A Soulbond Swords Story

The importance of blades in a Musou Game

Yue draws his blade

Swords occupy a unique place of importance in games, and Soulbond is no exception. In fact, swords are currently one of the areas of focus for the Creative Team, and they have been hard at work ‘forging’ new swords into existence.

Some of these blades have actually appeared in the Ren Empire Citizen NFT collection, so players will be likely to see them in action and use the blades themselves during play.

The design of swords in fantasy settings are usually very artistic, and many swords featured in movies have become recognizable icons in real life. Iconic examples include the Jedi lightsaber of the Star Wars franchise and the Klingon bat’leth.

Swords in movies are usually more realistic, while those in games can be really ornate and incorporate mind-blowing designs.

In our first-ever teaser, Ren Empire hero Yue is seen drawing his sword (its name has not been revealed as yet) while he invokes the power of the Wind to dispel the dark fog that surrounds him.

Expect to see and learn more about Yue and his sword through future updates. Who knows, players might just be able to play Yue and use his sword as well.

What other powers can Yue invoke through his sword?

In Soulbond, swords occupy a place of honor and reverence in the Asian-inspired Ren Empire. A popular saying in the empire extols their importance:

Created by their swiftness, Prospering due to their strength, The Empire’s swords shall shine forever.

The Creative Team recently released sneak peeks at two swords, both from the Ren Empire.

32 Breaths of Serphren

The first has been identified as the 32 Breaths of Serphren. The sneak peek was accompanied by this teaser:

The 32 Breaths of Sephyren are a set of 32 identical blades said to be forged from the dying breath of a great winged serpent slain in battle aeons ago during the founding of the Ren Empire. Each blade has emits a different colour of light but are otherwise identical.

The 32 Breaths are famous Ren Empire artifacts, and are said to be spread across the entire length and breath of the empire. A myth claims that whoever wields a Breath will always encounter adventure, but is destined to never settle down.

Could this mean that if a player gets one of the Breaths, he will gain access to some previously undiscovered special location or quest? No information on that yet, so we will just have to keep guessing.

The second sword was revealed a few days later.

The Night Banshee

The teaser that accompanied the photo states:

The Night Banshee is a sword best known for its blade’s ability to ‘fade’ in mid-swing. Many fighters have been caught off guard by the sudden ‘disappearance’ of the blade, with deadly consequences. The effect is actually an optical illusion, as the blade does not actually disappear.

Due to this effect, the Night Banshees are highly sought after by assassins and collectors. It is said that the first of these swords was first crafted a century ago in a small village on the fringes of the Ren Empire.

The Night Banshee also has an interesting bit of associated trivia, that Ren Empire popular actor Genko Ryorimu sparked a craze over the sword after he used it in his spectacular performance as the insane Swordsaint Epsi in the tragic play Kubobu.

The backstories and information about the swords certainly sound promising, and all signs seem to indicate that they will play a bigger role in the bigger scheme of the game, given the number of hints dropped thus far.

As development of Soulbond continues, expect to see more reveals of swords and other aspects of the game.

What’s up next, a talking bear perhaps?

[embed]Aza Talks 01 | Adopt A Bear (Soulbond Rebels Arise) In the first Aza Talks video, Aza the Solar Bear introduces the Rebels to the one and only Solar Bear-doption drive!youtube.com