Bloodless

really cool premise but god awful execution. the combat gives you so many mechanics that you can never use because of how enemies attack - you can dash into enemy attacks to disarm and defeat them? - 90% of enemy attacks are red unparryable attacks - you can time a chi punch to interrupt enemy red attacks and stun them? - the enemy jumps back the entire length of the arena so you never get to do it - also, sometimes the timing is so tight that you will only be able to do it if you had a fruit fly's reaction time i am a massive fan of difficulty but this just seems like the game is flooded with artificial difficulty i had really hoped that this game was going to give me sekiro/lies of P vibes, but unfortunately, it falls short

Bloodless takes the familiar image of the wandering martial artist and builds an action-adventure around restraint rather than slaughter. Developed by Point N' Sheep and published by Shoreline Games, it follows Tomoe, a former warrior who returns to Bakugawa after years away. Her homeland has fallen under the oppressive rule of Shogun Akechi, but Tomoe refuses to simply pick up a sword and repeat the violence that shaped her past. Instead, she confronts her enemies without killing them, giving the adventure a clear identity that influences both its storytelling and moment-to-moment gameplay. The combat system is the strongest expression of this philosophy. Tomoe fights primarily with her fists, evasive movements, counters, and ki-based techniques, with the objective being to disarm opponents rather than execute them. Timing is much more important than wildly attacking. Enemy movements must be observed carefully so that attacks can be dodged or countered at precisely the right moment. The signature dash-counter mechanic makes successful encounters feel almost like choreographed martial arts sequences once the player understands an opponent's patterns. It can initially be demanding,…

I don't mind a challenge, but this is just irritating. The main gripe I have is that most any enemy that takes more than one hit requires completely perfect execution. Parry their first two hits and then take damage from the third, and they're back to the start. Use ki attacks and it's the same situation, as any hit they land on you will completely refresh their stability, so you may as well not bother.

This game is sick.

why is this game not more famous have started it enjoying it

I'm not going to thumbs down this game as it's such a unique take on the genre and visually looks amaazing with a cool concept, (this is largely me being salty but still) but the only thing consistent about this game is how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ abysmally inconsistent it's mechanics are, and how utterly ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ it feels to try and play it the way the game wants. Gorgeous game visually and audio; but it's mechanics are controller throwing levels of bad. It's effectively Sekiro but learns nothing from it, enemies will spam unblockables, group fights are rng nightmares cause every single time you think you can finally parry/punish one enemy, you're probably gonna be animation locked into getting hit by another enemies unparryable attack. To top it off your character moves at a snails pace while even enemy mooks can cross the entire screen in a blink making most attacks feel ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ impossible to avoid, especially in smaller arenas. The game even gives you a block all attacks move, and not even that is consistent, enemies will suddenly whiff point blank, or will hit you just after it runs out (or will hit you after it's worked cause enemies just dogpile you with no room to maneuver). The game's …