Blade Ballet
Blade Ballet is a whirling dance of multiplayer robot destruction. Each character possesses a unique personality and special abilities – use them to claim victory as you spin from one challenging arena to the next, battling for dominance in this action-packed fighting game.
Blade Ballet is simple enough for anyone to pick up a controller and jump into the fray, but players must master the timing and unique abilities of each bot to come out on top. This makes the game easily accessible to new players, while allowing for a high skill ceiling to truly compete with your friends. Much of the Blade Ballet gameplay revolves around the innovative “blade spin” mechanic – players control their rotation to sneak past their opponents’ defenses and secure the kill. Each arena also introduces new game mechanics that players must incorporate into their strategies.
- Frantic duels to the death between two, three, or four players
- Spinning and stabbing combat system that encourages simultaneously hectic and skillful clashes
- Ten robots with unique mechanics and abilities
- Nine battle arenas with challenging hazards to overcome – or use against your enemies
- Three exciting modes to choose from – Robomination, Overclocked, and Blade Ball – customizable for endless replayability
A good part of the flexibility of gameplay in Blade Ballet comes from the unique abilities of the bots. Players can choose to master their skills with one bot by continually fine-tuning their abilities. Alternately, they can keep things fresh and chaotic by switching up their bot picks for every match.
Catbot: No bot is safe with this adorable deviant on the loose. Don’t let that cute face fool you – she’ll slice through your shields without a second thought.
Torque: Yes, it will blend. Torque has no shields, but spins so fast in “Blender Mode” that any bot would be crazy to get within his slicing range.
Syphon: How many swords is too many swords? Syphon steals the shields off other bots. Then he turns them into a ring of slicing death.
Riot: This solid and imposing maneuverable bludgeon of a bot makes up for her lack of swords with spiked shields that regenerate quickly over time.
Nix: Uses teleportation to effortlessly and mysteriously phase through enemies and line up the perfect attack. Commits fully to each new location – if he goes off a ledge, there’s no turning back.
Trigger: Hectic and unstable. Lives for mayhem. She loves nothing better than to sling powerful bombs across the stage, wrecking everything in sight. Is not immune to self-destruction.
Ruckus: Powerful wrecking ball sweeps away all opposition. She uses a mace to reposition other bots at will. A mace-punch to another bot’s face is particularly effective in combat.
Vanguard: This chivalrous, noble bot has strong ties to a bodyguard origin. Armored and heavy, with a blazing charge. Slow-turning, but he makes up for it with a long reach.
DropJaw: Don’t get too close to this bot unless you want to be laid low by a stunningly disruptive shockwave. His typical combo includes jump into Ground Pound, finishing off with the stab of a sword.
STEVe: STEVe was never meant to battle in the Blade Ballet arena, but he gives it a good shot. The difficulty of mastering the strafe and powerful lunge makes every landed hit worth celebrating.
Want to learn more? Check out the Meet the Bots page on our site.
Our goal is to keep gameplay interesting by having players navigate hazardous stages while dueling to the death. We’ve come up with a variety of artistically, mechanically, and thematically interesting arenas for bots to battle across.
Thanks for checking out the game. Love to hear what you think!
Game Discussion
Steam User 18
Full disclosure: I know the developers of this game. I've been following along with the development of this game and I've played quite a bit at conventions and events.
If you're into fun party games, then this is for you. The art is so fun and the soundtrack is amazing. You'll have a great time hanging out with your friends and smashing into them with some death bots.
If you look below the party game surface, you'll also find a very competitive fighting game (think Smash or Towerfall). It's been awesome watching people really figure out how to master the bots and have some amazing duels. Now that the game is out, I can't wait to see just how good people out there can get.
Steam User 8
GOOD: Matches are quick and exciting. Learning curve is low. Excellent character, level, and art design.
BAD: Online player base on PC is way too small. $15 asking price is slightly too high. Game modes lack enemy AI bots.
What sets these couch competitive multiplayer games apart from others is that no matter your skill level, the gameplay always seems to be so addictively simple as fun party games, just like the new BattleBots-inspired indie game Blade Ballet. It deserves a larger online community.
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Steam User 9
Great game for friends! Controllers 110% recommended. It could use more customizations, however. Other than that, it's still a very fun party game and shows a lot of promise in upcoming updates. Stay tuned!
NEW UPDATE: 8/14/16
Thank you so much for adding graphical settings now! The game can run much smoother on my laptop, for a more enjoyable experience. However, the game is still a bit lacking in features. I will update my review once a larger update releases. Still a great game!
Steam User 4
Pros:
Varied, interesting characters with unique abilities.
Strategic counterplay (e.g. Torque's dual-blades counter Catbot's shield-piercing).
Skins are not locked behind microtransactions (they are unlocked by playing the game).
Maps involve a theme that enhances gameplay (e.g. scoring a goal on TURBO CLUB in Robomination awards a power up).
Playing with friends (online) is extremely easy and takes very little time to set up.
Gameplay is smooth and feels natural (mostly).
Cons:
Some characters feel extremely cheesey. Torque is basically invincible when used by a competent player, and DropJaw's shockwave will crush your hopes and dreams, along with your bot.
Robomination and Blade Ball are great, but the game feels extremely lacking in mode variation.
Playing online is a bit tricky - sometimes, players lag out and fall off the map without actually seeing it on their client. This effect can also lead to unexpected blade hits, even when players are nowhere near each other.
The maps are excellent, (except for AI CORE, which is an absolute mystery to me) but there really aren't that many of them once you get down to it. The rotation becomes rather monotonous after an hour or two of play.
Controls are NOT rebindable, even for keyboard.
The game gives keyboard input prompts, even when you're using a controller (which the game recommends you use, by the way).
Graphics settings are extremely minimal.
Framerate is capped at 60 FPS.
If you're looking for a great party game, or a way to have some fun with your internet friends, Blade Ballet is perfect for you. At $14.99, though, you're not getting all that much bang for your buck. I'd recommend buying this one on sale.
7.5/10
EDIT: Formatting.
Steam User 1
Cool game. I play mostly local co-op. It takes some time to master the mechanics, but once you do it's a lot of fun. I like the fact that one of the players can play on keyboard and it has proper keyboard controls unlike some other games. Good game for a quick 3-4 player clash.
Steam User 5
I've been waiting for this game for so long and Dreamsail Games didn't disappoint me. It makes a lot of fun playing it with friends, no matter if you're playing with 1 or 3 friends. The maps are varied and on some maps - not on all - there are some funny powerups too. I recommend this game for all those who love to fight with their friends and it's definitely worth the money.
Steam User 1
I love the look. I love the Local multiplayer. I love the bots. Heck, I love the devs. I really like this game, but it could be much better. Right now there are a couple bugs with the game, but the online multiplayer is where everyone is complaining most of the time. I too have issues with multiplayer, but it's not enough for me to just quit especially with the next update supposedly fixing some of the issues.
I first saw this game at Momocon 2016 in April and thought it was a fun game. Then i heard of the tournaments for it. The three(?) devs that were there were very helpful in getting everyone prepared, comfortable with the mechanics of each character, and didn't kill us instantly to give us time to learn. With their help and a few matches with others and friends i was able to win beta keys, release keys, and best of all BUTTONS. I do have one full set, but am missing 4 for a seconds (but that's not part of the game). Since the tournament, the devs have been a very welcoming in their discord channel and their twitch streams.
With them welcoming ideas from the community, help with finding bugs, and hosting tournaments i think this game could be great if they can get the lag issues with online multiplayer fixed a little more and if could get the word out a little better. So far, i have only heard of one fairly big youtuber (videogamedunkey) knowing of the game and that is it. I haven't seen a video about this game yet, but if he eventually does it could be a huge help to the game. All in all, I really like this game and hope for the best.