Fast, kinetic, and almost like a bloody Sonic The Hedgehog, BloodRoots is a sublime game in the making from Canada-based Paper Cut games. I had the opportunity to play the game at PAX East this past March and it was a fantastic experience, albeit far too painfully short.
A few years ago, an Academy-Award winning movie was released that was made famous for various reasons. This movie, which took place in the wild wilderness of the American Mid-West, featured a violent bear attack, beautiful cinematography, and an academy-award winning actor embarking on a violent story or revenge that runs as cold as hell itself. that movie was The Revenant, which saw Leonardo DiCaprio betrayed and left for dead, literally crawling out of a cold grave to enact revenge for the death of his son. Bloodroots is similar in that the main character, Mr. Wolf, has been betrayed and left for dead, but will now enact revenge by brutally murdering everything in his way. There was a reason why he was betrayed and nearly killed. How and why is a mystery, but for the people involved, they are about to have a very bad day.
Bloodroots is a combination of Sonic The Hedgehog and Hotline Miami, wrapped into an isometric action adventure that is lightning fast and absolutely slick. From the very beginning of my demo, I was encouraged to get creative and use the environment to attack my enemies and viciously destroy them. The key mechanic to Bloodroots is the ability to utilize the environment on the fly, using knives, axes, hatchets, even barrels and wagons to annihilate your opponents. The key is to get creative, thinking on the fly and using every object possible to defeat overwhelming odds. From the very beginning of the demo, I was encouraged to use an ax, and before I knew it, I was cutting into enemies like a knife through a well-cook sirloin. From there, I was crushing enemies with barrels, throwing boxes, and pushing enemies to be incinerated into the fire. As quick as the game is, Bloodroots also left plenty of opportunities to present opportunities.
As mentioned before, the game is extremely fast, but not impossible to control. The movement, actions, and use of weapons felt just right, and the brutality of the action was fantastic, but what I really appreciated is that it wasn’t so terribly fast. For a game like BloodRoots, control is everything, and if a game is too loose or too fast, it becomes impossible to control, and therefore,e impossible to play. With a push of a button and a few flicks of the analog stick, I was able to avoid enemies, but use their own weapons and the environment against. In some instance, the camera would zoom in on the action, showing the brutality of the kills being made. Additionally, the music and diverse array of color made this a truly memorable and impressionable action experience, despite the demo lasting a maximum of five minutes.
Bloodroots looks and sounds absolutely fantastic. A slick action experience with sharp controls and design made me instantly excited for the game’s launch this year. When writing this, all I could think about was playing the game again, eager to see what surprises were in store. Bloodroots promises a diverse and bloody adventure throughout the American Midwest, from forests to mountains to cliffs. The game will also have a leaderboard system for players to stay competitive. I had a remarkable time with BloodRoots and cannot wait to see it arrive on gaming systems this year.
Bloodroots will be available on PlayStation 4, Steam, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2019.