thomas ohashi / blog

Blade Chimera is stuck in the past

Monday, January 20th, 2025

Metroidvanias are, almost by definition, a derivative genre. Their DNA can be traced back to two games, Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and the formula is fairly simple. There’s a big map but you will need to find various items and upgrades to fully explore it.

Most metroidvanias differentiate themselves by expanding on some element like combat (Hollow Knight), movement (Ori), and in some cases, even puzzles (Animal Well). Blade Chimera basically doesn’t do this, to the extent that I am inclined to say its subgenre is actually just “vania,” or perhaps more specifically, Symphony of the Night. All three of Team Ladybug’s metroidvanias are similar in this regard, but while Blade Chimera is the most polished it might be the least innovative.

The long white haired protagonist Shin’s smooth flowy movement — emphasized by his smooth flowy animation — is peak Alucard, right down to the shadow trails on his dodge. The primary gimmick Blade Chimera is a floating sword companion — another nod to Alucard — and though Shin’s is more central to the story of the game, they even share a blue-green color scheme.

Overall it feels great to play, and aside from one particularly dull section, I devoured the game and had a lot of fun with it. Each movement mechanic is extremely well considered, and if you use them creatively you can do some light sequence breaking, which I always appreciate. The ranged weapons were also a highlight and maybe the only thing that really felt fresh. I wish they leaned into them more.

Unfortunately, when I start to think about it relative to the source of its inspiration, it seems lacking. I get it Team Ladybug. I too adore Symphony of the Night, and I am generally happy to play things that evoke it, but when I ask myself if I would have been better off replaying it instead of Blade Chimera the answer is an uncomfortable “probably.” There’s no great twist, the weapon diversity is decent but unremarkable, and Shin as far less charismatic than Alucard.

Team Ladybug is presumably a small team with far less resources than Konami had, much of which must be devoted to visuals, so to some degree this makes sense. I do think it is possible that they will eventually produce something that surpasses Iga’s classic work, but I am also afraid that they are a little too content to live in its shadow, whether out of respect or for lack of imagination.

I still genuinely do recommend this game as it is gorgeous and extremely playable, but if you’ve never experienced Symphony of the Night you should consider doing that instead.