How Blades of Fire flies in the face of modern video game aesthetics

Photorealism dominates game art and art direction, but MercurySteam's Blades of Fire takes a bold detour and taps into the studio's heritage for textured, artistic game worlds.

Instead of chasing hyper-detailed textures and cinematic gloss, the the game's art team has opted for something richer, riskier and ultimately more resonant: a painterly world bursting with expression, chiaroscuro contrast and visual storytelling.

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Ian Dean
Editor, Digital Arts & 3D

Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.