It's not perfect, it's not from a big budget studio, isn't 100+ hours, and it doesn't say Scrolls, Age, or Souls on the box, but any fan of the genre should give it a legit shot -- I think they'll be pleasantly surprised as I was.

Most of the game is very well done, but none of it is that innovative or imaginative. It’s fun, but it’s a slightly above average RPG.

Bound by Flame fails to deliver on its promises and this is mainly because the combat system is simply not good enough. It's decent enough to play though, but way too generic to stand out.

For every great thing Bound by Flame does, it messes up critical gameplay components like the combat. There’s this sense that the game can’t get out of its own way, and only die-hard high-fantasy fans that aren’t afraid of getting torched by a budget title should check this one out.

Bound by Flame is such a cliché when it comes to setting, characters and story, which is why the game never surprises. A decent combat system and crafting might keep your attention for a short while, but not long enough to really surrender yourselves to the characters and their battle against the Ice Lords.

With lofty ideas way above its station, this schlocky action-RPG is a well-meaning mess. [July 2014, p.76]

The game appears to be a product of magical thinking, as if throwing together watered-down tropes from games like The Witcher might somehow yield a finished product.