The World of Rebel Moon
For those unfamiliar, Rebel Moon is the brainchild of Zack Snyder, a well-known director behind movies like
Unfortunately for me, I’m not a big Rebel Moon fan. I don’t want to call myself “anti-Snyder” or anything grandiose, but I’ve never felt his work really resonates with me. And given I’m a devout Warhammer 40,000 fanatic, I can see shades of that and good ol’ Star Wars layered thickly all over Rebel Moon.
However, I would give props to Super Evil Megacorp for taking the world of Rebel Moon and running with it a bit. From what I got the initial impression of, there’s a little tinge of Firefly in this mix of used-future and exotic future culture in Blood Line, and the equally unusual flora of the world you’re fighting for helps to add to that sci-fantasy atmosphere. Also good to note is that Blood Line is a stand-alone story. You are in effect conducting your own rebellion on an entirely separate moon, away from the action on Veldt. And Super Evil Megacorp has been eager to stress that this game will be welcoming to casual players but with plenty of easter eggs and other “a-ha” moments for fans of the movies to pick out.
What to Expect
Alright, first of all, let’s dig into the gameplay. This is a multiplayer premium experience with a single-player option. Like all of Netflix’s offerings, you won’t be paying a dime in microtransactions or watching in-game advertisements to interrupt gameplay. It’s mainly focused on multiplayer, but there is the option to play offline in single-player mode if you need to.
If you’ve played any co-op game of this nature, you’ll know what to expect. You have four classes: Bannerguard (Tank), Forsaken (DPS), Kindred (Sniper) and Evoker (Support). But this isn’t some Diablo-like – no siree. As a matter of fact, this seems to take a lot of inspiration from a very unique quarter.
Those of you who are longtime fans of another studio, Arrowhead, will remember the first game in their Helldivers series – a top-down frenetic shooter against hordes of enemies. And Blood Line has the vibe of this mixed with a bit of Diablo and horde shooter to boot. You’ll be dropped into a mission, dashing across open ground blasting mooks or more hardy foes in equal measure as you complete a variety of objectives.
The gameplay loop is relatively simple, at least in what I got the chance to play. If you’re a lone wolf, you’ll find you don’t need to rely entirely on your teammates as expendable resources like medikits or ammo drop regularly from enemies. But as always, working together is the best way to avoid spoiling your fun, i.e. by dying.
Super Evil Megacorp’s focus, as I was told, was to concentrate on satisfying a relatively time-starved audience. I’d say the matches we had ran at most to five or maybe ten minutes, possibly less, but they felt plenty exciting. I can definitely see it being worth hopping into, but how well it holds up long-term is a question only time can tell.
How Does It Run?
This is definitely a tricky question, because as I’ve found, my Samsung S20, though venerable, is now decidedly ageing. However, I’m happy to report that while only in alpha, Blood Line ran very well on my device, even if it did start heating up after a while. And it doesn’t look half bad either! Although the folks at SEM did confirm they wouldn’t be offering much in the way of graphics options, instead hoping for a fully optimised experience when it hits release.
The social aspect of partying up and adding friends was incredibly smooth, with only a single menu to open. And despite some teething trouble downloading the alpha, once we were in the game, it all ran seamlessly.