The Bloodline Preview

Fantasy RPGs require a few things to be successful and draw in fans both new and old. The games require interesting worlds, tight combat, and exciting lore. However, one thing that many open-world RPGs are accused of lacking is originality. Shieldbreaker Studios thinks it might have something with its latest game, The Bloodline. 

The Bloodline has a pretty basic premise for anyone who is a fan of the genre. You are the child of a once great household that has fallen onto harder times, but you have a magical gift that can raise you back into prominence. Honestly, the base plot isn’t that interesting, but it does what it needs to keep you moving forward. Let’s also be honest: none of the big Western RPGs have interesting main plots except maybe The Witcher. The real focus is either on the side plots that often hide the real interesting stories or on the player's journey through the world. The Bloodline focuses more on the latter, although it lacks named foes that become nemesis. Instead, the work of building your name and town through their ‘heroic’ deeds becomes a plot of their own. 

I will say this: The Bloodline is a big game, and there is a lot to see and do. I spent a few days playing, and even then, I didn’t see everything. So, when I say that I didn’t come across any truly stellar plots, it should be clear that there may be some hiding somewhere. There is plenty for a player to focus on and a lot to do, but there were no standout characters that I saw. If anything, the world is more of a character than any of the beings you talk to. I wanted to learn more about the enemies and the lore, and that is a great aspect to have in any fantasy RPG. I never felt like I didn’t want to explore, aside from one irritating aspect of the gameplay.

The game separates itself into the adventure and the travelling modes. I’ll look at the adventuring in a minute, as it is the stronger section by far. Travelling essentially uses an overhead map that allows the player to select a new area to move to. The issue is that the actual travelling takes a long time, it can be shortened by using a horse, but it isn’t a huge help. There is also no quick-select option for the different areas as of yet, so there is a fair amount of moving around to find things.

As you have probably guessed, the game isn’t a seamless open world. Rather, it is several large open maps that have to be travelled to. The gameplay in these zones, however, is stellar and at times, surprising. The base gameplay is pretty simple; you have spells, weapons, and gadgets that you can use to fight off the enemies. If you have played an Elder Scrolls game, then you will know what to expect from combat. You swing a sword or blast the enemies away with the elements or arrows. The gadget tree adds some surprises, namely with the ability to build defences and even some surprising weapons. The magic is varied, with plenty of options being available to use any element you wish. The Bloodline wants you to build your character, and there are plenty of options to do so.

One of the biggest surprises I found was the varied traversal options on offer. Usually, I would expect my choices to be limited to running, walking, or madly hopping like a rabbit with ADHD. However, once I found out the game gave me a grappling hook. Well, then, it was a whole different ball game. The hook can attach to most things, and it is entirely possible to swing from tree to tree with the touch of a button; it becomes a challenge to see how far you can get. In addition to the hook, several spells offer other traversal methods outside of simple walking. However, the HUD needs some work as the map at the top is quite unclear, and the game badly needs a more detailed map for players to find things, as it can be a nightmare in towns and cities.

Visually The Bloodline reminds me a lot of Roblox and RuneScape, with the designs having a simple base. The details are minimal, and the characters look simple. This allows the maps to be large and full of life while still being easy for older computers to use. However, the artistic focus was clearly on the magic, which is beautiful to look at. The fire spells are bright and flow in waves like you would expect. There is the occasion where it feels like a change of colour pallet for early spells. Honestly, the art style made it feel charming and covered for the lack of real sound design. The music is fine, if a bit basic, but the lack of voice acting is more of a hamper. There are the occasional voice lines (namely one very chatty god), but there is a lot of reading here.

The Bloodline is a game that has a lot to offer, and Shieldbreaker has clearly made a labour of love. The constant updates being released speak to that. However, the game still has a few things that are listed as ‘coming soon’, so a lot of the town mechanics are lacking at the moment. One thing to note is that collecting the resources takes time, and there don’t appear to be any buildings that offer to fix that aside from one quarry. Hopefully, this will be sorted in later updates. Outside of that, there is a lot to look forward to for The Bloodline.