X-Blades - Boxed - PS3

At the beginning of time, two divine entities ruled the universe peacefully and harmoniously. But one day, the seed of conflict rained down from the sky, and the being known as The Dark tried to claim all the power for itself. Light and Darkness fought a bitter battle, but Light could not defeat Darkness or end the chaos. The two were inseparably linked, and so Light realised that the only way to stop Darkness was to banish it and itself into two cursed artefacts. Each of them now guards the artefact containing the other's powers, and everything seems fine. At least until one day, a self-centred treasure hunter named Ayumi finds the map to the hidden temple where the artefacts are guarded.

In her greed, she ignores Light's warnings, touches the artefact and thereby unleashes the curse upon herself. It enters her body and condemns her to pain and suffering. But not all is lost yet. The curse does not yet have full control over her. Ayumi resists it and continues her search for the second artefact. But now no longer out of greed, but to fight The Dark, contain its powers once more, and free herself from the curse.

The journey is not easy, as the player takes control of Ayumi, looking over her shoulder and guiding her through the levels. The return of The Dark has spawned many enemies on the island. But as an experienced treasure hunter, Ayumi is not defenceless. With her gunblades in hand, she mows down enemies like Dante in the Devil May Cry series until the entrance to the next level is unlocked. Every defeated enemy then drops one or more souls, which Ayumi needs to purchase additional abilities, spells and items that let her hurl fireballs at her enemies or buy stronger rounds for her gunblades. This is particularly important, as all enemies and bosses have different weaknesses. The phantoms, for example, are immune to physical damage, but if you hit them with a fireball or fire-infused blades, they are destroyed in no time.

Scattered throughout the temple are also artefacts that have been broken into three pieces. If Ayumi finds all three, she can piece them back together and receive either a melee, pistol or aerial-strike upgrade, which increases her respective damage and grants her access to more powerful combos.