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- Blood Line is the first Rebel Moon game to be published by Netflix
- A four-player co-op game, it comes to us from Super Evil Megacorp
- It was announced as part of Netflix’s Geeked Week 2024
Well, Netflix’s Geeked Week is wrapping up, and we have really big mobile game news to offer you. Yes, you may’ve already seen it, but developer Super Evil Megacorp (yes, that’s their real name) is making a game based on Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon series.
Blood Line: A Rebel Moon Game is a four-player co-op experience that sees you fighting to retake the planet of Krypt from Motherworld. As you might expect, there are four unique classes with different abilities, a host of different missions, upgradable abilities, weapons and more. But you already knew that, surely?
“Yes, Mister PocketGamer man, I did! So why don’t you stop wasting my time reiterating what the trailer already told me?!”
Well, hypothetically rude reader, you may be pleased to know it’s not just us regurgitating copy. As a matter of fact, we already knew that Blood Line was coming and we managed to go hands-on with it this past week.
I, in particular, have plenty to say about this upcoming title. So sit back, relax and let’s find out what Blood Line has to offer.
The World of Rebel Moon
For those of you not familiar, Rebel Moon is the brainchild of Zack Snyder, himself a well-known director behind movies like 300 and Batman v Superman. Intended to be a massive multimedia franchise, it takes place in the distant future, in a universe dominated by the planet Motherworld and its military might, and focuses on those rebelling against them.
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 worked very well. I was in and playing with the other folks in the test within mere minutes, experiencing little in the way of stutter or latency.
The graphics looked very nice, with real-time lighting around certain effects (very noticeable on night maps) and all manner of well-readable environmental details and other aspects. If you enjoy the “viewing miniatures” aspect of isometric games like this, you’ll find plenty to enjoy as you lean in to take a gander at all the environmental clutter and other features.
Final thoughts
If this is what Netflix turns out in the future games-wise, I think they may be onto a real winner. I was already quite impressed with Netflix’s game offerings with some great indie titles like Into the Breach but was always somewhat disappointed at the games they had produced based on their series. And while I don’t necessarily jam with Zack Snyder’s vision or the film series the game’s based on, I think it’s testament to what SEM have done that I’m intrigued regardless.
Unlike the lacklustre tie-ins or one-and-dones, Blood Line feels like a fully-realised game. And while it won’t replace my love for other co-op games that have captured my life, I can see this being a real winner for Rebel Moon superfans. More importantly, I think it stands well enough on its own that it could appeal not just to them but to casual players too.
We can expect Blood Line to hit iOS and Android sometime in 2025, available (naturally) on Netflix Games for the low, low price of free so long as you have a subscription.
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