With Daimon Blades, StreumOn Studio – best known for the cult hit E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy and their work on Warhammer IPs – returns to the murky world of techno-mysticism and nightmare logic. This time, however, the focus shifts to a more medieval kind of madness, long before E.Y.E’s cyberpunk dystopia. The result is a brutal first-person roguelike that channels the same energy that made StreumOn’s earlier work so memorable. But while Daimon Blades already shows immense promise, it’s still very much an Early Access experience, full of flashes of brilliance mixed with moments of frustration.
Set two thousand years before E.Y.E, the story thrusts players into the role of a Secreta warrior – a monk-like soldier tasked with purging daimonic corruption from the world. What begins as a straightforward quest to stop a fallen mentor quickly spirals into something stranger and darker. The narrative is fragmented and cryptic, leaving players to piece together clues through item descriptions, environmental storytelling, and cryptic dialogue. This fragmented approach feels deliberate, mirroring the surreal atmosphere StreumOn is known for, but it can also feel opaque at times, offering more mystery than meaning. Still, the mood it creates – half dream, half nightmare – is undeniable and strong.
Gameplay in Daimon Blades leans heavily into roguelike structure, with procedurally generated levels and a persistent upgrade system that rewards both skill and patience. Each run takes you deeper into the corrupted realm, wielding weapons that grow stronger – and more unstable – with every kill. The game’s standout feature, the Daimon Forge, infuses your blades with living daimonic entities that alter not just stats but entire playstyles. Every weapon feels distinct, evolving mid-run with unpredictable powers that tempt you to push further into corruption for greater strength. This mechanic gives the game a tense risk–reward rhythm, though balancing issues mean that some runs can feel wildly uneven.
Combat is fast, visceral, and unapologetically punishing. The first-person swordplay channels elements of Dark Souls, demanding timing, spatial awareness, and aggression. The weighty melee strikes feel satisfying when they connect, especially with the game’s excellent enemy reactions and meaty sound design. However, the hit detection and camera behavior can occasionally betray that Early Access status, with some attacks missing their mark or enemy AI behaving erratically. For a game so reliant on precision, these moments can briefly break immersion – though they’re the kind of rough edges that feel fixable in future updates.
Performance-wise, Daimon Blades already runs impressively well on a range of setups. It also runs well on Steam Deck, with only minor dips in performance and responsive controls that make portable runs a joy. The game’s art direction does much of the heavy lifting – dim cathedrals, blood-soaked temples, and otherworldly caverns rendered in painterly gloom – giving Daimon Blades a unique visual identity that feels halfway between medieval and metaphysical. The haunting choral soundtrack and ambient whispers complete the aesthetic, making every expedition feel tense and oppressive in the best way.
Still, it’s impossible to overlook that Daimon Blades is a work in progress. The procedural generation can occasionally result in repetitive layouts, enemy variety remains limited beyond the opening biomes, and progression systems need better tuning to keep late runs fresh. The developers have already laid out a roadmap for upcoming features, and based on StreumOn’s history, there’s reason to be optimistic – the foundations here are solid.
Even in its unfinished state, Daimon Blades already feels like a worthy spiritual successor to E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy, just wrapped in the robes of dark fantasy rather than cyberpunk mysticism. Its blend of brutal melee combat, cryptic storytelling, and roguelike experimentation makes it stand out in a crowded field. If StreumOn can smooth out the rough edges and expand on what’s here, Daimon Blades could evolve into something special. For now, though, it’s an intriguing, blood-soaked descent worth keeping a close eye on – and revisiting as its daimonic heart continues to grow.
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