Virtual Reality really does allow you to become anyone and visit any time period. You can become a general to even a warrior on the field to even defending your country through a great battle. But does Developer Chesstar Studios and Publisher DeerVR Games allow us to step back and time, relive a little history, and have some fun? Let’s find out with Kingdom of Blades for the PlayStation VR.

Kingdom of Blades has you playing as a front-line warrior in the Three Kingdom Period of China, but Developer Chesstar Studios decided to take the fun approach with the direction of Kingdom of Blades instead of having a more serious tone that it could have been and I for one appreciate the cartoony art style that is presented to us. Nothing says like going into a battle while having fun like swinging your blade and slicing at enemies when they try and have this expression on their faces as they are launching at you. R.I.P. all you evil, yet fun enemies. I hardly knew ya.

But like any good warrior who will lead your side to victory, one must train and one must be shown the way of the blades. I mean you can’t go into battle just given a weapon in 220 A.D. and expect to just know what to do with it, can you? I mean you can, but you need to learn patience and understanding young grasshopper. Only then will you be the true warrior from within. Plus you don’t want to end up like the last student who only lasted a day because he didn’t want to learn patience, now do you? So grab those Move controllers and prepare for some smooth well tracking action.

As you learn the power of your blades, you can have a choice of dual wielding weapons such as a blade in each hand, but for me, I went with the shield in one hand and my trusty blade in the other and they did not disappoint. But along with your weapons of choice, you also have special power-ups that you can select before each round. You have Blizzard which gives you the ability to freeze enemies, you have Reinforcements which will help you out by shooting at enemies, you have Killing Feast that will allow you to go into beast mode and attack the enemies at a much quicker pace, and you have Lightning that will assist you with lightning strikes. Blizzard is unlocked at the beginning and the further you go, the rest will start to become unlocked. But becareful what you chose as some of the powerups will take some money.

Of course, in order to get new weapons, you have to earn enough money in order to purchase them. Things are not going to be free now or in the 220 A.D., so might as well get used to working for that money by getting all the enemies you can. As you progress through the campaign, each chapter becomes a little more difficult than the last. Not only do enemies come at you in waves, sometimes those waves can be two of them together or a line of enemies coming at you as well as throwing shurikens at you that you will have to try and dodge and deflect. But not only that, the enemies can come at you from above and when you add all that together, battles would not be battles without boss battles. I will say that Chesstar Studios has done a wonderful job of bringing the life of some of these generals from the Three Kingdom period in their cartoon form.

The one thing you have to remember when battling these Generals is that there is a certain time that they have to be defeated in. If time runs out or all your hearts are empty it is game over and the Generals are not afraid to let you know it with some of their mighty taunting words.

But you cannot let defeat get you down. This is not the warrior way. Quitting only strengthens the enemies and no one wants a strong enemy. Even though I could have upgraded my weapons, I decided I would not and continue the brave fight. Maybe I should have. Maybe I should have tried for that nice and shiny blade, but no I did not. I lost a few more times, but I was able to get back in and attack those Generals and attacked I did.

If you decide to take a break from the campaign, there are a couple of other modes. There is Showroom which will show you all the achievements you have unlocked. You have a Challenge mode where you can select from Endless and Boss mode and something very interesting of a coming soon section. It just makes you think about what possibly else could be added for the future. Also, there is a leaderboard section which is always nice to have.

One thing I forgot to mention is how the story is told. By adding a comical tone with witty wording, the presentation is a fun and humerus delivery of telling the story.

Kingdom of Blades sets out what it sets to do, have fun and have it in a way that the whole family can play. And in times where the world seems to be a little chaotic, isn’t it nice to know that you can escape to time to create some chaos on your own while having fun doing it?

Kingdom of Blades is out now. A review copy was provided. To learn more about DeerVR Games, make sure you follow them on Twitter. To learn more about Chesstar Studios, please make sure you visit their site and make sure you like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I need to be the warrior that I need to become.

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