Blade & Sword is hindered most by the lack of environmental and enemy interaction that is a staple for this genre. Gone is the looting that lets you pore over an array items (and their statistics). In fact, there is no way to change your armor or standard weapon at all, which would have added another strong dynamic to the martial-arts fighting element. Blade & Sword replaces weapon and armor upgrades with gem embedding, where the currently equipped items can be bolstered with gems that you have found among your travels. This is partly redeems the dearth of item variety, but equipment is ultimately not as interactive as we would like to see.​