Blade of the Netherworld

In Blade of the Netherworld, you play as a Yin-Yang Enforcer who has struck a deal with Yama, the ruler of the underworld. Set in a fantasy world ravaged by demons and madness, you must slaughter your way through the unpredictable netherworld using a variety of Divine Masks, main weapons, and secondary power-ups. This 2D side-scrolling action roguelike features a liberated hack-and-slash combat system, town-building elements like fishing and farming, and a perilous journey where each rebirth brings you closer to uncovering the truth behind the world’s disaster.

Blade of the Netherworld: Review

A flawed but fascinating descent into a pixelated purgatory, ‘Blade of the Netherworld’ is a game defined by its ambitious contradictions—a title caught between its lofty inspirations and the harsh realities of its execution.

Introduction

In the crowded arena of indie action-roguelikes, a new contender emerges not with a polished war cry, but with a scrappy, intriguing whisper. Blade of the Netherworld, from the relatively unknown DuDu Games, is a 2D side-scrolling hack-and-slash that asks players to don divine masks and serve as an enforcer for Yama, the King of Hell. Its thesis is one of fusion: to marry the relentless, combo-driven combat of a character action game with the procedural generation of a roguelite and the pastoral peace of a life sim. It is a game of immense potential, glimpsed through a veil of technical imperfections and a sometimes-impenetrable language barrier. This review will dissect its every facet to determine if this blade is honed for glory or destined to be lost to the underworld.

Development History & Context

Blade of the Netherworld is a product of its time, born from the fertile yet chaotic soil of the modern indie game scene. Developed by DuDu Games and co-published by Hurricane Games, it was built using the ubiquitous Unity engine and launched into Steam Early Access on December 4, 2023, before seeing a full release on May 10, 2024.

The gaming landscape at its release was one dominated by refined giants in the genre it seeks to join. Titles like Dead Cells, Hades, and Enter the Gungeon had long since set a towering standard for smooth controls, compelling meta-progression, and narrative integration within roguelite frameworks. For a small team like DuDu Games, the challenge was monumental. Their vision, as stated in the game’s official description, was not merely to emulate but to expand, adding town management and agricultural sim elements to the familiar loop of run, die, and upgrade. This ambition speaks to a developer aiming high, perhaps stretching its resources thin across multiple complex systems. The technological constraints are evident; the game’s modest system requirements (a Dual Core CPU and Nvidia 450 GTS graphics card) point to a focus on accessibility and a pixel-art aesthetic that is less computationally demanding but can be richly detailed. The context is of a small team punching above its weight, a story familiar and often celebrated in indie development, but one that comes with inherent risks in balancing scope and polish.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

The plot of Blade of the Netherworld is a classic tale of revenge forged in the fires of a Faustian bargain. The world, under the reign of “Ruixiang 3rd,” is plunged into chaos where “demons and monsters endanger the earthly, heaven and hell.” The player character, a defeated warrior driven insane by loss, is approached by Yama. The King of the Netherworld offers a deal: become his Yin-Yang Enforcer, slaughtering demons and ghosts in the afterlife, and in return, he will grant the power needed to return to the world of the living for vengeance.

This premise is rich with thematic potential, exploring obsession, the cost of power, and the cyclical nature of violence. The promise that “each time you embark on the slaying journey, you will get closer to the truth behind this disaster” suggests a narrative unfolding over repeated runs, a la Hades. However, the execution is critically hampered. The translation from the original Chinese is, as noted by players, “awkward” and could be “improved for better clarity.” Descriptions like “it’s drives you insan” and “Path of reincarnation full with dangerous” are more than mere typos; they create a barrier to immersion and understanding, muddying the lore and character motivations.

The characters, from the enigmatic Yama to the various NPCs freed to populate your town, remain largely ciphers. Their dialogues and backstories are lost in translation, reducing them to functional vendors and quest-givers rather than fleshed-out participants in a mythos. The underlying themes of balancing the living and the dead, and a mortal wielding divine power, are present but underexplored, waiting for a more coherent script to bring them to the forefront.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

At its core, Blade of the Netherworld is built on three foundational pillars: combat, roguelite progression, and town management.

Core Combat & The “Liberated Action System”: The game’s foremost boast is its “fully liberated action system” designed for “almost non-stop continuous kills.” In practice, this translates to a hack-and-slash system with a focus on aerial combos, dodge cancels, and fluid movement. When it works, it feels responsive and energetic. Players can collect over five main weapons and 80+ secondary weapons and power-ups, allowing for a variety of playstyles. However, this system is also the source of significant flaws. During the Early Access period, players reported a trivial “stun lock” mechanic where simply mashing the attack button could render enemies, including bosses, completely helpless. Furthermore, a bug with the dodge mechanic allowed for infinite mid-air jumps (“double jump: after dogging in mid-air you can jump again”), completely breaking platforming challenges and enemy encounters. While these may have been addressed post-launch, their initial presence points to a lack of rigorous playtesting.

Roguelite Systems: The loop is standard for the genre. You embark on a run through procedurally generated levels of the netherworld, collecting Divine Masks (12+) and power-ups. Death is permanent for that run, but you return to your hub town with resources used for permanent upgrades. The potential for “rogue styles [to be] randomly combined” offers replayability, but players have noted a “lack of depth in roguelike elements” compared to genre staples. The balance between building a powerful character and maintaining challenge appears to be a delicate one that the game sometimes fumbles.

Town Management – “Have a rest, then living”: This is the game’s most unique addition. Between runs, players can engage in fishing, growing vegetables, cooking, and freeing villagers to build their “ideal town.” This provides a tangible sense of progress and a calming counterpoint to the frantic combat. It’s a bold attempt to merge genres akin to Rune Factory, but its integration with the core loop—how much these activities directly empower your next run—is a key factor in its success or failure.

UI & Technical Performance: The user interface is functional but reportedly suffers from tooltips and descriptions that are unclear due to translation issues. Technical bugs were a common point of feedback during Early Access, and while the full release likely addressed many, their initial prevalence impacted the experience.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Blade of the Netherworld presents its world through a distinct pixel-art aesthetic. The side-scrolling, 2D perspective is used to depict a grim yet vibrant underworld, filled with demons, gods, and lonely souls awaiting reincarnation. The art direction successfully creates a setting that feels both fantastical and grounded in its East Asian mythological inspirations.

The atmosphere is a mix of dark fantasy and the game’s described “dark humor.” The pixel graphics are generally well-received, contributing to the game’s charm despite not necessarily pushing the boundaries of the style. The enemy and character designs, particularly the Divine Masks, are a visual highlight, offering a clear and compelling reason to seek out new loot.

Sound design is an area with less available detail, but player reviews note the soundtrack as a positive, albeit limited, aspect that “enhances the overall atmosphere.” The clash of steel, the grunts of enemies, and the general audio feedback during combat are crucial for a game of this type, but without direct experience, its effectiveness remains an area inferred from positive, if brief, player remarks.

Reception & Legacy

As a relatively recent and niche release, Blade of the Netherworld has yet to make a significant splash in the broader gaming consciousness. At the time of writing, it holds a “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam based on 155 reviews. It has not garnered enough critical attention to receive a Metascore, and professional reviews are absent from aggregators like MobyGames.

Its reception is defined by this player-driven divide. Enthusiasts praise its “responsive combat system,” “visual style,” and “variety of weapons,” alongside optimism for its future potential given its affordable price point. Detractors and those who bounced off it cite “slow progression,” “gameplay mechanics issues,” and the poor “translation quality” as major impediments.

Its legacy, therefore, is still being written. It stands as an example of an indie game with bold, hybrid ambitions that struggled with launch-ready polish. Its influence is not yet felt, but it resides within a growing subgenre of “Roguevania” and action-roguelikes that aren’t afraid to experiment with non-combat mechanics. Whether it will be remembered as a hidden gem that improved over time or a footnote of unfulfilled promise depends heavily on post-launch support from DuDu Games.

Conclusion

Blade of the Netherworld is a fascinating artifact of indie development. It is a game brimming with ideas—a potent combination of frenetic action, roguelite progression, and pastoral simulation, all set against a compelling mythological backdrop. For a certain type of player, one tolerant of jank and eager to uncover diamond-in-the-rough potential, there may be a rewarding experience here, especially for its budget price.

However, its ambitions are consistently undermined by a lack of polish. From game-breaking bugs and balance issues to a narrative rendered almost incoherent by poor localization, the game feels like it needed more time in the oven. It is not a masterpiece nor a disaster; it is a promising blueprint. Its place in video game history is likely to be that of a curious case study—a title that exemplified both the creative daring of small developers and the critical importance of refinement and clear communication. For now, the blade shows flashes of brilliance, but it remains unhoned.