TAKEAWAYS
- Action is extremely fast-paced and stylish
- Throwback visuals end up being more evocative than expected
- Checkpoint system is all about perfecting individual actions
REVIEW
Can you refer to a game as a “boomer shooter” when there’s little to no shooting involved? I’m not terribly fond of the genre distinction myself, but if it sets the stage for the type of visuals you’ll be treated to in Bloodthief, then so be it. The first-person action game from Blargis is much more than that its throwback, low-poly style, though. It’s a fast-paced, melee-centric parkour action game more in line with something like Ghostrunner, and it’s a thrill to try to top yourself as you get deeper and deeper into its challenging campaign.
True to its name, Bloodthief has you slashing away with your sword to steal the blood of your enemies, which replenishes a constantly depleting blood indicator on your HUD. When it’s empty, just one hit will kill you, and you won’t be able to pull off all of your sweet parkour moves. The more blood you have, whether attained from enemies or vials littering the environment, the stronger you are and the more capable you’ll be at overcoming the many obstacles along the way.
Bloodthief does a decent job of lightly tutorializing the essential tricks throughout the run. Mastering the controls takes time, though, from figuring out the nuances of wall-running to nailing the rhythm of ground-pounding and sliding to build momentum and blaze an even faster trail through each stage. Throw in the ability to spend blood to home in on a specific target and you have everything you need to make short work of the trials to come… if you’re good enough.
Checkpoints are typically situated right before the most notorious sections in each level, so it quickly becomes a game of patience that rewards focus and the willingness to make just one more earnest attempt. “This time,” you say as you inhale deeply, “this time I’ll wall-run at just the right height to pick up those blood vials and air-dash into the black wizard protecting those crossbow archers on the top ledge.” And hey, after that, there’s always a next time.
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There’s also a fun parry system in the mix, which gives you a boosted blood reward and makes it much easier to deal with enemies like archers and the spell-casting white wizards. Every now and again you’ll really hit a sweet spot where everything clicks. There’s nothing like going back to a previous stage and playing all the right notes; making short work of something that gave you a major headache mere hours ago.
If it’s not already abundantly clear, Bloodthief is tailor-made for speedrunning. It lives the “gotta go fast” dream in full, and levels can’t just be conquered with style at the hands of an expert, they can be positively obliterated. Even if you never reach those lofty heights, it’s more than worth seeking out videos of those who manage to do so. It might inspire you to play harder and pick up some tricks that will make your medieval life just a little bit easier.
There are a bunch of extras to consider in Bloodthief, from hidden secrets to speed ranking medals and a leveling system that introduces further rewards. You can even use a special item to race your own ghost through each map. At some points, you might find yourself hitting a wall that requires you to be a certain level before you can continue on to the next set of stages. This can be kind of a drag the first time it happens, but it ended up making me a better player in the long run. When I got first got clocked at level 15 and was told I needed to be level 18 to progress, I immediately started the first stages again and felt like a minor god.
Setbacks like that are what prepared me for the moment I had to slide down an incline, firing explosive crossbow bolts and blowing up walls while a spiked ceiling came crashing down on me, forcing me to vault in the air above a lava pit and careen through another set of spike walls closing in from either side. That breathless run-on description covers a single fifteen-second event that could only happen in this specific game.
There are a small handful of stages here that I never want to play again; mostly in the form of exhausting enemy arenas that require you to practically stay airborne the entire time to survive. Vaulting those hurdles was still a thrill in the end, however, and that’s my main takeaway from my time with Bloodthief. Blargis has crafted something really special, and it has the potential to develop a fun community around it with the kind of speed tech that’s already, quite frankly, scary as hell.
Platforms: PC (Steam)
Publisher: Blargis
Developer: Blargis
Available: Now
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