Bloodless tells a story of revenge, redemption and blood. In the lands of Bakugawa we will guide Tomoe towards her goal.
Bloodless presents itself as a classic scrolling fighting game that bases its mechanics on dodging and counterattacks. It stands out from the genre with mechanics based on breaking the balance and strengthening the protagonist.
The title has all the canons of the revenge story. In the role of Tomoe, we will return to Bakugawa, a land afflicted by an internal war.
Under the rule of Shogun Akechi, the country descended into violence and bloodshed. Tomoe herself was a bloody warrior in the service of the Shogun and her blade was stained with a lot of blood, even innocent ones. Tired of all the harm done, she abandons her weapon and decides not to hurt anyone again. No matter how noble her cause, Tomoe is a coward and deserter in the eyes of her people, a Ronin. In our adventure we will have to put an end to the Shogun’s reign of terror and win the trust of the people of Bakugawa.
Bare Hands Combat System
The fact that Tomoe has renounced the use of weapons is also significant on a gameplay level. In fact, Bloodless bases its combat system on the exclusive use of the hands. Tomoe faces enemy slashes with dodges and counterattacks. When an enemy attacks, a white visual signal appears from his weapon and, with the right timing, we can counterattack. When the visual signal is red, the blow is unstoppable and must be absolutely dodged. If the counterattack is successful, the enemy is disarmed and flees the battle. Each enemy, depending on its complexity, has a very precise and varied moveset.
As the difficulty increases we will have more complex patterns, with the need to counter more than one shot. Not to mention mid and main Bosses also have multiple phases. Both the counterattack and the dodge are done with the same command. Their use must be managed because it consumes stamina.
Tomoe can break the enemy’s posture not only with counterattacks, but also by directly striking opponents by lowering their Ki bar. There are also special Ki moves that consume a bar made up of cherry blossoms.
Normal attacks can, with perfect timing, nullify an unstoppable move and greatly lower the opponent’s ki gauge.
The one-on-one battle, although it may be complex to learn the moveset, is manageable. When in certain challenges there are multiple enemies on the screen, damage is often unfairly suffered through no direct fault of the player. Often the randomness of the movesets and certain combinations of moves can put the player in check without the possibility of defending himself.
Character Enhancement
Tomoe begins the adventure with three hit points and a stamina bar which is consumed with the use of dodges, counterattacks and sprinting. Stamina management is in fact fundamental, especially in advanced battles.
Strengthening your character is equally essential and there are several ways to do this. Health points, stamina bar and special move bar can be increased by collecting specific items. The latter can be purchased at the tea house from Hina, obtained as a reward for secondary quests or by exploring the game map well.
In addition to the characteristics to increase, we have Crests. Objects to insert into slots as is done in Hollow Knight. Each of them has its own cost in space, and must be chosen wisely. Fortunately or unfortunately only a few of them are essential for the game, the others we can only find for collecting.
In addition to this we also have a Skill Tree with talents to be unlocked at the cost of Idol Skills, dropped by bosses and also obtainable from some merchants and by overcoming some challenges.
Unfortunately the skills, as interesting as they are, have no real impact on the gameplay, except for a couple. A shame because they don’t change the style with which to approach the game.
Levels, End Game and Artistic Direction
Bloodless, although it has unsurprising pixel art, manages to be of great impact, resorting to the use of strong colors. Each plot character has its own color that represents and characterizes it. The various regions that make up Bakugawa also have their own thematic color. The environment is very refined and immersive, it represents well the feeling of being in feudal Japan. The same goes for the audio commentaries and the music, all well written and immersive.
The various regions are connected to each other and to move you can use, once unlocked, a ferryman who will serve as fast travel. Backtracking is an integral part of the experience, especially if you want to complete side quests and have more interesting challenges along with unique rewards. As save points are scattered throughout the game braziers, approaching them will save the game. Be careful though because they are not a solus like mechanic. Since yes we regenerate energy, but the enemies do not respawn and there is no corpse run mechanic.
They are simple Checkpoints where we can change Crests and acquire skills.
Another element is that of collecting herbs. We can create healing potions or ones that restore stamina or the effectiveness of hits. The slots where you can use the potions are limited but expandable, so it’s up to us to decide how to administer everything.
At the braziers we can use statuettes that we will find gradually in the game. They activate Arena Challenges with interesting rewards.
My Two Cents
Bloodless is a game made by Point N’ Sheep, a development house of only 8 developers. The attention to detail is surprising, not only aesthetically, but also in terms of story, map design and level design. Unfortunately the gaming part shows its side a bit. Both sometimes due to the imprecision in the commands, and in certain combinations of enemies that become unfair towards the player. Once hit, our character will be blocked for a while and the commitment after the dodge/parry leaves the player exposed, especially in clashes with many opponents.
Net of all this, the feeling of pleasure in deflecting a blow or overcoming a boss fight is truly enormous and repays the efforts made. Thanks also to a well-measured and never frustrating checkpoints positioning. The player must know how to manage stamina and resources well and understand positioning based on the opponent in front of him. Regarding this, the enemies are quite varied and also have complex and fun movesets to counter. It’s a shame that the various skills and Crests aren’t as impactful in the gameplay.
The story is not trivial and the player must pay attention and observe carefully if he wants to discover the secrets scattered throughout the game and complete the secondary quests. The characters are well characterized and interesting. The dialogues are good and the artistic direction makes the game a nice look.
If you like challenges where rhythm, patience and reflexes are needed, Bloodless will not disappoint you and will keep you busy for a while.
Bloodless
PRO
- Good game and level design
- Good artistic direction
- Non trivial story
- Challenging game
CON
- Not so usefull skill tree
- Some input dirtiness
- Too long commitment between moves
7.6/10
