Blood Alloy: Reborn may sound familiar to you, and if so, that’s likely because it had already attempted to meet its Kickstarter goal, only to fall short and end up with the team at Suppressive Fire taking it back to the drawing board in a very sound decision. The game promises to turn into a Metroidvania, provided it does well enough with this initial offering, and from what is in place already, it’d be a shame to not see it pan out to that extent. Backed by tight gameplay and an intense soundtrack featuring some synth-juggernauts such as Perturbator, we’ll delve into whether or not this game is worth an extended look.
I’m a sucker for Metroidvanias, and seeing how the game handles in this case is quite promising, should their goal be realized. You are given an admittedly tiny set of places to cut loose on, but boy can you cut loose. You play as Nia, a cyborg who has a variety of weapons to use to deal pixelated death across three different levels. You’ll slash, shoot and stride up walls and pillars as you fight hordes of robots, and the game is excellent in small bursts, like any score attack game. The thumping electronic soundtrack really helps to zone you in and simultaneously make you feel like a badass, much like a certain ultraviolent romp through Miami that was met with wide acclaim. Improving at the game bit by bit evoked a very similar sense of progression, and soon enough I was getting quite good at handling the hordes of robots thrown at me. Some controller issues aside, there’s a very sound game that ultimately feels frustrating not because of the difficulty (which is very fair), but for the lack of content.
The price in this case matches what you get, but I feel like Blood Alloy: Reborn is just a few pieces away from being a hell of an indie title. Be it more weapons, more variety in gameplay, or even just more levels, there’s a lot of quality pieces in place that could be taken one step further and for that, I’m hopeful that the game meets the goal needed to turn it into a full fledged title. It’s visually pleasing, plays very well, and gets you suitably amped up. That “amping up” is met with a bit of an anti-climactic feeling once you realize that’s all there is to the game, however if you’re in the market for a title that is best played in short bursts, and should you really REALLY hate robots, you’d do well to check out this title. Just be prepared for a lot of dying, and a bit of an erratic camera.
*** PC code provided by the publisher ***
