2023-10-29 12:10:02
Game news A motorvania? You don’t know what it is and yet you will love it!
Published on 10/29/2023 at 1:10 p.m.
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A new contender for the GOTY title? At least that’s what the player reviews of this surprising title suggest. So surprising that he invented a new genre: the motorvania. We explain to you why you absolutely must play Laika: Aged Through Blood.
“This game is definitely going to be my GOTY”…So no, this opinion of JoePapa does not refer to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, or even Super Mario Bros. Wonder but another recent release: Laika: Aged Through Blood. You may have never heard of the game from Brainwash Gang and Headup Publishing and yet it is one of the gems of the end of the year. 95% positive evaluations on Steam, a score of 81% on OpenCritic… Players are full of praise for the game and we are reassured! Because here at the editorial office, we’ve been eyeing Laika: Aged Through Blood for a while now. We gave in to his advances, out of simple curiosity, during the Steam Neo Fest last June and we quickly fell under his spell. Blame it on daring gameplay, an innovative concept and a stunning DA. But it was just a demo. It is therefore difficult to know if the game was really worth the effort… And, as you will have understood, it is ultimately the case!
A motorvania… And even more
As we said in the title, Laika is a motorvania, at least that’s how the developers present it. “Kesako?” Well it’s quite simply the contraction of motorcycle (motorbike in English) and metroidvania. But once this point has been clarified, we are still very far from having said everything about this title, which is as gripping as it is complex. Let’s start with the simplest if you like: Laika Aged Through Blood is therefore a 2D metroidvania. The structure of Brainwash Gang’s game more or less resembles what you already know: a map that reveals itself gradually, dungeons and back and forth to unlock new paths with your newly acquired skills. And like Hollow Knight, you will have to recover your bag of parts, or guts (don’t ask questions), each time you die if you don’t want to lose the fruit of all your efforts. But that’s not all !
The particularity of Laika: Aged Through Blood is that you travel almost entirely on a motorbike. And this motorcycle is not just a particularly fast means of transport. The movement and combat mechanics are indeed closely linked. You can avoid your enemies’ bullets using the underbody of your vehicle and reflect attacks using the front of your motorcycle. So it’s not a question of going straight ahead. You will have to play skillfully with frontflips and backflips to hope to have a chance of passing between the balls. It gives exhilarating gameplay and a whole new way to play, a real pleasure. Pleasure which nevertheless loses a little of its flavor during boss fights that are visually successful but too repetitive.
In Laika: Aged Through Blood, there is also crafting, new weapons and lots of mechanics that make the gameplay a little more complex. In just over an hour of play, we weren’t able to discover all the possibilities. But according to the reviews, there are many, sometimes too many for the game’s own good according to some. It is for this reason in particular that we find rather mixed opinions on Metacritic. CGMagazine regrets gameplay that is too complex for not much. But at IGNit is precisely this complexity that excited the journalist who gave the game a score of 9/10. You will have understood that although Laika promises to be an excellent game, it is not for everyone.
Gore and deaths
Laika: Aged Through Blood is a difficult game, really. Because if the mechanics are quite simple to learn at the beginning, the more enemies accumulate, the more death becomes inevitable. And then, with Trials-style movement, you only need to be inattentive for a few seconds and you’re crushed to death on the ground or against a ledge. As a result, we have already unlocked a not-so-enjoying trophy: that of 100 deaths on the clock. But despite everything, the game never proved frustrating during our hour of play, in particular thanks to its numerous (and valuable) checkpoint. But if reflexes and precision are not your areas of predilection, the adventure can be really tough, or even annoying in the long run. Given that it takes around ten hours to finish the game, imagine the number of deaths that await you.
If you are a sensitive person, you may also want to move on. Laika is a game played with the guts, literally. Guts, blood and other viscera will be there. In the post-apocalyptic world where Laika and her clan live, you shouldn’t be afraid because the Birds will stop at nothing to terrorize anyone who is not one of them. Quickly, the game puts us in the bath of what will become a story of revenge where all blows, even the most violent and bloody, are permitted. Suffice to say that children are not the target of this game with a dark story, both in form and content. If you are the sensitive type, we can only advise you to try the demo to see what it’s all about. But between you and us, it would be a shame to miss out on what Laika has to tell because of a few guts accidentally dislodged from their body.
If we had high expectations for Laika in terms of gameplay, we hadn’t really expected to come across such a rich and well-crafted universe. We had already noted the artistic direction with very nice post-apocalyptic western tones, but here we were able to discover colorful and endearing characters. From Laika’s granddaughter to the elder who leads the clan, including the vengeful grandmother, it’s really fun to discover everyone’s story and concerns. And if you are a fan of additional content, know that some will have quests to offer you. On top of that, you can enjoy admirable production on certain scenes and a great soundtrack that evolves as the game progresses. For the moment, we are surprised and more than seduced and we are obviously not the only ones!
You will have understood, Laika: Aged Through Blood is a surprising and devilishly exhilarating game. On the other hand, it is not for everyone. But if the difficulty and the blood do not scare you, we can only encourage you to discover this atypical experience as you wish. Maybe you too will find your GOTY there, who knows! Laika: Aged Through Blood has been available since October 19 on PC and should arrive on consoles soon.
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