Bladestorm Nightmare takes you beyond The Hundred Years’ War

Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War was a very under-appreciated Tecmo Koei game. It never got a follow-up or sequel, though I personally always believed it deserved one.

Tecmo Koei at that point was still very much known for its Dynasty Warriors series, and it's perhaps for that reason alone that Bladestorm was a little out of gamers' comfort zones. Unlike Dynasty Warriors, which pit a lone warrior against thousands of enemies, Bladestorm focused on leading an army through a big battlefield. It also focused a lot on rock-paper-scissor mechanics whereas certain units would overpower others, so it was a constant back and forth of switching between various units to ensure that you're doing the most damage to the enemy.

It's not that Bladestorm was overly complicated, but when compared to the relatively easy nature of Dynasty Warriors, it wasn't a game that you could simply pick up and play. There was certainly a learning curve. But I loved that!

While I'm not necessarily getting the sequel I've always wanted, Bladestorm Nightmare sure comes close. The new re-release of the game will be available on both current-gen systems, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, harnessing the power of both to showcase not only improved graphics and textures, but also to display thousands of characters on screen. Remember, it's not just you fighting against thousands. It's you and your army.

The base Bladestorm content will remain unchanged, meaning if you've ever played the original from 2007, you'll be very familiar with the story. You'll still create your own mercenary through a rather extensive character creator, and then you'll embark on missions that include Joan of Arc for France and Edward the Black Prince for England.

However, where Bladestorm Nightmare differs the most, is with the Nightmare portion. While Bladestorm is somewhat grounded in reality, though stylized as it may be, the Nightmare portion goes full fantasy, as it introduces mythical races like dragons and goblins into the mix.

The premise here is that Joan of Arc is seen as leading armies of these monsters and basically England and France lay aside their differences to fight for a common cause and take these fantastical creatures on. The cool part is that the player will actually get to control these creatures as well. We've seen some brief footage of the player controlling an army of dragons. Definitely badass!

The visual filter for Nightmare is also slightly different from the core game. Where the core experience is way more colorful and bright, Nightmare has much more muted colors.

What's cool is that players can immediately jump into the Nightmare portion if they've already experienced the original game. The main menu will have each experience selectable as a separate game.

Bladestorm Nightmare is coming to the Xbox One and PS4 on March 17th, with a Steam version announced for May.