Die By The Blade draws inspiration from legendary combat games like Bushido Blade, Way of the Samurai and Dark Souls as well as the epic stand-offs in Ghost of Tsushima.

Set in a visually stunning ‘Samuraipunk’ vision of Japan, Die By The Blade fuses techpunk visuals and japanese-inspired aesthetics to create the perfect backdrop for the ancient art of sword fighting. Players must take up their sword and face off against deadly opponents, where the slightest mistake will seal your fate. Become a master of your craft and fight to the death with other players in tense, fast paced multiplayer matches or slash through tough AI enemies in the singleplayer campaign.

By utilising a One-Hit-Kill combat system, Die By The Blade leaves no room for mistakes. By removing the concepts of health bars and health points, the game is built on a realistic battle system creating a sense of real tension as one error by the player could result in instant death. This system emphasizes the need for weapon positioning, parrying and counter moves to defend against enemy attacks before delivering a clean hit to any vital area of your opponent, causing instant death. Players must use the One-Hit-Kill system to learn from their mistakes and mount devastating comebacks to claim victory. 

Publisher Grindstone and developers Triple Hill Interactive and Toko Midori have reached the initial $20,000 funding goal for their Die by the Blade kickstarter campaign and will now activate the campaign stretch goals. 

While it is fantastic news that Die by the Blade has reached its initial target, there is more content that could be added to this great game. There are still some top rewards available for new backers to take advantage of and help shape the future of this highly anticipated, spiritual successor to some of the best classic sword fighting games ever released. 

“We are so happy to have hit our initial Kickstarter funding target and would like to thank everyone who backed our campaign for Die by the Blade and for all the valuable information from the fans that has helped drive the ongoing development” commented Peter Nagy, founder and CEO of publisher Grindstone. “With this funding, the team will be further adding to the gameplay experience with higher quality animation, expanded character roster and even more weapons”. 

“We are excited that we can now expand on our development plans for Die by the Blade and the team would like to thank all of our backers for joining us on this great adventure” said Peter Adamondy, development lead at Triple Hill Interactive. “As well as adding in some truly exciting gameplay mechanics we can now open up the stretch goals where we can really elevate the game content further”.

The team is also thrilled to announce that the stretch goals are now live on the kickstarter page! The first goal activated will be the addition of deadly ranged weapons to add to the arsenal of swords available for players to choose. Each character will have a special ranged weapon that can be used once in each round. Players will be able to block this with their sword, but timing will be crucial.

Key Features:

• 1 versus 1 Local, online and singleplayer swordfighting simulation with realistic combat system inspired by legendary Bushido Blade
• One hit kill mechanic and complex parrying and blocking system
• Fighting style not tied to selected character, but weapon
• Many unique characters to choose from
• Wide range of customization options
• Various game modes including Practice, Tournament and Ranked online mode
• Unique "Samuraipunk" artstyle merging techpunk and japanese-inspired aesthetics
• Table of weapons:
  • Katana - Medium long sword, the golden mean.
  • Nodachi - Heavy and long sword for meant for servants of samuraii. Its advantage is it's large range and short recovery when compared to the Naginata.
  • Naginata - Relatively long weapon with a blade attached to the end of a bamboo stick. Has a very large range but the weight of the blade slows down the fighter significantly.
  • Wakizashi - Two short daggers meant for cutting and stabbing. Thanks to their low weight, they allow for very fast movement but have a very low range.
  • Jari - Jari is a bamboo spear with a short and narrow blade. It is lighter than the Naginata, but the smaller blade makes close combat far more difficult.
  • Chokuto - Short sword without a guard is a bit lighter than the katana. It allows for stances and attacks with one hand.

Die By The Blade is planned for release on PC (Steam) in June 2021, as well as PlayStation and Xbox consoles later in 2021.