X-Blades (v2024.06.13 & ALL DLC)

Ayumi’s twin gunblades turn every encounter into a loud, colorful rush of slashes, shots, acrobatics, and screen-filling magic. X-Blades is a single-player anime action game built around a treasure hunter who stumbles into a cursed, monster-infested realm and has to carve a path through its guardians. The tone is knowingly pulpy and energetic rather than grim, pairing fantasy ruins and bizarre creatures with exaggerated character animation and comic-book attitude. Its appeal lies in the constant forward momentum: enemies arrive in swarms, bosses loom large, and Ayumi is at her best when she never stops attacking.

Combat mixes close-range blade combos with ranged pistol fire, allowing Ayumi to keep pressure on foes while dodging, jumping, and chaining attacks across the arena. Fallen enemies yield souls and experience, which feed a progression system that unlocks new spells, upgrades, and more destructive techniques over time. Magic is especially important, with offensive elemental attacks and alignment-based powers giving players more options than simple button-mashing suggests. Levels are largely linear combat zones, but their distinct indoor ruins, surreal landscapes, traps, and boss encounters keep the journey moving through a broad range of colorful fantasy backdrops.

What separates X-Blades from more grounded hack-and-slash games is its unabashed early-2000s anime spectacle: motion blur, slow-motion effects, extravagant leaps, and a heroine who treats monster hunting like a performance. The combat can feel repetitive in longer battles, and its camera and targeting occasionally show their age, but the game compensates with a brisk arcade-like rhythm and an impressive supply of spells to experiment with. Fans of Onechanbara, Devil May Cry’s flashier moments, or straightforward action games with character progression will find plenty to enjoy here. Newcomers can get through it by leaning on upgrades and aggressive play, while genre veterans are more likely to appreciate it as a colorful, scrappy cult action title rather than a deep technical brawler.