Dinoblade Steam Demo Review
Verdict: Play
i rage quit after an hour and i'd still go back at launch.
Dinoblade is the dinosaurs-with-swords Action RPG I had been following on Twitter for months, and the first time I sat down with the demo it broke me at the final boss. I still want to go back. The absurd premise pulled me in. The combat held me there.
my verdict is play. dinoblade is a Soulslike that probably lands cleaner if you have the skill cap to back the difficulty. i don't, and i still rage quit happy. the combat feedback, the absurd-meets-gritty setting, and the build choices that mattered all kept me there even when i couldn't beat the final boss. if you play Soulslike games well, you will probably get more out of this than i did. if you are like me and mostly want dinosaur sword chaos with the difficulty turned down, wishlist it and see whether the full release ships with an easier mode.
Pros
- Combat feedback that makes hits land like they should, even on the cheese tactic
- The absurd premise and the gritty setting both hold up at the same time
- Build choices that change how you play, not just your stat bar
- Performance was solid in busy boss fights with no stutters or crashes
Cons
- The final boss attacks straight through the arena rocks i was trying to use for spacing
- Jumping his attacks sometimes avoided the damage and sometimes did not, with no clear pattern
The Premise
Dinoblade is an Action RPG where you play a young Spinosaurus carrying a great sword, fighting through other weapon-carrying dinosaurs in a ruined prehistoric world. The combat is Soulslike. You dodge, roll, time the attack, and spam the wrong button to die.
It should look ridiculous, and it does, because you are doing forward rolls with a great sword in your mouth. It also stays gritty enough that I stopped finding it silly inside the first proper fight.
Build Choices and Boss Strategy
Every kill drops SP and you spend it on attributes: health, damage, resonance, and stamina. I went heavy into stamina first because I like spamming light attacks and was running dry mid-combo. Then I pivoted into health when the bosses started taking out a quarter of my bar in one swing. The build choices are simple in the demo, but they changed how each fight played out for me. Not just stat numbers on a screen, but what I was willing to try in the arena.
The first boss nearly made me quit on its own. Trying to play straight got me deleted in two or three exchanges. So I worked out the least heroic Soulslike strategy possible. Roll in, three hits, roll out to the edge of the arena, run circles until stamina refilled, charge back in. Complete cheese. It worked.
The second boss went slightly better because I was finally starting to read the rhythm, and the soul arts started landing. Once you defeat a boss you can summon them for a charge attack before they dust out. One art felt like a thousand cuts where you carve a target in a burst.
The Final Boss
The final boss, Kasei the Tyrant, broke me. I was getting thrown all over the arena, and this was the one fight where the game genuinely felt like it was fighting me back. Some of his attacks did damage even when I jumped them. Sometimes the dodge worked, sometimes it did not, with no obvious reason.
The rocks I was using for spacing? He attacked straight through them while I had to path around. After a long enough run of failed attempts, I rage quit.
Most of that wall is on me. I looked at how far other players had got, and Soulslike combat is genuinely not my genre. But the collision behaviour and the inconsistent jump-dodge were real friction, not just a skill ceiling.
Game Info
- Developer
- Team Spino LLC
- Publisher
- Team Spino LLC
- Released
- 23 July 2026
- Full game
- Out now ($19.99)
- Platform
- PC
- Multiplayer
- No
- Controller
- Yes
- Playtime
- 1h
Watch the video review: YouTube
Tags: Action, RPG, Soulslike, Indie, Action RPG, Hack and Slash, PvE
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