We would like to thank the dev for providing us with a copy of this game for review
When I first saw Blood Within, I was amazed by the art style and the setting that the game had going for it. From the gameplay I have seen, I was honestly impressed and looking forward to what I was about to play. With all that said, there are some issues with this game that I do need to address, and I’ll talk about them all here.
One thing I should mention about this game is that it was made by a single person so I wanted to see what one person could make for a game like this. I love 2D platformers, so I really wanted to see what this game had to offer.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Good story that sets the theme of the game
Nice pixel art style
The soundtrack is decent
Cons
Gameplay is very rough, jumping is very clunky
Combat is sluggish, enemies give you no indication on when they will attack
Some enemies can shoot you through walls
Boss fights aren’t very special
The game does not give you a reason to explore its world
There are a few bugs
Story
The story starts out with Captain Thorne, who is out on a patrol mission, him and two of his men have found that The Bloodstar, which protects the Earth from evil, has crash-landed on Earth and now demons roam the outer castle walls. Throne is not a match for the demons and is taken out until he is rescued by a Grey Man who gives him demon power to help fight them.
The story for Blood Within is nice, it sets the game theme up very well and it’s interesting. I feel that there are some references to Berserk in this game as there are a few things that remind me of that series in this game.
Gameplay
Despite the story being good, Blood Within’s gameplay is rough to say the least. My issue mainly comes with how the game controls, it works on a basic level but when it comes to jumping, the game is rather clunky. You see, Throne jumps very slowly, and I assume this is because of the giant sword he is wielding. However, on certain platforms, he will jump faster and higher than usual to reach higher areas in the game.
I never really played a game where I don’t feel like jumping but I end up having to do it to progress through the game. Combat is also sluggish in a few ways as well; you have your basic attacks, but the issue comes with a mixture of two issues I have with combat. Enemies never give you any indication of when they attack, plus you have no way to cancel your attacks at all. There is a way to block an attack and if you time it correctly, you can even stun the enemy and get a few hits in.
Although with how the game handles its enemies, it’s a bit difficult to engage in combat in any meaningful way. On top of that there are some ranged enemies in the game, and if they see you, they will of course shoot you, but they can also shoot through walls. Yes, that’s right, the ranged enemies have X-ray vision, and their projectiles can go through walls, and you can’t do anything about it.
The boss fights also aren’t very special either as they just have a few basic attacks that you can block to try and stun them. They don’t really add anything special and just feel like a giant enemy you yourself have to take out.
The world you explore isn’t all that interesting either, you see, it may not seem like it at first but Blood Within is a Metroid-venia type of game, or at least I think. As the game has these checkpoints that you can teleport back to, which I believe is meant for you to find stuff in the game. However, the game does not give you a reason to explore its world. I am currently playing Blasphemous 2 and Tunic while reviewing this game and those games encourage you to explore those games to their fullest. In Tunic’s case, the game doesn’t necessarily give you an objective either or any clues on its story. Dark Souls also does what both of these games do but has a world that you can also explore.
Both give you hidden items or abilities for you to find and use to help you in your next fight or to access new areas in the game. I know I shouldn’t be comparing games made by a team to someone who is a solo developer, but I think this is a good example of how a game makes progression. I don’t know if I am getting anywhere in this game, and I don’t know if I am getting anywhere in Blasphemous 2 either, but I know I am making progress somehow.
There are a few more things that this game does have that are good, like a skill tree that has different abilities for you to use. You will need Demon Essence to level up and to do that you need to defeat enemies. There is even a witch you can find in the game to reset your skill tree to try a different path and or upgrade system, so that’s a cool thing to mention. There is also controller support, the game may not say it but I was able to play on my controller with no issue whatsoever.
Graphics and Performance
The pixel art style is also something I would like to add as something I liked seeing. I tested the game on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB, AMD Ryzen 5 1500X Quad-Core Processor 3.50, 16 GB of RAM, I had no issues while I was playing the game, and it should be able to run on any PC.
I did have a few bugs though, like some enemies clipping into the floor and the enemies that can shoot through walls that I mentioned earlier. Although none of these bugs are game-breaking.
Final Verdict
Blood Within has some interesting ideas going for it but with how the gameplay and combat are handled, I can’t really see myself playing the game for much longer. HOWEVER, I am going to say this, as much as I am not recommending Blood Within right now, I think this game has potential. The developer is still updating this game and they are making DLC for the game as well, so there is some work being done as I am reviewing it.
For those who are curious, I would recommend keeping an eye on this game, as I do think there is something this could one day be a hidden gem if the developer listens to community feedback and continues updating the game.
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