotten castles, every step brings you closer to justice—or to your doom.
Blade Code is more than just a game; it's an epic adventure where courage, friendship, and heroism are put to the ultimate test. Are you ready to fight for the soul of the kingdom?
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Hello! I played your Demo!
From the twists and turns of the story, of which was presented to me, I really enjoyed it. I liked the writing a lot and that a single decision can lead to a different outcome.
On one part you figure out more context as to why the events are happening. In another it seems like the better choice, but the characters are ulimately still left in the dark.
I really liked how the characters were written, especially Ryuho and the importance of Shiro. Especially Ryuho's inner conflicts of which may be the cause to drive him over the edge of what is right and what is wrong.
The Demo ends on a good cliffhanger and leaves you wanting more. How did the characters get to this point? How did all of this escalate? How did they start out? How were Ryuho, Tairi, Shiro and Yomi at the very beginning before it all went down? Overall, it leaves me with immense curiosity of how the story unfolds.
Something I believe that could be improved upon is maybe giving healing items to the player as there were a couple of situations where I would have appreciated it to be able to fall back on some potions. This isn't a necesscity, it would just be a welcomed safety cushion.
Overall, great job on making this Demo, I enjoyed it!
Not sure if you are still working on this, but I hope, if you do, that development is going well!
Wow, seriously, thank you for taking the time to play the demo and write all of this. That means more than you probably realize.
I’m really glad the branching decisions landed the way I hoped. I was beginning to think that getting the other branching path may have been too vague, but I'm glad you figured it out. One of my big goals was exactly what you described, making some choices feel right while still leaving the characters in the dark. That tension between “this seems better” and “but we still don’t understand what’s really happening” is something I’m intentionally building around.
It's nice that Ryuho and Shiro stood out to you. Ryuho’s inner conflict is honestly the backbone of everything, especially that slow push toward questioning what’s right and wrong. And for Yomi… there’s a lot more going on there than what’s visible on the surface.
I also appreciate the gameplay feedback about healing items. That’s actually really helpful. I’ve been debating how forgiving the system should be versus keeping tension high. When you were playing, did it feel frustrating in a way that broke immersion, or more like “this is intense but manageable”? That balance is tricky.
And since you mentioned the twists — I’m really curious about your thoughts on a few specific things:
What did you think about the concept of Alter Soul? Did it feel intriguing, confusing, underexplained, or just mysterious enough?
How did the princess’s diary entries land for you? Did they add emotional weight, or did they feel more like lore drops?
And the royal family’s hidden secret — did that twist feel satisfying, or did it raise more questions than answers?
I’m especially curious whether those elements felt connected in your mind, or if they seemed like separate threads.
Feedback like yours honestly helps shape the direction more than you might think.
Thank you again for playing and for the thoughtful message. It really motivates me to keep building this world.
The entire thing with the branching paths is a masterful execution and is something you as the player really need to pay attention to. Especially with the code. It feels like as if you need to play the game multiple times to really get the full picture of every side as the player. Atleast that's how the demo set up the current game for me.
I am really curious about Yomi and what you have in store for him. Especially since we already could tell that not everything is black and white and nothing is what it seems at first glance/surface level.
The balance of healing items wasn't frustrating or immersion breaking it was more the latter of being intense but managable. I am also currently in the process of making a game (as I actually started multiple but shhh) and balancing enemies, fights and items drops is pretty hard. Will say tho, that your game in terms of balancing is very inspiring. Overall the game never felt frustrating to me. Challenging? Yes, but never unfair. I did had a Game Over once or twice because of one of the stronger enemies but like any RPG if you choose the right approach and right tactic it's totally possible. A neat little thing for people who want to challenge themselves.
Something of note which I noticed in my first playthrough before doing the Code Route: I got poisoned in the first fight against this Hydra that Yomi summoned. What I noticed was that something still damaged me outside of the fight. I am not sure if there was a damage tile (which may be an oversight) or if I was still poisoned. Because it wouldn't show up in my status menu. I think it didn't happen with any other enemy that gave me status effects, so I thought I'd mention that.
Alter Soul was an interesting concept for me because the characters transform into a stronger version of themselves. That raises the question if other characters (besides the ones that are shown or explicitly mentioned) are also able to obtain or have an Alter Soul. While I am not too familiar with the franchise, it reminded me to Bleach? While some techniques of the characters reminded me to Demon Slayer which is really cool. Specifically Ryuho's Cascade technique reminded me to Tanjiro's Water Breathing a little.
Speaking of Ryuho, the only other feedback I have about Alter Soul is that Ryuho felt a little weaker than his normal Un-Alter Soul version. But I would have to replay specifically the fight against Zen (both versions) to give proper feedback on it. It's been a week since I have played :'D.
The diary of the princess didn't feel like a random loredrop. More like, it gave me the feeling: I don't like where this is going. It gives an oddly creeping suspicion, that is only confirmed when heading downstairs into the secret jail. That particular twist made the actions as to why the Sanctus was suddently murking everyone in the palace justified. Albeit still questionanble of dropping an entire Energy bomb onto the rest of the Kingdom (even when I want to believe that non of these people knew about the things the Solis Clan was doing behind their backs), it was a pretty dang good twist! One that made the "reset" feel bad but also good and very impactful for the player. Because in one timeline, they don't make it but know the truth while in the other no knows the truth but you "potentially" save everyone (while also upsetting poor Shiro).
I was a little bit confused in the beginning as to how this would connect in the beginning but it all fell into place while I was playing.
So, once again, great job on that! This demo is really inspiring as well as the systems that were shown, such as talking to the characters, listening to inner dialogues (I live for character interaction stuff) and the field skills of various characters which opens A WHOLE LOT more room for exploration and lore (hidden lore at that!). My favorite was still the crack in the wall.
I am really glad that my comment made you happy. I have a ton of games downloaded to see how they feel for me and how they are executed. And this one definatly positively surprised me! Like, damn, after playing I was even thinking: Man. I wanna do fanart kinda. I will look forward to it see what this game has to offer in the future! I wish you a happy game deving and lots of Development Joy!
Feel free to give me some feedback on this demo.
I'd like to improve in any way I can.