BLOODSHORE SWITCH SERIES

There’s a lot of attention paid to why characters would want to enter a contest to the death for money.

One of the biggest successes of Bloodshore – and equally perhaps the biggest indictment of our society – is how it accurately nails the battle royale situation and the world’s reaction to it. But ultimately this isn’t enough to make you want to keep replaying to witness all 250 recorded scenes the game proudly states it offers at the end of each run. That said, there certainly are different scenes and decisions to make, and they definitely can change how the story ultimately plays out. A Supermassive Games branching narrative this is not, and those expecting something on that scale will be disappointed. Sometimes getting to those moments makes complete sense, other times it feels a little convenient and contrived, which is a shame. Despite that, it still has key beats that play out every time irrespective of what option you choose. The story is short, maybe 60 to 90 minutes depending on how long you survive. Your choices and actions affect the story, in a narrative that changes depending on which options you go with. And whilst the story is interesting in parts, it’s hard not to long for the next moment you’re asked to make a key decision and feel like you’re actively part of something. Simply watching what unfolds based on your latest choice is less fun. It’s ironic really that you are a contestant in a game show that is watched by millions around the world because for most of the time you also feel like a member of the audience.

However, the passive nature of FMV titles is alive and well in Bloodshore too. The Ari character is a particular highlight often providing the comic relief that often lands well. The actors make the situations believable and do a good job at portraying their varied personas well. They deliver a good balance of humour, conflict, and darker tones. The characters and acting quality is actually pretty good, with a good cast, with lines acted well. And unsurprisingly Bloodshore has both these positives and negatives as a result. The other side of the story is not only the limitations placed on a limited set of video recordings but also the passive nature of watching things unfold vs actually interacting. On the one hand, you literally get photo-realistic quality environments and characters and the immersion that comes with that. The choice to use FMV as the main tool in a game is always an interesting one. These include your audience opinion, the unity of your initial landing group, a love interest score, a strength meter driven by the weapons you hold and team members too, ad finally your Insight which demonstrates how much you’ve managed to uncover about what’s actually going on. Some decisions affect the story, but as well as that, they also affect one of five ratings.

The majority of the game plays out in FMV, interspersed with decisions Nick has to make. And so begins a story of choices, survival, and uncovering just what is going on behind the scenes at KillStream. The group of 50 players is split up into 6 landing parties, so initially you are familiarising yourself with a handful Ultimately only one of you will make it out alive and claim the grand prize, so there’s no one you can really trust. Thrown onto the island with you are a bunch of wannabe influencers and Youtube streamers doing it for the fans and stream traffic that comes with it.

BLOODSHORE SWITCH SERIES

In Bloodshore, you enter the latest KillStream series as Nick Romeo, a washed-up former child actor. Unfortunately, though, that feeling of deja-vu becomes all too apparent after playing this short game multiple times, and realising its branching storyline is really anything but. Its reality TV, Youtube-obsessed fanbase also feels eerily familiar and relatable, like something we’ve seen before. So yes it has more than a whiff of the popular Netflix series Squid Game, and some Hunger Games too. It’s an FMV game centred around a battle royale where the winner receives a life-changing sum of money.

Timing is everything, and in that sense, Bloodshore is right on the money.

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