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. 

Developer/publisher Grindstone announced the return of the rights for its one-hit-kill multiplayer sword-fighting game Die by the Blade back from the publishing partner to the original development team.

After the successful re-acquisition of the rights, Grindstone will release Die by the Blade on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on May 16, 2024, followed by the release on consoles in October 2024.

This strategic decision marks a pivotal moment for the future of both Grindstone and Die by the Blade.

The initial collaboration with the publishing partner was embarked upon with high hopes, but as the journey unfolded, it became evident that differing visions for the project were impacting its true potential. Recognising the importance of aligning creative visions for the success of Die by the Blade, Grindstone took the step of re-acquiring the project from its previous publishing partner, thus allowing the team to fully realize the creative vision for their game and bring it directly to the community.

"We are thrilled that we can bring Die by the Blade directly to our fantastic community and shape the creative vision of the game together with our players!" said Peter Nagy, CEO at Grindstone. "This decision was hard to make and incredibly difficult to bring to life for a small indie company like Grindstone. However, we accepted the challenge, and despite the complicated and hard times in the industry we managed to get the external funding to re-acquire the Die by the Blade rights back. As a result, our creative team can now bring the game directly to our fans and unleash its true potential."

“We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to our community for unwavering support and endless patience,” commented Grindstone’s publishing director Matej Hudak. “The development of Die by the Blade was far more challenging for a small development team than we originally anticipated. With the support of our partners we eventually managed to complete the game and we are eager to bring the game directly to our community.”

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 coming to PC (Steam / Epic Games Store) on May 16, 2024, followed by PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam) in October 2024.