Bound by Flame

As it is, it’s a budget title that rises slightly above the rest.

Bound by Flame is far from perfect, but underneath a few rough edges, a memorable journey awaits, defined by an unpredictable storyline, and decisions that have a meaningful impact on the story.

It's one of those games that is just ok. It's fun, but not thrilling or clever.

French indie developer tries to engage adult audience with this RPG. Too bad the world is generic and script is dull as a wooden blade. If you show a few tits and curse like a sailor, that don't translate to a game for adults. On top of that the game mechanics are dull and repetitive. You don't challenge Witcher with this kind of setup. [June 2014]

Bound by Flame isn't the best RPG that the industry has to offer. But underneath the rough edges there's still a surprisingly enjoyable game.

Bound By Flame’s combination of progression and action ultimately make it greater than the sum of its parts.

It's an action RPG from Spiders: awkward, sloppy, and too small for its own good, but entertaining enough for what it is.

Bound By Flame is the midnight snack that sates, but leaves you wanting something a bit more savory. But when the snack is this tasty, you may find yourself coming back for a second helping a lot quicker than you might think.

After completing it, Bound by Flame is quite an underwhelming game. Spiders passes the first hours narrating a fascinating story in a complex environment, but in the end, the game is just too short to justify all the hype.

Bound by Flame could be a really good RPG with some refinements, but for now, it suffers too much from its AI and difficulty settings.

Bound by Flame doesn’t put too much weight on the important choices you think you’re making, but its rich customization options and smart combat system are sure to give you that power you're looking for.

Spider is a team with soul and a good heart that should tune down their big ambitions in order to obtain a necessary focus for their games. Bound by a Flame offers fun combat and some good moments, but it fails to reach its full potential.

There is potential in Bound by Flame but I can’t review this game without using some harsh words. It’s linear and clichéd, combat should be better and many elements could be more complex. Still I believe that with more money, people and time Spiders would be able to play in the major league. [07/2014, p.54]

Bound by Flame provides engaging mechanics and choices that actually matter, if you can stomach the horrible voice work.

Spiders wanted Bound By Flame to be their big breakout hit but penny-pinching on theirs or their publisher's side will hold them back.

Bound by Flame is an exceedingly interesting game. It attempts to join the ranks of games like The Witcher and Mass Effect with its combat and social elements but ultimately falls short.

Despite its good ideas and intentions, Bound by Flame is a mediocre, often tiresome experience that suffers from a lackluster story and an ill-conceived combat system.

A solid RPG experience offering everything you'd expect - but not enough surprises. Many enjoyable features but feels like playing part one of a two parter.

Bound By Flame is just another RPG. Skill tree and crafting are looking good. But with its weak storyline and voice overs, BBF isn't achieving much. As we suggested, it's just another RPG without anything new.

Jack of all trades, master of none. When you try to accomplish the same things as three or four of the top-RPG games in the last years at once, you'll probably you’ll not be able to be on their level.

The combat is fun in parts and the characters grew on me, but so much more of Bound by Flame is tedious, frustrating, and unpolished.

Don’t waste your time on Bound by Flame, even if you’re craving for a new fantasy RPG.

The game isn’t bad, it’s just not great, and I was expecting a little bit more than a generic western fantasy RPG with competent combat from the studio that brought us the tantalising Of Orcs and Men.

Bound by Flame is a title with great potential, but it failed to put it on display as we hoped. The characters are lifeless, devoid of any charisma with the exception of Vulcan. Unfortunately, this game is extremely disappointing.

Original discourse with the Demon won't cover up that Bound by Flame is just a second-rate RPG with a hint of interestingness, and a heap of ordinariness and flaws. Its story will make you laugh, its world setting design will force you to weep. The only thing giving appropriate emotions is the game's crafting system.

With the storytelling of Mass Effect, the fighting system of the Witcher, and environments taken right from Dragon Age and the Elder Scrolls, Bound By Flame is perhaps the least original game ever made.

Between the ever present shortcomings in the fighting system, the increasingly dull environments and story and the resulting frustration there is something just tolerable in here – that is, as long as you really don't have anything else to play.

Bound By Flame would be an immensely likable game, were it not for just how slipshod it ultimately feels. Its individual components are well crafted, but when brought together, the result is something that just isn't quite right.

There are great, better priced RPGs out there so I do not suggest investing in this title of Spiders. Any good ideas are destroyed due to mediocre implementation, appalling technical issues and countless mistakes, an outcome of haste and sloppiness.

Admire Spiders for their ambition, but as with its prior efforts this is again a case of reaching too far and spreading too thin. The result is a game that feels incomplete despite its comparatively short length for the genre.

Bound By Flame sounded promising every time we saw it... but so do most games. What we ended up with instead is an RPG trying to be as great as its inspiration but never coming close. Poor combat, poor story, and poor acting, all serve to make this "epic tale" one you'll want to skip. Do not buy.

Another miss for the Spiders Studios. What must’ve looked good in theory didn’t translate into reality. Stay away. [Issue#242]

With its awful characters, inconsistent voice acting and combat hampered by problematic enemies, what little there is to enjoy is whittled away. It’s something to be tasted when absolutely starved for RPGs and could provide enough sword and sorcery shenanigans to tide one over until something more appetizing comes along, but it’s unlikely to prove fulfilling.

Bound By Flame is a number of good ideas poorly crafted into a final product. The story itself is rather generic, with poor dialog and voice acting preventing you from getting emotionally invested in the world. The core combat is good, but once it meets with the larger game, it begins to break down. Even an excellent crafting system can't save Bound By Flame from being a budget RPG.

Bound by Flame is a charming RPG that’s fundamentally and mechanically flawed.

In the beginning Bound by Flame seemed like a game with a hidden potential, but this potential disappeared completely by the end. The developers were too ambitious. Tons of ideas behind Bound by Flame could have become something interesting only if the game had been developed by an experienced studio. The concept is good. The execution is poor.

Bound by Flame then proceeds to ruin its promising combat with a series of mind-boggling choices that suck out all the fun and turn battles into an aggravation.

I tired of doing all the heavy lifting myself. Between a stale plot that goes nowhere, poorly handled characters and a clunky, boring combat system, there was nothing left for me to hang onto, no momentum left to help propel me. Bound by Flame is worse than just generic; it's a mess of a game pretending at greater ambitions.

Bound by Flame could have been entertaining. It could have been a good action RPG with a promising combat system. Thanks to a bland plot, poor dialogue and a very frustrating combat system, Bound by Flame is just disappointing.

Ugly, stupid and riddled with cliche, Bound by Flame has car crash fascination but little else to recommend it. [Issue#249, p.62]