Blades of Fire Shows Off 2.0 New Additions: Anvil Trials and Arcana

MercurySteam and 505 Games' Blades of Fire originally launched on the Epic Games Store and consoles for a limited time. Our writer praised it for its combat, calling it one of 2025's biggest surprises in his review.

The title launched on the 22nd of May 2026 on the Epic Games Store, and now, nearly completing its one-year anniversary, the team is looking to bring it to Steam. Announced back in February, three months ago, we got a tease that indicated the title would be coming to Valve's platform, which was later confirmed with the upcoming release date and the announcement of the major 2.0 update.

Since then, Blades of Fire has been receiving a lot of love from both its developer and the community, as the title has entered one of the top 1,000 wishlisted titles on Steam. As a highly anticipated launch, we've been getting consistent updates in terms of the content we can expect for the 2.0 release (such as the Photo Mode), and even a demo to try out for those who are on the fence with the experience.

The latest announcement from the team continues with the strong marketing campaign that Blades of Fire is receiving, as we learn a bit more about two upcoming systems: the Anvil Trials and the Arcana. Both of these are brand-new elements being added to the experience as part of the 2.0 release coming to Steam later this month.

First up is the Anvil Trials, which will work as boss refights for players to enjoy and challenge themselves. Once a major enemy has been defeated, a new interactable anvil will be left in its battle arena, where players can fight the boss again in a different stage with various upgrades to their kit.

Weapons are kept in the state in which the player entered the Anvil Arena, but potions are replenished, and anything that happens in the refight isn't reflected in the full experience. The entirely self-contained section offers players a new challenge to undertake with new attacks, and they're timed to earn Medals for each of the fights.

These medals are used in the second part of this trailer, the Arcana Spells. This second new addition adds a bit of build variety to the overall gameplay, making it more bespoke to each player.

Arcana are buffs that can be applied to weapons; players can pick from 21 Arcana, with different strengths based on the amount of Medals — and the type of medals — that they earned from the Anvil Trials. They work in an intertwined loop, as stronger Arcana will help with completing Anvil Trials in less time, thus unlocking stronger Arcana to take out into the world.

The Arcana's buffs will favour different playstyles — from defensive to offensive sorts. New levels of builds should give players plenty of opportunities to enjoy different builds going into the experience, for newcomers and veterans alike, and especially in the New Game + mode.

Blades of Fire releases on the 14th of May 2026 on Steam, barring any delays.