Bloodroots Review
What do carrots, fish, swords, axes, frying pans and guns have in common? All of these unique items are weapons that can be used to brutally murder your enemies in the new indie title Bloodroots. The game is an over the top action title that draws inspiration from Hotline Miami’s puzzle combat and the limitless replayability of classic arcade titles. The game immediately had me with its unique cartoon art-style and fast-paced combat.
The story and setting of the game remind me a lot of Quentin Tarantino’s over the top western Django Unchained. From the snow capped mountains to old western towns, developer Paper Cult has created a vibe all their own. The story is told through beautiful hand-drawn cinematics that follow the player character Mr. Wolf in this dark comedy adventure. The story is a revenge tale as Mr. Wolf is left for dead and seeks to find his killer. The narrative is a fun and quirky tale that gives some motivation for all of the crazy carrot and sword induced violence.
My favorite part of Bloodroots is its hyper addictive gameplay loop. The combat of the game is incredibly satisfying as you slice, hit and smash your way through a variety of levels. The levels are precisely designed to make it both fun and challenging to avoid death and keep up your combo meter as you rack up kills. There were several moments throughout my time with the game where I died over and over and over, but I never grew frustrated with the game. Moving around the levels and experimenting with different combinations of items and weapons kept each run through feeling fresh and engaging. The fact that I had to play levels multiple times meant that I learned the layout of each level and memorized the fastest paths through the environments.
As the game progresses, the levels become more and more involved. Completing the game requires perfect timing of kills, platforming and weapon selection. With no health bar and one hit kills, Bloodroots leaves no room for player error. The most satisfying moments of the game occur when you are able to quickly run with a level without dying and perfectly timing every jump, stab and hit on your path to victory. Upon returning to completed levels to best my friends’ high scores, I felt incredibly powerful as I quickly ran through the levels without stopping. The gameplay loop is so engaging and fun that it makes perfect for short or extended play sessions. The quick combat and satisfying level navigation make Bloodroots a game that I will continue to play whenever I need stupid fun chasing high scores.
Bloodroots is currently available on PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. I highly recommend the game if you fancy yourself a fan of stylish action games, high score chasing and a bloody good time! Stayed tuned to LukeWarmGames next week for my thoughts on what it is like to play Doom (2016) for the first time in its entirety leading up to the release of Doom Eternal on March 20th.
