Upcoming action game has surprising inspiration

STRAY Blade, the upcoming action adventure RPG from Berlin developer Point Blank Games seems like your run-of-the-mill game, but it has a surprising inspiration behind it. 

On the surface, the PS5, Xbox, and PC game looks like your standard action RPG, with a hint of Souls-style combat here and there. 

It’s even got the environments you’d expect, like ancient ruins, monster-filled woodlands, and crumbling castles. 

But the game’s director, Nicholas Zamo, says that while it might look like a Western RPG on the surface, inspiration came from a surprising source. 

In an interview with GLHF, Zamo told us that much of the game was inspired by anime, including popular anime like Naruto. 

Zamo says: “I’m a big anime fan, so character development has always been a big thing for me. I’ve always loved playing games or watching anime with this component because it’s always one of the core points of anime.” 

Zamo says that the main character Farren is egoistic but goodhearted, while his companion, an immortal wolf named Boji, is more subdued and altruistic. 

This combination, he says, is similar to the dynamic found in many anime shows, and provides an interesting dynamic for players to experience. 

Zamo says: “Throughout the course of the story they change and learn from one another … Boji learns to be braver, Farren learns to think, and becomes wiser.” 

That said, Zamo can’t pin down exactly what anime inspired Stray Blade, but apparently it draws from a wide range of different shows. 

Stray Blade is set to launch later this month, on April 20, 2023, on Steam, Epic, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S. 

It’s an entirely single-player experience, unlike some other games in the genre, but is so far shaping up to be an interesting game. 

It’s being published by 505 Games, who previously published big hitters like Death Stranding on PC, Control, and Ghostrunner. 

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.