God of Blades

I was the designer, writer, and sometimes artist on God of Blades, White Whale’s first commercial release. God of Blades, released on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac, was a critical success. It was nominated for and won multiple action game of the year awards.

A love-song to pulp fantasy tales of yore, 70s synth-prog-landscape oddities, and forgotten places, God of Blades is a gorgeous, visceral sidescrolling physics-based sword-fighting adventure. Players assume the role of a nameless spectral king who has risen to defend his planet against a rampaging doom-cult the devouring touch of the cosmic horrors they serve. Wrenching this world from the grasp of oblivion, the Nameless King wields phantom blades forged from the legends and heritage of a dying world.

God of Blades asks players to think about memory, culture, and loss in terms of stories, books, and the communities that love them. Advocating for an awareness of lost tales and communal spaces, God of Blades uses geolocation functions to reward players with special swords for visiting real world libraries.

Design inspirations included 19th century panoramic exhibitions, Japanese narrative scrolls, ephemeral paperback novel covers, and the purple prose of yesteryear’s pulp fantasy.

Press:

85% Metacritic

"The distinctive sights and sounds are worth the effort.” Touch Arcade

"God of Blades is a great take on the auto-runner genre, and the fact that it absolutely commits to its theme is part of what makes it so much fun. There's nothing quite like it on the App Store, and it's fun to boot. All hail God of Blades!” 148apps

“"The other day, we were emailed by an Australian library," Royer concludes. "They'd found our game and were super excited to begin using it as a way to reach out to their younger patrons. We were so excited, too. You can't get kids started on swords and sorcery early enough." Eurogamer