# Dinoblade review deep dive: critics are split on the dinosaur Soulslite

**July 24, 2026 · Perthro**

Dinoblade is the game where a Spinosaurus carries a greatsword in its mouth and fights other armed dinosaurs. It sounds like a meme because it started close to one. The question is whether the joke survives an eight-hour action RPG, a Steam launch, and critics who've played enough Soulslikes to know when a parry window is lying. The answer from this week's reviews: mostly yes, with plenty of rough edges, and it's already more interesting than its pitch.

Team Spino's PC action RPG launched on Steam on July 23, 2026, with Boltray Games listed as co-publisher in several reviews. Metacritic had no Metascore yet, with one counted review (The Wand Report, 70). Steam showed Very Positive from 478 user reviews.

## Dinoblade review scores

- **AltChar, 9/10:** "some of the most fun I've had with a game in a while."
- **The Wand Report, 7/10:** "despite a series of rough edges, the idea's execution is so hilarious that it manages to become an exhilarating and endearing adventure."
- **mxdwn Games, 7/10:** a more approachable Soulslite than a strict Soulslike.
- **Game8 (first impressions, unscored):** the foundation is solid, but it "needs more time in the oven before it can truly become an apex predator of the genre."
- **Summit Reviews:** the most sceptical, while admitting the game has a strange pull.

The praise is about commitment, not refinement. Dinoblade knows a dinosaur with a sword is silly, then builds boss fights, music cues, death screens and animation flourishes around it until it feels weirdly sincere. The criticism is just as consistent: camera trouble, unreliable lock-on, uneven parry feedback, sparse levels and technical jank. Nobody calls it a polished FromSoftware peer. They disagree on how much that matters.

![Dinoblade screenshot: a Spinosaurus with a greatsword](https://perthro.io/assets/blog/66cc93bbf2f6a2c2.jpg)

## Why critics like Dinoblade anyway

AltChar is almost delighted by how direct it is, praising the combat, bosses and soundtrack, which shifts from mournful exploration to metal in fights. It reviewed on PC (Unreal Engine 5) and took about eight hours with exploration and bosses.

Boss design is the strongest common point. AltChar singles out an enemy swinging an entire Ankylosaurus as a club. Even Summit Reviews agrees the enemy concepts are what people will remember: chain whips, biological weapons, acrobatic dinosaurs, and animation that still carries the energy of the viral Jean Nguyen clip that launched the project.

Dinoblade doesn't win on systems depth. When it wins, it's by showing you something ridiculous and refusing to wink. The Wand Report compares the feeling to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance: not the same game, but both know a straight-faced absurd idea can be more charming than a carefully balanced one. It also notes, "There is no grand metaphor or big picture message to pass along to future generations." Here that reads as relief.

## Where reviews turn cautious

The complaints change how the game feels in your hands.

The Wand Report says it borrows heavily from Sekiro's posture-breaking deflections and finishers, which is risky for a small game: if deflect timing is even slightly off, players notice. It says the parry lacks the responsiveness of the games it borrows from, making dodging the safer choice, and flags lock-on problems, camera positioning, typos, odd voice acting and enemy AI glitches.

Game8 says the lock-on camera can get aggressive enough to block your view, especially against smaller enemies, whose attacks are also harder to read than the bosses'. It points to frame-rate drops, bugs and a thin story.

mxdwn Games likes the low barrier to entry. There's no harsh death penalty: souls work as currency for health, attack, stamina and resonance, and checkpoints act like bonfires in a more forgiving structure. That makes it easier to recommend to people who like deliberate melee but not the full punishment ritual. But accessibility doesn't fix thin spaces between fights. mxdwn criticizes wide, flat areas with little to explore, pop-in, inconsistent frame rates and a remapping bug affecting block and parry. Summit Reviews says environments often feel like linear corridors or empty circles, with shallow progression and Soul Arts that look better than they play.

![Dinoblade screenshot: a boss encounter in Unreal Engine 5](https://perthro.io/assets/blog/2f2a418f12e7c2a0.jpg)

## A Soulslite, not a Soulslike

Stamina, dodge rolls, parries, bonfire-style checkpoints, respawning enemies, boss gates and stat upgrades are all familiar, but the punishment is softer. mxdwn says you don't drop souls on death. Game8 notes some upgrade resources respawn, so you can farm. AltChar asked the developer about souls respawning with enemies and was told it's intentional, to help struggling players catch up rather than get locked out.

That explains part of the split. If you want precision, discipline and level design that teaches through pain, the forgiving structure may feel messy. If you want readable action with bosses, parries, loud music and dinosaur spectacle, it feels generous. Dinoblade wants you to have the boss fight, not suffer through the runback.

## What critics agree on

- The premise is absurd, and the game commits hard enough to make it work.
- Boss design, animation and music are the standouts.
- Combat is exciting when parries and finishers behave.
- Camera, lock-on, performance and polish drag it down.
- Level design and progression are thinner than the genre's best.

AltChar weights the highs and lands on 9. The Wand Report and mxdwn weight the jank and land on 7. Everyone is seeing the same game; they disagree on how much polish something this charming owes you.

## Should you play Dinoblade?

It's easiest to recommend if you play action RPGs for boss spectacle more than world design. If "Spinosaurus with a greatsword" makes you smile before you ask about animation priority, you're the target player. If you play Soulslikes for tight input response, clever shortcuts and readable combat, weight the cautious reviews more.

It's a fresh PC release with limited coverage and visible technical complaints, so waiting a few patches is sensible if you're sensitive to camera issues or frame pacing. Part of the fun, though, is being there while everyone works out whether it's a mess, a cult hit or both. Maybe it's a 7 because the lock-on killed you twice; maybe it's a 9 because you fought a dinosaur wielding another dinosaur and couldn't stop grinning. Both are fair.