and in Spain, selling below 20,000 units in the latter country despite high anticipation. The game failed to become popular, mainly due to bad marketing. Other reasons for the relatively low sales were the untimely publication (neither the code nor the storyline had been finalized) and the lack of gameplay difficulty levels - the game proved to be too difficult on "factory" defaults for many players. Nonetheless it did establish a large cult following that still exists today. Nowadays, part of the specialized press and the gaming community consider it a "pioneer" within the Soulslike subgenre, due to the coincidences regarding high difficulty, dark fantasy world, and gameplay mechanics, with the games directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki. Also highlighted is the fact that Blade of Darkness was released 8 years before Demon's Souls. For a few years it was uncertain which company had the distribution rights, as Codemasters lost the distribution rights in 2014, and the game was retired from digital distribution. During 2021, a small publisher called SNEG signed it with the original Rebel Act founders, and they released an updated version on Steam and GOG in October 2021. A Nintendo Switch port of this remaster was released digitally through the eShop in November 2022, published by Qubic Games. References External links Blade of Darkness at Giant Bomb Severance: Blade of Darkness at IGDB.com 2001 video games Codemasters games Dark fantasy video games Fantasy video games Hack and slash games Python (programming language)-scripted video games Video games developed in Spain Windows games Windows-only games Multiplayer and single-player video games