Bloodless review: Finding a new way to fight

Samurai games are a dime a dozen, whether you’re looking at small games, retro classics, or AAA blockbusters. But nearly all of these games embrace violence, never shying away from the weapons-based combat of the genre. Bloodless, a debut title from the small team at Point N’ Sheep, aims to tell a samurai-themed story from a new angle. The regretful ronin isn’t new either, but what Bloodless does to stand out is completely remove the idea of lethal combat from the player’s toolset. It’s about finding a new way to fight back, without the bloodshed that devastates both sides of conflict.

A familiar premise, but it looks cool as heck

This is a story about Tomoe, an infamous samurai who abandoned her home to go to war. She becomes known for the trail of bodies she left behind, but grows sick of the violence and heads back home. There, she has to deal with the unsolved problems she left behind, and a bad news shogun who has taken over with brute force. To do this she has to fight back and inspire others to do the same, but this time without spilling a single drop of blood.

Bloodless starts strong with a cool visual style that blends retro art with modern tools and creative use of color. The areas are mostly black, but with splashes of color tuned by heavy shadows. It almost looks like the kind of stuff you’d see playing games on a Super Game Boy, when single-color palettes utilized shading to create a sense of depth. On top of that, the character sprites themselves look more like they were ripped straight from a Neo Geo Pocket Color game, which isn’t an effect you see often. It’s an interesting clash, but it looks cool and helps keep the action visible, which is extremely important in Bloodless.

More complex than just parries

At first, it seems like Bloodless is going to rely on parrying, like many challenging combat games tend to do these days. But it’s a little more complex, and not nearly as interested in punishing you for messing up. Enemies have small visual tells before they attack, signaling if you have to dodge, or if you can respond. For the latter, you use a dash-style dodge move, but actually have to use it to rush into the attack coming your way. Do it right, and you’ll disarm your enemy, in a way that’s so sick they have no choice but to give up. It’s cool, feels great to pull off, and doesn’t even feel like a “parry” in the traditional sense.

It’s not just about the countering move. If it was, there would likely be pacing issues, with Tomoe having to sit and wait for enemy attacks. And they’re pretty careful! Tomoe also has “ki attacks,” which is basically a narrative workaround allowing her to punch dudes in the face. You know, indirectly. It kind of feels inherently at odds with what the game is trying to portray, while feeling unavoidable at the same time. It’s also a bit on the basic side, although there are also special moves as well that kick the spice up a notch.

The tea is good

The third pillar holding up Bloodless’ gameplay is the gourd! Tomoe has a gourd that she can fill up with tea at save points. Depending on the ingredient you get different outcomes, like healing from matcha plants. I thought this feature was neat, because it made me think about things other than healing, possibly using my limited drinking slots for some other benefit. Plus it’s dope as heck to take a swig out of a gourd in the middle of a bare-handed fight to the death (one-sided). Tomoe has a ton of swagger for a NGPC sprite character, is what I’m saying.

Ultimately, Bloodless is an interesting, straightforward kind of game that is exactly what it says it is on the box. There’s a central premise, and the gameplay revolves (almost) entirely around it, even if it wavers a little out of an apparent necessity. And even then, takes the care to justify the shift in a way that lines up in the fiction. The non-lethal combat is fun to engage with, and doesn’t simply feel like another samurai game about parrying. There also isn’t a ton more to Bloodless than that, which is totally fine. There’s a target, the game lines up its shot, and hits it dead center. Good stuff.

Bloodless is available on August 29, 2024 for the PC. A code was provided by the publisher for this review.

Lucas White

Contributing Editor

Lucas plays a lot of videogames. Sometimes he enjoys one. His favorites include Dragon Quest, SaGa, and Mystery Dungeon. He's far too rattled with ADHD to care about world-building lore but will get lost for days in essays about themes and characters. Holds a journalism degree, which makes conversations about Oxford Commas awkward to say the least. Not a trophy hunter but platinumed Sifu out of sheer spite and got 100 percent in Rondo of Blood because it rules. You can find him on Twitter @HokutoNoLucas being curmudgeonly about Square Enix discourse and occasionally saying positive things about Konami.