It is 2022, and there is a new battle royale on the block. I assumed video games had explored nearly all the pieces price doing within the circle-shrinking style, however then I began working up partitions and consuming up civilians like juice bins in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt. “This free-to-play battle royale is fairly darn good!” I say to my buddies who, respectfully, is not going to obtain it to play with me.
Bloodhunt launched on Steam in Early Entry final yr once I wasn’t wanting, nevertheless it got here out for actual final week. The Vampire identify will certainly throw off followers of the unique Bloodlines RPG from 2004. This isn’t that. Bloodhunt makes use of Vampire’s world as a battleground for 45-player vampire-on-vampire showdowns on the streets of Prague, and fairly effectively to date.
I am actually impressed with how effectively developer Sharkmob has nailed the fundamentals right here—weapons are punchy and straightforward to purpose, leaping, sliding, and wall-climbing are slick, and my class vampire powers really feel instantly helpful. I am only some matches in to date however I may need discovered a favourite within the Saboteur, a slippery vamp who can place fuel traps and poof right into a smoke cloud to zip away from dangerous conditions.
I additionally just like the small touches that set Bloodhunt aside from the crowded BR house. Gamers can feed off the blood of wandering civilians to realize passive bonuses like well being regen or melee injury boosts. Operating down the road blood suckin’ like there is no tomorrow seemed like a good suggestion at first, till I spotted that you simply get closely punished for letting a human catch you within the act of feeding—this “breaks the masquerade” and quickly highlights you on-screen for everybody to see.
After I first noticed Bloodhunt’s rooftop hopping and high-mobility firefights, I acquired just a little nervous that I used to be strolling right into a repeat of Ubisoft’s forgotten Hyper Scape battle royale. In that sport, gamers may transfer so quick and get so excessive that monitoring down a single kill was like pulling enamel. I have not had the identical points with Bloodhunt to date. The excessive FOV of Bloodhunt’s third-person digicam makes monitoring airborne targets a bit simpler and I believe hitboxes are extra beneficiant too. At long-to-mid vary, I’ve already had some enjoyable back-and-forth fights poking out of canopy searching for headshots.
A variety of fights appear to finish up shut vary, although, and that is the place the motion can get just a little too frantic. Like Fortnite, there’s loads of leaping and shaky aiming whereas two folks attempt to line up a shotgun blast or observe a gradual stream of SMG bullets on one another. That is the place vampire talents can are available in clutch—each class appears to have a capability that helps them interact or disengage from a battle. In my final match, I used to be working towards an enemy with a shotgun till they force-pushed me 100 ft backward.
Bloodhunt has sufficient cool stuff going that I am shocked it additionally feels the necessity to copy a bunch of different battle royale mechanics that bathroom down an in any other case breezy sport. You may spend loads of time placing on new armor plates or taking cowl to desperately eat “blood bag” medkits. Fortunately, there are not any attachments to juggle or backpacks to handle.
I am having fun with Bloodhunt in the identical means I’ve loved the occasional match of Fortnite’s Zero Construct mode the previous few weeks. A low-stakes shooter with simple capturing and enjoyable motion is an efficient palate cleanser to an evening of intense Hunt: Showdown matches. I will proceed to plug away at it alone till I get uninterested in solo mode and teammates disappoint me.
I guess Bloodhunt could be much more enjoyable with buddies, however as with Fortnite, I doubt I will ever handle to get two buddies to attempt it with me. “Free-to-play battle royale” has turn out to be a non-starter with my pal group, and I can not actually blame them. Leaping into one other sport with one other meta and one other loot system and one other battle move with one other roadmap is exhausting.
Bloodhunt is perhaps a better promote if it weren’t yet one more circle-shrinker. Nowadays, my buddies and I’ve been extra keen on what comes after battle royale. I respect that Sharkmob in all probability began improvement when bog-standard battle royale was at its peak, however hopefully it realizes that Bloodhunt may additionally excel as a PvPvE “extraction royale” kind sport that cuts a number of the annoying randomness out of BR. I would additionally present up for a totally co-op mode towards AI, or principally some other implementation of Bloodhunt’s robust basis.
That stated, Bloodhunt appears to be off to an excellent begin with out the assistance of my pal group. It reached a brand new peak of 25,000 concurrent gamers at this time on Steam. Contemplating that is solely one in every of three platforms it is on, Bloodhunt is perhaps round for some time.
