Blue Fire is a 3D Action-Adventure/Platform Game hybrid which can be best described as Hollow Knight, but in 3D with Zelda-like dungeons and A Hat in Time-like controls and optional challenge levels. The game was released on PC and Switch on February 4th 2021 by Graffiti Games and then released over time on Playstation 4, Stadia and Xbox One.
The basic story follows the half shadow, half light being called Umbra through the destroyed world of Penumbra, defeating corrupted gods to reach the Queen of Darkness.
This Video Game contains examples of:
- 100% Completion: Collect all weapons, spirits, swords and complete all Void segments and side quests to get 100% completion. With the DLC the final percentage is 130%.
- Ability Required to Proceed: After you reach Stoneheart City your advancement it blocked by impassable gaps requiring you to enter the nearby dungeon and find the claw that allows wall running.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Quite regularly a reward for completing side quests, including completing all 16 void challenges in the base game.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- Unlike the main world, Voids don't deduct health when you fall off.
- In addition, diligent exploration can reward you with spirits that make the tougher Voids significantly easier.
- Holy Centry (triple jump) and Fire Keep Tear (extra dash in mid-air) are both accompanied by small icons in the upper left-hand corner that indicate when their brief cooldowns end.
- Unlike the main world, Voids don't deduct health when you fall off.
- Brutal Bonus Level: The optional Void platforming can be challenging but made easier with the use of certain abilities or spirits. The free DLC voids are on a whole other level of complexity and are very unforgiving.
- Cash Gate: The only way to get to Stoneheart City is via a broken elevator that requires you pay an NPC to repair it. Said NPC "kindly" offers to repair it if you don't have the money at the time, but will expect you to pay him double at a later date.
- Cruelty Is the Only Option: One sidequest requires you to get a house key that a thief stole back. How do you get it back? Easy, you kick the thief down into the lava sea. The broker the house belongs to is not very amused by this solution and either sells you the key or gives it away for free if you don't have enough money.
- Dark Is Not Evil: In some way. The main character, the hero, is half darkness, after all. All NPCs are shadow creatures and often fairly friendly, and even the bad ones are just thieves or overly sarcastic.
- Die, Chair, Die!: You're encouraged to break barrels, pots, piles of skulls because they contain Ore and sometimes Blue Fire.
- Double Jump: Uthas's Bracelet gives this ability, which can become a triple jump with the Holy Centry spirit, and a fourth with the Whirlwind Hook.
- Dual Wielding: Umbra wields 2 identical swords in combat. Like clothes, different sword sets can be found and obtained.
- Evil Mentor: The Void of Sorrows DLC reveals that Von has been using Umbra from the beginning to free his Blood Covenant compatriots' souls from the Void so he can resume his conquest of Penumbra.
- An Ice Person: Beira.
- Last Lousy Point: The vessel challenges near the end of the game are quite like collecting the beads in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Some of these orbs are really well hidden.
- Lethal Lava Land: Firefall River and the Steam House are this.
- Light Is Not Good: the Queen of Darkness, contrary to her name, is stark white and primarily uses what appear to be light-based attacks, even during her final phase where she turns a more appropriate black.
- Money Fetish: Kin is obsessed with Ore; trying to get the player to sign up with his "bank, not visiting his ill brother even when he's just the house next door. He rather inexpiably keeps his vault wide open, allowing the player to take some of his Ore right behind his back.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Samael and the Queen of Darkness.
- Noodle Incident: What Paulale did to alienate the flute players is never revealed.
- Platform Hell: The 16 optional platforming challenges, which are fairly similar to the secret platforming levels in Super Mario Sunshine or the Time Rifts in A Hat in Time. The difficulty level is displayed with a 5-Star ranking, and while a moderately skilled player can get through the ones ranked up to 3 stars easily, the levels ranked 4 or 5 stars can take even a skilled player a good hour, if not more, to beat. Completing each extends your health by one heart, up to 20. The Void of Sorrows DLC added another 16 challenges with different rewards: 8 give you keys for some of the other 8, and clearing all 16 unlocks the Superboss.
- Playing with Fire: Sirion and Von.
- Shout-Out: Some of the emotes one can collect reference other games:
- The "Hat kid smug" emote is, of course, the same dance the Hat Kid does.
- The Aggressive emote is the well-known hidden blade animation from Assassin's Creed.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Two of the Lords of the corrupted Queen. One was sealed hundreds of years ago and requires the player to ignite four flames by finding four entrances to a room. Another has had their soul spilt into four pieces, and the player must combine them.
- Shop Fodder: Apples, Lutes, ancient scrolls and a variety of random things are in the game whose only purpose is to be sold to a "collector". Gemstones are found throughout, whose only purpose is to provide an easy amount of portable Ore. And once you deplete a shopkeeper's inventory, they will sell you the completely pointless 'Rat on a Stick'.
- Spin Attack: The Whirlwind Hook gives this ability, which can be used in mid-air for what is functionally another jump, though you have to charge it up beforehand.
- Wingdinglish: Zigzagged. The messages from the Shadow Lords and Queen of Darkness and on the Robi Badge can be deciphered; however, the same alphabet is also used on many banners and signs throughout the game, translating to random letters on all of them.
- Vent Physics: The aptly-named Steam House features these allowing the player to reach high areas.
