Violence is never just black and white.
If anything, Bloodless has an interesting concept. As a disgraced ronin returns home and finds it in a far more violent state than when she left it, she will attempt to set things right, all without spilling a single drop of blood. While her adversaries show no such restraint, this story about the cycle of violence can often entertain as much as it frustrates.
3D Realms and developer Point N’ Sheep have a very visually striking game here, one that certainly is gorgeous to look at. While the aesthetic is essentially a black and white canvas, splashed with instances of color, it uses that contrast to great effect, mostly. I do have to say that there were countless times where I lost my character amidst the chaos, largely since their red wrist guards are not nearly that different from the few other enemies adorning the same color scheme. It's not a consistent problem, but when it happens it does leave a sour taste in the mouth.
Bloodless tells the tale of Tomoe, an older female ronin that has traveled back home after some time away. As she has returned to Bakugawa, she finds that her old master, Shogun Akechi, has taken to ruling these lands, and not in a kind and benevolent manner. Upon her return, Tomoe is immediately attacked and targeted, considered disgraced by her own people after she left. To make matters worse, she finds that her nephew has become a trained killer under Akechi’s rule. While Tomoe has her own demons to fight, her own past to set right, she attempts to calm the local violence by not adding to it.
The gameplay of Bloodless follows this nonviolent mantra of Tomoe by being a game built around deflecting, or rather, counter-dashing her attacker’s strikes. There are some direct attack moves she can perform, but Tomoe looks more to disarm than harm, leaving her foes alive and running for the hills. This sense of honor will earn her some allies, but most are eager to align themselves against anyone willing to go up against Akechi.
Inspired by the likes of Sekiro, what Bloodless actually offers; however, is a fairly different experience. Sure, you'll have a few soulslike additives, but the view and look certainly hide some of the aesthetics from an initial glance. You'll have a series of special Ki attacks that you'll earn that aid in disarming your attacker, but your main method of doing so is a parry-like system of using counter-dashing to deflect your foe’s attacks. Most enemies have a posture-like gauge that must be taken out to then stun them, leaving them open for the counter-dash. Enemies have a range of different attack types and styles, some having additional phases as you continue to break them down, some that throw out a knife upon their defeat that is often hard to dodge if you kill them up close.
This causes combat to be about watching for patterns and treating certain battles like a puzzle. Where I feel the game loses a lot of steam is that you'll frequently have to fight through a series of enemy waves, often feeling random in their rotation of enemy types. Bloodless also has a very harsh stamina system for dodging, and movement can feel a tad stiff. While attacking can feel good, there is a very hungry auto-aim that can pull you towards an enemy you were not meaning to attack. This can be a huge annoyance if you went to finish off a stunned enemy and you are pulled towards a different one, causing your stunned adversary to recoup all their health back.
Some battlefields will have obstacles and a design to them where you can be cornered and unable to move, trapped and often pummeled against your will. Bamboo shoots and other objects can see you bounce off them and be stunned for a brief moment, or spiked walls that are beyond easy to accidentally hit when you are dashing away from danger. While I don't mind the obstacles as enemies can share in being affected by them, being trapped behind objects or parts of the level was a truly frustrating experience, and it happened more times than I can remember.
In most cases, the movement feels decent for taking on one or two enemies, but once you add in several that have numerous ranged attacks, or unblockable spinning abilities, not to mention some that fire off a last attack upon death, and it becomes a lot to handle when trying to balance the stiff movement, restrictive stamina system, auto-aim, and dodging multiple ranged attacks at once. It is these wave sections that were more annoying than anything else because it causes all those issues to be immediately apparent. Bloodless has a decent array of systems, it just doesn't feel like all of the game was built to accommodate them at once.
While few, bosses were frequently enjoyable encounters because they allow the boss to be their own thing. Some will add in the odd enemy to allow you to build up energy for your Ki attacks, but they pepper in just enough challenge to keep you moving, active, and alert. Honestly, I don't think there is a bad boss encounter among the bunch. Even some of the sub-bosses were great, until they became part of the rotation in the waves. This largely becomes an issue when the ways to defeat them are interfered with other patterns that require you to move around the battlefield in a completely different manner. Not all styles mix well, unfortunately.
Every enemy has a basic tell of what they may do. However, enemies have a white attack that can be countered and a red attack that has to be dodged. The issue is when you are attempting to fend off three or four enemies, not to mention trying to parse your own character out from the other white enemies, attempting to determine what attack each of them is going to do can be more difficult than it should be. When you are taking on two enemies at once, in a location that isn't stuffed with obstacles, there is a solid balance here that shows the proper amount of restraint to let the player use the systems organically. When you just jam in everything and the kitchen sink, that is when it becomes an issue.
To aid in combat, Tomoe has a few elements of her toolkit that greatly assist her. You'll have the aforementioned Ki attacks that vary in their type and purpose, usually allowing you to strike at enemies in ways your simple punches can't execute on. These attacks consume Ki petals and these are recharged by disarming your opponent and generally just doing well in combat. Skill gems are rewarded after particularly difficult battles. These give passive benefits to your combat style. One that I opted to have remain with me was the ability to consume my gourd quicker, meaning the drinking animation wasn't as long. Similar to skill gems are crests, these operate in much of the same way by giving you bonuses and perks to improve your combat and survivability. Tomoe will also collect gold as you smash barrels and defeat enemies and can be spent at the Tea House. This allows you to upgrade your basic stats. Thankfully barrels respawn when you leave an area, making it easy to return to farm for more.
Lastly, is that gourd I just mentioned. The gourd allows you to mix a series of ingredients to mix Tomoe’s tea. The mixtures can be as simple as healing her wounds, giving her unlimited stamina for a short while, or making her Ki attacks hit harder. You can set a few gourd mixtures to swap between during the battle, with one being your main drink and a secondary one with less uses.
Thankfully, you don't lose anything if you die, if anything, you can reap the resources around you and try again. Afterall, it is those resources you'll use to mix your tea, let alone the gold you find again and again. When you die, you'll return to the last brazier you've lit, which can also replenish your health and refill your gourds. It is here where you can mix them as well to craft what you need for upcoming encounters. You'll also unlock fast travel spots, but you'll need to spend some gold to utilize them the first time.
Bloodless was an interesting game to play as its unique look and concept largely works well. The moments of frustration are brief but can dominate your time spent with it. While my biggest criticism are the enemy waves, largely because I feel the game is not truly balanced around them, I still have smaller annoyances, like Tomoe being lost in the action, or the stiff movement or auto-game that are frustrating to a lesser degree. Regardless, if you are up for the challenge and want a different type of experience, Bloodless might just offer you that, should you be able to look past its noticeable blemishes.
Developer - Point N’Sheep
Publisher - 3D Realms. Released - August 29th, 2024. Available On - PC, Nintendo Switch. Rated - (N/A) - No ESRB data. Platform Reviewed - Steam/Steam Deck (Verified). Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.