Bleed 2 picks up right where Bleed left off, with Wryn storming off to beat people up. This time she’s joined by the Rival, who helps her out in the story as she boards Valentine’s ship to… basically murder everyone. Simple stuff.
Platform Reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Platform Available: PC, Nintendo Switch
Developer: BOOTDISK REVOLUTION
Publisher: Digerati
Release Date: March 8, 2018
Price: $14.99 (USD)
This review is based on a review code provided by the Digerati.
The game looks pretty good, and I didn’t notice any performance issues on the Switch. Some of the bullet hell-type attack patterns look awesome, and even though the screen can get very busy, you very rarely lose track of Wryn.
Controls on the Switch are tight if a bit unintuitive for players not familiar with the classic run and gun games. You aim using the right analog stick and move with the left while using the trigger buttons to jump and enter bullet time, and even if you miss your targets, the control scheme doesn’t make you feel cheated if you make a mistake. Whenever I died due to jumping in the wrong direction, I always took it as a learning experience as opposed to feeling like I was being punished for being lousy at platforming.
The story mode is good for practice and especially good for beginners (like myself), but the real meat of the game is in arcade mode. Once you’ve gotten used to dodging and playing stylishly, the game gives you a lot of options from combat to mutators to make your playthrough more challenging. The different weapons and characters available give you a lot of options depending on your style of play, though I personally have trouble parting with the game’s default gun and katana loadout.
One gripe I might have with the game is that a lot of the encounters from the first Bleed game are reused here. While those encounters weren’t necessarily bad, the game does feel short, although there’s definitely a lot of replayability. This is a game that’s great for picking up and putting down with no problems and is great for players looking for a quick and challenging experience. If I had to recommend a version of this game, it’d be the Switch version over PC.
