The world of Vertiel is plagued by an icy threat from the north. Hordes of creatures more dead than alive are sent by the frost lords to decimate the peaceful inhabitants of the continent. In other words: winter is coming… So let's move on quickly to the scenario of Bound by Flame, which recycles the endless cliches of heroic-fantasy. We obviously won't hold it too harshly, since even the heavyweights of the genre do the same. Our hero and apprentice world savior of the day, because it takes one, is called Volcan. This surname can hide a man as well as a woman, the player also having the possibility of choosing among some predefined faces and hairstyles. If we tell you this relatively futile point, it is because it reflects quite well the qualities and faults of the game as a whole, which seeks to do like the greats but never really succeeds. Here, we must therefore be content with limited aesthetic customization, far from the possibilities offered by the first Elder Scrolls to come. In this case, wouldn't it have been better to impose a character directly? Gothic and Risen have proven in the past that this is no problem. Especially since our hero's destiny is all mapped out (at least initially) since at the end of the first game sequence, which also serves as a tutorial, his body is invaded by a fire demon, with whom he must now live together. To summarize things, we can therefore say that Satan inhabits it in a way. But during the adventure, certain choices offered to the player will allow him to leave more or less room for the demon. The game thus offers us several endings and, above all, several paths of evolution for the hero. Letting the demon express itself fully allows you to maximize the fire powers, but this is done at the expense of the equipment (armor damaged by the flames, impossibility of wearing a helmet because of the horns that grow….) and the relationship with some companions.
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Character development is also achieved through the availability of three distinct skill trees. One is therefore dedicated to the demon, and allows you to throw fireballs or even ignite weapons. The other two correspond to two distinct combat styles: heavy weapons or daggers. The player can switch at any time from one style to another, depending in particular on the enemies he encounters. Against a creature with a shield, it is better to take out the two-handed sword in order to break the hindering defense. In this mode, a kick can even push the opponent back and break his guard. In dagger mode, it is replaced by an avoidance function. The fights then become more fluid and Volcan shows unsuspected agility. This "Ranger" talent tree also houses a few skills dedicated to stealth. Unfortunately, the latter is under-exploited, as is often the case in games that do not make it their main gameplay. Concretely, we can start some fights by surprising a creature from behind to better start its life bar, but the other enemies will then find themselves immediately alerted to our presence, which greatly limits the interest of the maneuver. Apart from this downside, as well as a perfectible target locking function, we can however praise the combat system as a whole. Demanding and tactical, it requires real involvement from the player, who cannot be content with hammering out the strike commands at random. Guard, avoidance, placement, use of traps, spells or crossbows… everything matters. To best manage all the possibilities, the game offers us an active quasi-pause, which extremely slows down the action and allows you to quietly make the most tactical choices. A word of advice: never forget that Volcan is an artificer by trade, and therefore build as many explosive traps as possible. Creatures from the cold do not appreciate fire, it takes that to overcome the toughest groups. But there again, Bound by Flame does not give in to ease. If it is possible to craft any consumable (traps, potions, crossbow bolts...) and also to improve weapons and pieces of armor, the ingredients remain rare. Even when looting all the corpses and chests present in the different levels, there is always the fear of missing out. 
This hardcore side, almost uncompromising, is undoubtedly one of the strong points of the game, especially at a time when Dark Souls wins all the votes (or almost...). In return, the difficulty of the normal mode is already very high, some players may be downright put off. In this case, we will exceptionally advise them to activate the easy mode without shame. Apart from its relatively advanced combat and crafting system, Bound by Flame is more classic, even disappointing on certain points. This is the case with our traveling companions, whose intelligence is sometimes a little too artificial. And especially level design which is a thousand miles from an open world. The game is divided into different chapters, themselves divided into different levels, some of which can only be navigated at the cost of additional loading times when you want to enter certain specific places. Knowing that the quests serve as a pretext to make us go back and forth a lot, expect to see very, very regularly the loading screens, and the tips that go with it, during the twenty hours necessary to complete the adventure. from top to bottom. When it comes to graphics, Bound by Flame is true to its core theme as it suffers hot and cold. Very beautiful and technologically advanced lighting effects rub shoulders with some uninspired decorations and unconvincing lip movements during the dialogues. The Spiders game therefore falls into the category of games that are clearly imperfect but potentially endearing, as long as you are sensitive to the points on which it hits the mark.
