Epic Blades

Epic Blades  is a weapon-based fighting game made by the same creator, developed by Genisu Games with NetherRealm Studios and published by 2DX13 Productions and SEGA. Released in the January 2, 2010 for the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

Story
The story takes place in the medieval era (not bothering on adding a specific year, though). There is a cyan colored mystical artifact fallen from the skies of heaven called the Sphere of Wonders. This spherical object was brought to Earth by a supernatural force of benevolence that mortals can come towards and fulfill their wishes to. However, a demon known as Belial, a.k.a. the Prince of Darkness, has taken the Sphere of Wonders for himself and is spreading spiritual harm wherever he went. Now warriors from around the world seek the Sphere of Wonders for their own reasons. There are those who seek it for wishes, such as power, fortune, etc. while some others seek it so they can get close to Belial and face him head on.

Gameplay
Remember Mace: The Dark Ages, Cardinal Syn, WeaponLord or even Deadliest Warrior (though the latter isn't that old like the former three are)? Well Epic Blades is just like those games because what those games after in common is that they're weapon-based fighters that take place in a medieval/fantasy world and play like Mortal Kombat. So think of Epic Blades as like SoulCalibur with blood (it doesn't help that Epic Blades is to SoulCalibur or Samurai Shodown what Brutal Fists is to Tekken or King of Fighters).

Epic Blades has two fatality systems. One is "Vanquishment" in which a character can finish the opponent off and disembowel him/her to death. Meanwhile, there are also these things called "Quick Deaths" in which after you beat your opponent, rather than performing a vanquishment, you can finish off your opponent with a special move that can kill him/her. So in short, Vanquishments function like the fatality animations in Mortal Kombat and the Quick Deaths function like the fatality animations in Samurai Shodown Sen (no really, that game DID have fatalities in it!)

Default

 * Calixte le Charognard
 * Death-Skull
 * Elora
 * Franco Domenico
 * Hiroshi Masaru
 * Kameyo Hinotama
 * Kaveh Ahmed
 * Kliment Blood
 * Malombra
 * Sharyer
 * Strycuris
 * Wallace
 * Xipil
 * Zvarranik

Exclusive Quest Fighters

 * Link (Legend of Zelda, Wii)
 * Kratos (God of War, PS3)
 * Master Chief (Halo, X360)

Hidden

 * Aeramen (Either beat arcade mode with at least 7 starter characters or beat Story Mode as Croqos
 * Belial (Beat Arcade Mode with at least 15 characters)
 * Croqos (Either beat arcade mode on hard difficulty for the first time or beat Story Mode as Aeramen)
 * Hei-Jiao (Either beat Arcade Mode as two characters, Elora and Kameyo Hinotama, or beat Story Mode as Jengiz)
 * Jengiz (Either complete every mode in Minigames Arena mode with at least one character per mode or beat Atory Mode as Hei-Jiao)

1st Season Pass

 * Aumentea
 * Bae Hee Young
 * Javier Salvador
 * Jean d'Arc
 * Migrandis & Bromes
 * Rinzen
 * Robyn Hode
 * Shankara Mahavir
 * Tashia Kadi
 * Vlad Dracul

2nd Season Pass

 * Ash Williams (Evil Dead)
 * Baraka (Mortal Kombat)
 * Dante (Devil May Cry)
 * Etrigan (DC)
 * Garrosh Hellscream (Warcraft)
 * Lu Bu (Dynasty Warriors)
 * Mai Shiranui (Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters)
 * Nyarlathotep (Cthulhu Mythos)
 * Spawn (Image Comics)
 * Thor (Marvel)

Default

 * 1) Adgastrian Temple
 * 2) Al-Menzel al Jinn
 * 3) Alfheimr
 * 4) Church of Sancrudis
 * 5) Dark Woods
 * 6) Highlands
 * 7) Indigenous Jungles
 * 8) Pirate Ship
 * 9) Samurai Training Grounds
 * 10) Torture Chamber
 * 11) Vatican Church
 * 12) Water Raft
 * 13) Waterfalls
 * 14) Zvarranik Cave

Exclusive Quest Fighters

 * 1) Chamber of the Flame (PS3)
 * 2) Hyrule Temple (Wii)
 * 3) Relic Interior (X360)

Hidden

 * 1) Battle Siege
 * 2) Egyptian Ruins
 * 3) Hell
 * 4) Ogre Swamp
 * 5) Sanctuary of the Witch

1st Season Pass

 * 1) Forest Area
 * 2) French Castle
 * 3) Kawagarbo
 * 4) Palace Garden
 * 5) Peasant Village
 * 6) Phlegethon
 * 7) Rajasthan
 * 8) Santiago de Compostela
 * 9) Transylvania
 * 10) Zaktaran Kingdom

2nd Season Pass

 * 1) Asgard
 * 2) Cabin in Tennessee
 * 3) Camelot
 * 4) Cherry Blossom Sight
 * 5) Egyptian Temple
 * 6) Limbo City
 * 7) Luoyang
 * 8) Malebolgia's Lair
 * 9) Orgrimmar
 * 10) Wastelands of Outworld

Cast

 * Adam Tuominen - Malombra
 * Bob Carter - Death-Skull, Baraka
 * Brenda Crichlow - Taskia Kadi
 * Bruce Campbell - Ash Williams
 * Cindy Robinson - Kameyo Hinotama
 * Daemon Clarke - Kliment Blood
 * Dave Wittenberg - Kaveh Ahmed
 * Dee Bradley Baker - Etrigan
 * Eric Kelso - Robyn Hode
 * Eric Newsome - Vlad Dracul
 * Fred Tatasciore - Croqos
 * Grant George - Xipil
 * Grant McFarlane - Rinzen
 * J.S. Gilbert - Belial
 * Jamieson Price - Lu Bu
 * Jason Liebrecht - Sharyer
 * Jennifer Hale - Hei-Jiao
 * Jessica Gee - Aumentea
 * John DiMaggio - Shankara Mahavir
 * Johnny Yong Bosch - Bae Hee Young
 * Khary Payton - Spawn
 * Kyle Hebert - Wallace
 * Laura Bailey - Elora. Mai Shiranui
 * Luci Christian - Jean d'Arc
 * Matthew Mercer - Franco Domenico
 * Michael McConnohie - Calixte le Charognard
 * Patrick Seitz - Hiroshi Masaru, Garrosh Hellscream
 * Phil LaMarr - Strycuris
 * Rhasaan Orange - Aeramen
 * Roger Craig Smith - Javier Salvador
 * Ron Banks - Nyarlathotep
 * Steve Downes - Master Chief
 * Steven Blum - Jengiz
 * Terrance C. Carson - Kratos
 * Tim Phillipps - Dante
 * Tom Kenny - Migrandis
 * Travis Willingham - Thor
 * Yuri Lowenthal - Link

Trivia

 * On the topic of the lack of licensed music for most of Epic Blades, while it's clear that the game's intro and the ending credits at least have a licensed song playing, I will go ahead and state that the BGM for the game's character select screen is "I Stand Alone" by Godsmack (though it's only a loop with the first verse and first chorus playing).
 * There is a stage you fight your rival at in story mode before you face the final boss Belial. This particular stage is a circular rocky area surrounded by mountains, skulls and pillars, all of these this side of Frank Frazetta. Also, the BGM for that stage is "Haunted" by Disturbed.
 * No, there is no sub boss nor bonus boss character in Epic Blades.
 * The in-game announcer for Epic Blades is that narrator from Deadliest Warriors, whoever he is.