This game is truly great. All these people saying it looks terrible are wrong.1080p 30-60fps from a 20person studio is really impressive. But this game plays like something from a much bigger studio. Combat is amazing and even more involved than the witcher 2.

Bound by Flame is the latest instalment from French developer, Spiders. They have had a fairly rocky history of late, most notably for their most recent title Mars: War Logs that was quickly forgotten about, as well as their involvement in the development of Of Orcs and Men , which while it had...

+ Inspired story with weighty decisions

- Voice acting quality varies

"Bound By Flame is like a low budget B-movie that exposes how silly fantasy can be when it tries to be cool." © 2014 Focus Home Entertainment, Spiders Studio. All rights reserved.

Good character progression; some funny dialogue; fun combat..

...that gets repetitive; generic questing; story feels unfinished; poorly executed player choice

Developing an RPG in the west is tricky business, particularly after the success of Dragon Age: Origins. Spiders Studio has stepped up to the plate with Bound by Flame, an RPG that pits the player as a mercenary (named Vulcan, no matter which sex or even name you choose) trying to fight against the...

Always great to tailor gameplay to your preferences and watch your decisions throughout the game; no matter how small; have an impact on the overall story

Nothing feels that innovative; as if the developers hand-picked their favorite elements from various RPGs and worked them in

In Bound by Flame, Spiders deliver an action-RPG that just about manages to remain playable throughout, but offers not a single "wow" moment. An interesting but limited crafting system and an atmospheric fantasy world don't make up for run-of-the-mill writing, 2-dimensional characters, imbalanced...

Bound By Flame likes RPG tropes so much, it features every single one of them. They're all here, including choice-driven narrative and karma-determined character appearance. It can be justifiably described as the poorer cousin of almost every RPG that's been released in the last 15 years.

When's the last time you played a game that was both great and awful? Well if you're the kind of person who likes to categorise games into the good and the bad, Bound by Flame is here to teach you the folly of false dichotomies.

Bound By Flame has one huge strength: the harmony between its entertaining combat and role-playing systems. Granted, its weak storytelling does weigh it down, and its performance on PS4 is a bit of a bummer, but the strong core of its gameplay powers it through to transcend these flaws.

Responsive combat; Meaningful progression; Fitting music

Inconsistent writing and voice acting; Meaningless story choices

Flames aren't the only binding thing in Bound by Flame . This shallow, awkward action RPG is an exercise in limitations, as one might guess by the introductory character creator.

Review copy provided by publisher. For information on scoring, please read our Review Policy here .

Some fun to be found in combat; A few really cool looking bosses

An uninspiring trip into fantasy, Visually displeasing, Not enough to crafting system; could have been great, Skill trees don't provide enough difference, A truly half-hearted experience