Merge & Blade Reviews

Cute idea, and an elegant blend of classic games. I love the part where it's not just about blindly combining and merging. I got destroyed when I merged a Healer without support, and the skill is knowing when to keep/upgrade your squad. The sounds in the game is superb too, and so is the transition screens. Personally, I would prefer Roguelike mode in EA, as I don't like the camp upgrades permanently adding into my progress, Recommended if you are looking for a nice, light game to pass time, and appreciate devs' effort in fun game mechanics.

Good stuff: REALLY compelling usage of the traditional match-3 formula. As an RPG nerd who also loves match-3, the clever level-up scheme for pieces is compelling, and the metaprogression is just the icing on the cake! Needs improvement: The game's huge issue is that ultimately, there's not a ton of strategy. This is mainly due to the unpredictable way the game reshapes your troops both when you begin a combat and ALSO when your units die in combat. I feel like there should be a little more control the player has over his formation; as it is, it feels like there's just too much random chance in how your dudes get positioned. Consequently, it feels like the actual RNG of the game is which units the computer decides to give you for your drops. Once you realize this, it becomes a pretty mindless grind to get gold to purchase linear improvements for your troops. Also I should mention how hard it is to physically click on units to use the "swap" function; I've misclicked a TON due to this. Overall, I felt this game was worth the reasonable price for a few days of entertainment. It's just another one of those games though where you think to yourself how much better a few improvements would make it. Yes I acknowledge this game is in early access right now and these things could improve by full release.

Fun little game when on sale. But does have a few game mechanic and balancing problems, since it wants you to merge but at the same time be tactical and not merge. But very forgiving.

TLDR: Game with surprising amount of depth for this kind of money. Good impression is hindered a bit by getting too grindy too quickly. The game doesn't look like much at first glance but the simple game mechanic offers positively surprising amount of depth and fun in it. Combined with various game modes it can get pretty addictive without getting sleezy. However, the simplicity also means that it also gets really grindy really quickly. Choice of visual may look cute but because of low res pixel graphic, it§s sometimes difficult to see what's going on. Wider variety in soundtrack would be also appreciated.

Very fun game, good concept for a merge autobattler. At the end of the campaign I definitely wanted more. Will be looking forward to the roguelike mode.

At first it was fun, but real quick it became something of a mediocre game. I would wait to buy it when it goes ok sale, Its not a 10 dollar game. Its barely a 5 dollar game. When you compare it to other 10 dollar games this one is a NO BUY. It just gets really boring, real quick.

I really enjoyed this game but it has some problems. - Localization is not great, but that's not a really big deal - Playing on the Steam Deck doesn't work - I encountered a bug when trying to transition to the next act of the run-based Rogue-like mode so you just can't complete it. Works fine on the PC but freezes on the Steam Deck - the controls aren't the most intuitive, but they are fairly simple once you understand them It's not all bad! Here's some good stuff: - It's not the worst match game - you can setup fun combos that lead to way better units getting created but the way units are created is hard to understand at first - leveling up in the campaign is fun and feels good when you get more powers/boosts - the campaign is fun and gets really challenging towards the end - the Rogue-like modes are decent to play (even if they feel slightly pointless) - the different characters in the Rogue-like mode have fun powers that are very different from each other (but some powers are WAY LESS viable in-game) I think it's worth getting on a deep sale. Don't expect much support. The DLC is pretty useless, unfortunately. There's a 4th Rogue-like mode/game that they are going to release eventually but I wouldn't pay extra for it...unless it's got a ton of leveling/progression in it. Wait for a sale, know the faults going in, and enjoy yourself.

It's a nice idea but right now I can't recommend it. The game sends you mixed signals. On one hand it wants you to merge 4+ units so you get extra turns, on the other hand it fucks up your formation on every fight which means that you can't setup your board for big combos over more rounds. More often than not I felt like that playing randomly was better because if you play "properly" you get fucked up by the unit swaps by breaking the combo you were building up, but if you play like a monkey maybe the random swap can actually create combos.

A potentially great game but it only takes about 2 hours to complete all of the content which you receive for the price of the game. Additional content is locked behind an interminable series of micro transactions. It's a good option for people who want to end up spending 200 bucks on a game with a 10 dollar price tag.

I bought this because it reminded a little of a game which I loved: Might and Magic - Clash of Heroes. Merge and Blade has a similar, and fun game play loop, but lacks the colourful characters and story that made that game so satisfying.