There are some games you see for the first time and just have to play. Blood Message is one of those. It boils down to morbid curiosity in this case; how can a game that looks this stunning possibly be real? Plenty will look at the shiny nature of the trailers and assume Blood Message won’t ever reach those heights. I finally got my hands on the game at Summer Game Fest, and although it’ll need some polish to reach the visual fidelity we’ve seen, there’s a solid game underneath that has a ton of promise.
I was dropped into what I’d guess to be an early portion of Blood Message for my demo. Our hero, Pei Changguan, is making his way through quite the mess. Soldiers have invaded his village and are tearing houses apart in search of something. Alongside his brother, both of them need to get back to their families, and especially to escape the wrath of whoever is in charge.
Right away, even in the lower quality of a preview, the game is still astonishing. Blood Message’s calling card to this point has been bombastic trailers, so a slice of less intense gameplay could be damaging to their reputation. Instead, seeing this demo, which is clearly an early build, amazes me. As Pei walks through this village, all of the environments are incredibly detailed, from the firewood stacks in courtyards to the straw roofs to the dirt-stained blankets covering crates. The lighting, whatever they’re doing, is magnificent. Those are but a few of the examples of the beauty Blood Message exhibits, and it's safe to think we’ll get closer to the trailer's quality as the final product progresses.
Gameplay leans into heavy, cinematic stylings. The simplest comparison is a blending of the Assassin’s Creed RPGs and God of War 2018. A closer, over-the-shoulder view allows the team to pull you into the action, making any encounter more personal. In the demo, traversing each area was easy and quite claustrophobic – you’ll rarely get stuck in finding where to go next. There is a lack of “yellow paint”, and interactions require a button prompt, so it’s not as handholdy as some games can be.
Combat is where things get intense. There’s a weight to swinging your sword, an impact to each blow you take and deliver, that makes Blood Message so immersive. It’s almost like I’m in Pei’s shoes, sharing his fervor in striking an opponent. That said, Pei never feels invincible, so the missing superhuman elements of the aforementioned games give him a human feel that I really vibe with. I’m sure it could change as we discover more, but the desperation I feel while controlling Pei adds to his identity. Less fantasy, less power, and more mortality have me engrossed every time I draw Pei’s blade, similar to how I felt playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
As disparate as this comparison may sound, 007 First Light shares a lot of similarities in fights and finishers. You don’t want to take a lot of hits – you won’t survive many – and the battling really shows off the cinematic nature of the game. Fighting through locked swords, picking yourself up from being knocked to the ground, and more, involves button mashing through a quick QTE, but it never takes you out of the scene, instead adding to the immersion of the brawl. Pei also takes advantage of the environment when it’s available, smashing a pot into a soldier's head when getting up, or pushing an enemy's head into a horse trough, holding until the final bubble reaches the surface.
If you want to get the drop on your foes, there are rudimentary stealth systems baked into Blood Message. I’ll be interested if they change much as the game progresses, but it does work. What may have been more interesting is that there is a bit more thought put into the level design in the singular section I played. Sure, tall grass was the basis of my sneaking, but there were also routes to be taken – through a broken wall underneath a porch, for instance – to help you hide, break the line of sight, and of course, stealthily execute anyone who comes too close.
Sadly, my preview was over after roughly twenty minutes of gameplay. It felt like I was just getting started. For those interested, I was told that the team is working on localization for voice-overs; English will be an option. Even so, the native Chinese voice acting is immaculate, and I can’t see myself playing it any other way. Unfortunately, we don’t have any sort of release window yet, just that the game is coming to PC and consoles. All I know for sure is this: Blood Message has tremendous potential, and if it’s realized, this will be a special game.
