Blood Alloy Reborn Review

Looking at the price-tag for Blood Alloy Reborn immediately prompts me to recoil in horror and amazement; at £9.99 it just isn’t worth the money.

Developed by Suppressive Fire Games, Blood Alloy Reborn is an effort to attract funding for a follow-up project to deliver a fully-fledged Blood Alloy, metroidvania-inspired experience. Since they’re charging full price for a game that’s basically a pared down version of the “true experience” I’m left baffled at their poor execution.

Blood Alloy Reborn places you in the shiny boots of a gun-toting, cyber-lady that wants to shoot robots and look good doing so. There’s not much else to say about the plot as that’s all I can discern from the game’s fleeting cutscenes. It’s literal “blink and you’ll miss it” content that shows cyber-lady landing on the floor like Iron Man, ready to shoot and slice hunks of metal. Even her rowdy expression and attempted badassery aren’t enough to prevent me from scoffing at this blatant filler content. For a tenner, I at least expect some form of plot that ties me to the universe in some way. Thanks to this distinct lack, I’m already feeling rather disconnected from my actions. Why should I bother to shoot baddies? It’s already let itself down by cutting ties with my emotions.

Moving swiftly onto the gameplay itself, I instantly figured out what Blood Alloy Reborn was trying to accomplish. It’s taking the sidescrolling, twitchy, fast-paced shooting stance and attempting to integrate a high skill-ceiling on top of these popular fundamentals. So, the tutorial has you double jumping onto platforms as you begin to gradually progress through a generic training environment. New abilities and skills are introduced as you move onwards, prompting you to dart through a laser beam and skirt along the floor at ridiculous speeds. You’re not focusing on shooting, it’s an environment to learn all about the hardcore-parkour that the game offers. I could skirt along the floors and ceilings at miraculous speeds whilst shooting, and combine this awkwardly with a double-jump into spinny dash, into sword swing. It’s a lot to take in as there’s a huge focus on rapid movement and chaining these moves together to perform a coherent pattern of devastating manoeuvres. However, when it comes down to actual frontline gameplay, it’s a lot for me to absorb. Not only that, but it’s the jarring way it’s plonked into this setting that riles me further.

Having completed – and adored – Ori and the Blind Forest, I couldn’t help but feel that Blood Alloy Reborn could’ve taken some notes and learnt a thing or two. Although their outward appearances might differ, on the inside they’re both surprisingly similar when it comes down to utilising abilities in order to progress. One thing Ori and the Blind Forest did exceptionally well was guide me through the game, introducing me gradually to new abilities. Once I’d been introduced, I’d then happen to encounter an entire area which I’d have to clear by using my new-found ability in a number of unique ways. The game understood that to effectively teach a human being, you must introduce them to a new concept and then ingrain it in their minds through a series practical exercises. It reminds me of yester-year, sitting in Maths class and being taught yet another algebraic formula which you’d have to use to solve 20 pages-worth of mind-numbing homework. With Blood Alloy Reborn it’s more akin to placing a Literature student in a University Calculus exam, hoping that their brief five-minute class with a nutty professor will net them a good grade.

It doesn’t help that there are only three stages and they’re small arenas. It’s mind-boggling when you’ve participated in a tutorial that sells the game as a platformer, whereas in reality it’s a survival shooter that takes place in a confined space. Yes, it adds to the frantic nature, but when you’ve got a vast array of abilities, a small arena is too restrictive. Although there are platforms you can jump to and walls to hop off, I realised that the most effective method was to stand rooted to the spot, shooting left and right. By running about and playing the game as it was supposed to be played, it became clear that I’d lose far quicker. Granted, there were moments where I did feel like a God, having pulled off an arial assault: clambering up a platform, springing off it, dashing through a laser blast and swinging my sword to explosive effect. But these moments were a rarity, plankton in an ocean of frustration and hurt. The fast sliding, dash ability was rendered practically useless as I ended up just bashing into enemies planted on the floor and losing a chunk of health in the process.

They couldn’t have messed up the shooting though, right? Wrong. Somehow they decided that you’d have to click the fire button (or very gently squeeze the trigger if you’re using a controller) everytime you want to fire off a shot. It’s another head-scratching decision that detracts from the fluidity that the game so wishes to get right. Having to focus on firing off individual shots creates a stuttery, stop-start experience where you’re desperately wanting to let loose whilst bouncing off the walls like you’re in some drug-fuelled mosh pit. If you do hold down the trigger, you’ll end up charging a big blast which is actually quite impressive, but it becomes a nuisance when you innocently apply a little too much pressure and fire it up accidentally.

Unsurprisingly there’s more bad news, as Blood Alloy Reborn recommends controller support but fails to recognise that the cursor is far too sensitive to aim properly. I found keyboard and mouse far more intuitive, as I could guide the cursor accurately with my mouse. However the camera angle is a little too close for comfort, meaning I can’t assess the situation. Zooming out slightly would allow me to plan my movements and just keep an eye on the sheer amount of enemies that begin to litter the arena you’re stuck in. Talking of enemies, you’re shooting them to fill up a combo-meter but when you’re low on health you’re expected to fill it up to 10x. Rather than adding a heightened level of tension, it feels too punishing, and only serves to add to a growing loss of motivation. Oh, and since we’re on the topic of motivation; with only three levels and small amount of unlockable equipment, it’s not spurring me forwards to press retry again. Especially when you’ve reached level 2 expecting to unlock a cool new weapon, only to unlock a new song. G-great.

Above all, Blood Alloy Reborn has received such a profound beating by me because it’s still a work in progress. To me, it’s still in early-alpha stages, plastered in scaffolding. To charge £9.99 for a game that’s got so many issues along with a distinct lack of content is asking to get scrutinised. It didn’t take a huge magnifying glass for me to bring the hammer down, and even if they’re planning a follow-up it’s still not an excuse to release a game that’s still in need of stabilisers. Why didn’t they just release a metroidvania-inspired experience from the very beginning? It might’ve taken a lot more time and effort, but I’m certain that it would’ve been a much better game suited to the dynamic, shooting formula they had envisaged.