As the son of a man who was a historical reenactor, pre-internet Tolkien lorehead, and casual collector of bladed weaponry, my upbringing was of a very specific flavor. While I've overheard more complaints about the accuracy of period film costumes than anyone ever should, it did have its benefits—like getting to browse the occasional catalogs that would arrive in our mailbox selling replicas of historical and fictional swords. Hours of my youth were spent fascinated by the fact that there were people out there making Oakeshott Type XVIII longswords and copies of Gandalf's Glamdring.
In other words, I was destined from a young age to be the kind of person who'd see that Bladesong, a fantasy swordsmithing simulator, is launching in early access on Steam next week, and immediately add it to PC Gamer's task tracking software with the addendum "hell yes dude this is videogames."
Bladesong promises an elaborate and intricate toolset for handcrafting your Platonic ideal of a cool sword—whether that's a period-accurate arming sword or a glowing, rune-etched work of high fantasy maximalism with appropriately absurd proportions. There's a demo available now, and while it only offers a limited selection of the full game's swordsmithing features, it's more than enough to stir my internal childhood sword sicko.
Bladesong's simulated blacksmithing allows shaping of a blade's length, width, thickness, and cross-section. With some precise hammering, you can taper its dimensions, or curve it, or alter the spine width and concavity of one or both of its edges. It has dynamic fuller technology. It has modular hilt construction using freely malleable quellon segments and scalable grips. It's a simulation clearly, undeniably, and admirably designed by and for extreme sword weirdos.
It also has a surprisingly compelling story mode. I expected to be working as a fantasy blacksmith, but I didn't expect to be thrust into an eerie medieval postapocalypse where I'd be shaping swords for what pockets of civilization remain in a world whose gods have died. It's good, flavorful writing—and meeting the specifications of my miserable customers is satisfying, too, requiring attention to the delicate interplay of blade weight, shape, and balance that shifts with each hammer blow.
And that's just the demo. The early access launch will bring all sorts of additional engraving options, ornamentations, materials, and blade shaping techniques. I might have thought Glamdring was the coolest possible sword as a kid, but by this time next week, Gandalf's going to be feeling deeply inadequate.
Bladesong launches in early access on Steam on January 22.
