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 announced that Die by the Blade successfully reached its funding target via kickstarter and has now moved into the next phase of development. 

A total of 478 backers pledged over $25k to support the continued development of Die by the Blade securing some exciting rewards along the way. The money raised will be used to expand on the current gameplay experience with higher quality animations using motion capture technology, expand the character roster and add in even more weapons.

“Following the successful Kickstarter campaign we now enter an exciting time for the development of Die by the Blade.” commented Peter Nagy, founder and CEO of publisher Grindstone. “We would like to thank all the backers who supported us during the campaign and welcome the many new fans to the DbtB community. Their feedback and constant support means a great deal and we value their input into the future development of the game”. 

“We are thrilled to have reached our Kickstarter target and humbled by the great support we have received throughout the campaign from our community and fans.” said Peter Adamondy, development lead at Triple Hill Interactive. “It's time now for us to enter the next exciting development phase and put these additional funds to work to create the truly great gameplay experience we want to deliver to our fans.”

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.