Blood Breed Switch Review
| Game: | Blood Breed |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Baltoro Minis |
| Developer: |
Harking back to the era of the original PlayStation, Blood Breed is a horror game that appears as if it could have been developed and launched during that time. While it evokes nostalgia for players like myself, it also serves as a reminder of the significant progress made in game development since then.
Blood Breed embraces horror cliches with fervour, beginning with the unnamed protagonist’s car breaking down at the start of the game and leaving her no choice but to venture out into the ominous surroundings. Then enveloped by an eerie atmosphere, you soon find yourself being chased by a masked man with a very sharp weapon.
Portions of the game have you evading the attention of this brutal character, or just running for your life. As you can’t really do anything to slow the man down and have to manage your stamina as well as fight with a set of rather clunky controls, these sections are often trial and error. With the man pursuing you, you often have to avoid traps and other obstacles, and I, admittedly, died a lot until I remembered where certain things were. It’s heart pumping stuff, but there’s also plenty of frustration involved.
Blood Breed is a very, very basic game. I already mentioned the chase sections, and other than this the game has you exploring its environments to find keys to unlock a door to move into the next area. The absence of puzzles, which would have provided a much-needed respite to this simplicity, is a real shame.
Combat is introduced later in the game, involving a slow swing of the weapon that, if mistimed, results in you being killed by the enemy with a single blow. Despite feeling clunky and frustrating, combat at least adds some much-needed variety.
Additional issues arise when enemy bodies obstruct doorways upon falling. Crossing narrow planks can also be problematic, as the character may behave unpredictably during the process, causing it to feel more finicky than it should.
Visually, Blood Breed is undeniably simplistic, with a significant amount of rather boring corridors to traverse. The game does have a retro charm, however, and, if you like a bit of blood in your horror games, it also manages to offer some rather graphic death scenes in which the entire body of your character can literally be split in half.
With its many flaws and frustrations, Blood Breed definitely isn’t worth paying full price for, and that says a lot when the game is only £5.39 when not on sale. There are far better horror alternatives, but it still does enough to function as a creepy and panicky horror game that will kill an hour or two of your time.
