Bloodless Makes For Killer Non-Lethal Action
Developer Point N’ Sheep’s upcoming action/adventure game Bloodless is shaping up to be something unique, especially with its combat. Menu
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By Kyle LeClairPublished 6 days ago Thread
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- Bloodless offers a simple and satisfying combat experience with a focus on parrying and countering, inspired by Zelda and Sekiro.
- The game follows the story of Tomoe, a unique older female character who uses non-lethal combat techniques to disarm opponents.
- With colorful Ki attacks and strategic combat mechanics, Bloodless combines Zelda-style gameplay with soulslike elements for a unique experience.
But we should actually get into why we’re doing all of this parrying and countering this time around. To set the stage, Bloodless is the story of Tomoe, a ronin in the land of Bakugawa. She’s returned after controversial past incidents, looking to hopefully defeat the regime of her former master, Akechi. Because Tomoe has already seen so much bloodshed already, however, she instead uses non-fatal ways such as a signature counter-dash technique in order to disarm her opponents, hence the title Bloodless. More and more of the story and the world of Bakugawa naturally gets unveiled along the way and so far it looks to be captivating, especially as we get more hints about Tomoe’s past and those around her.
Speaking of Tomoe, she’s easily one of the most unique parts of Bloodless by far. As we begin the game, it has been twenty years since Tomoeo deserted the shogun’s army and went wandering the world instead. This means we have an action game where the protagonist is an older female character, which tends to be a rarity in the gaming landscape (the last truly notable one I can think of right now is Rhonda from Dead Rising 3,and even then she was only an NPC for a criminally brief moment). It’s more than a welcome touch, not only adding a nice bit of diversity, but also being able to have a battle-scarred veteran factor into the core combat.
Intricate Combat, Done Without Spilling a Drop
As mentioned earlier, Tomoe has a signature counter-dash move. When the right moment appears, you dash into the swing of an enemy’s weapon, disarm them and send them fleeing. It not only perfectly ties in with Tomoe’s character, but it’s just oh so satisfying to pull off, blinding an opponent with your skills and then sending them (presumably) crying home. Of course, more powerful enemies appear later on, with the likes of moves that can’t be countered or a last-ditch move where they fling a kunai at you before departing, still putting up a nice challenge.
Tomoe also has colorful Ki attacks to use when available as well, which can be used to whittle down an enemy’s endurance, at which point you can dash into them with a final blow. It’s a great alternative that allows for a good mix of playstyles (with Ki working better in closer quarters), especially when you work them in with the upgrades that you can unlock through various means.
5:17Related Enotria: The Last Song’s Eternal Play Deserves Applause Enotria: The Last Song can be brutal for some in the combat area, but there’s a lot to this twisted performance to get excited for.
Enotria: The Last Song can be brutal for some in the combat area, but there’s a lot to this twisted performance to get excited for.
Bloodless’ integration of non-lethal combat does impress, though to be honest, it isn’t entirely bloodless. After all, Tomoe may not believe in bloodshed anymore, but as you advance through the game, it becomes clear that other characters don’t believe in a similar philosophy. Their brutality is displayed on the screen with a terrific use of a limited color palette, with action working to create a nice contrast with the more simplistic black and white pixel art. There’s still a hefty dose of color, though, not just in the occasional bit of clothing or such details, but the shift in the main color for each new area, perfectly setting the mood depending on the current scene or character of importance. The visuals in general have a nifty Game Boy Color vibe to them, with the developers even citing the Pokémon games as an influence in this area.
Point N’ Sheep have also said that there are a good chunk of secrets to uncover along the way as well, making sure that exploration is encouraged. Indeed, in the demo alone, we could find and collect several different herbs to make a variety of tea for our gourds (this game’s version of Estus Flasks, basically). There was even freedom to check out a bit of a later area, though as expected, you can’t get far without the appropriate ability to unlock more. In the end, Bloodless feels like a perfect blend of Zelda-style gameplay and soulslike mechanics and combat, all while putting a rather unique and clever twist on everything. Needless to say, we can’t wait to not kill even more enemies in the future when Bloodless arrives for the PC.
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