Laika: Aged Through Blood confidently hits its marks as a quality Action/Adventure title.
89
Verdict
92%
Steam
85
IGDB
Verdict score based on confidence-adjusted Steam reviews?
Very Positive on Steam (92% positive from 6.2K reviews)
Critically acclaimed (85/100 critic average)
Compelling narrative and story
Rich open world to explore
No significant drawbacks reported
Laika: Aged Through Blood is a 2023 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania video game developed by Brainwash Gang and published by Headup Games. The game, set in a Western-style post-apocalyptic world, follows Laika, an anthropomorphic coyote, as she tries to protect her family and village from the encroaching Bird empire. She journeys through the game world on a motorcycle, which the player accelerates and rotates to ride on uneven ground, block bullets, and reload Laika's various guns.
Runs well on modern hardware.
Last updated 1d ago
Game is just not fun to play, half the time platforming feels like a chore rather than a fun mechanic. Game needs to be perfect to work with all the bs it deals to you and I'm sorry to say it doesn't control perfectly. And to add insult to injury you add the stupid souls losing money mechanic? to a game where platforming is a chore that could lead to insta death and you die in one hit? You disabled that during boss fights so clearly you knew no one wants to lose progress to bs like that I beat the game now, and while this review was written in Where Water Glistens frustration I still don't think I can recommend this game. The rest of the areas still felt tedious even if not hard, the narrative fell completely flat with no character progression at all(And don't tell me you can't have character progression in these kinds of games i have seen better handilng of it already). The visuals are stellar and the ost is great too(despite feeling slightly samey) but gameplay is just so flawed despite the interesting idea. Like who thought it was a good idea to put rocks and pipes and all sorts of "background objects" in a way that obscures the player?? It's already so easy to lose your character with the camera bouncing around(and sometimes the camera bugs out and doesn't follow you) so was this really necessary? Also you get the 2nd and most important ability so late into the game and it's such a quality of life improvement which the game so desperately needs since it's such a chore to play
This is an amazing game, but... rather challenging. I think it mostly boils down to the fact that there's no real margin for error - it's easy to die, from many different things, and there's never going to be something really protecting you from it, no matter how far you progress. Now, while the game is designed around that with checkpoints in mind - so the challenging parts are very satisfying once you finally get them - it sometimes can become a little too much. Especially with boss fights. Even with the "fast retry" in mind, it's always down to "you can't get hit even once". And that is where it can get a little too much - on top of the fact that the game is generally challenging and requires constant attention and skillful play. That said - I really liked it. The challenge is pretty great, although as I mentioned sometimes a little too much of a "no hit marathon", and the general flow works quite well. On top of that - this game oozes style. The art, the uncompromising story, strong messaging, and phenomenal music - it really puts you in the world and the vibe. It's definitely a hidden gem - if only could get a touch more accessible to some.
I'm glad at some point the game corrupted the save, because finishing it felt like an obligation. Once you look past the hours it takes to navigate through pre-boss levels or back-and-forth of fetch quests (almost all quests here are primitive fetch quests) or to gather resources you need for an upgrade, there's surprisingly little in terms of story or substance. I'm not sure the plot will require a second sheet of paper to write down in details, and butchered exposition doesn't help with giving a damn about characters.
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Data sourced from RAWG, Steam, IGDB, CheapShark, Wikipedia, HLTB, and GX Corner. Sources: rawg, steam, cheapshark, igdb, wikipedia.
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