Bloodroots

Bloodroots is a charmingly written tale of revenge. Although its story lacks originality, it makes up for it in vast weapon variety and satisfying yet challenging gameplay that keeps you coming back for more.

You could sum up Bloodroots as a derivative of Hotline Miami, but the final product stands farther apart from that game. The weapon variety and depth gives different levels a distinct personality and the world itself offers a bombastic, naturalistic cartoony style. But what I keep coming back to as my favorite part of Bloodroots is its versatility. The action is ultimately easy to grasp, requiring only three buttons, but you can stylishly do so much with those base ideas thanks to the oodles of weapons and smartly designed levels. Paper Cult stuck the landing on this vibrantly violent game.

Bloodroots is like a Hotline Miami set in a western world, with a little touch of Tarantino. Play it, kill and have fun.

Bloodroots is a fantastic indie action game - it looks gorgeous, it plays even better. If you're a fan of games like Hotline Miami or even just action games in general, this is one worth checking out.

Bloodroots is Chaotic, idiotically violent, and a lot of fun! its an action game with a distinctive formula that keeps you moving and tests your wits all the time.

A highly enjoyable action romp, with a winning sense of humour and a hugely entertaining range of unusually varied weapons.

Bloodroots is an incredibly well-made action title that will keep you hooked with its excellent, flowing combat gameplay. The ability to use pretty much every item littering the world as a weapon means you'll be constantly experimenting to find the most efficient way of defeating your foes. Some lengthy load times and a few camera issues aside, this is a game that almost certainly belongs in your Switch library.

While Australia still doesn’t have Hotline Miami on the Switch, Bloodroots helps to fill that fast-paced violent wound. When you work out how to chain your attacks around the many arenas it feels great, although it can be too unforgiving. Bloodroots revels in ‘everything is your weapon’ slapstick, managing to keep it interesting across the three acts. Paper Cult has delivered a stylish bloody revenge tale that will grab your attention and stab you with it.

Bloodroots‘ cartoony action kept me engaged through its entire campaign. While it can be more difficult to enjoy handheld due to the likes of Nintendo Switch Lite’s smaller screen, the gameplay is utterly unique and justifies a playthrough. There’s enough in the mechanics to entice even the most uninterested individuals to get involved in score-chasing, and the overall narrative is uniquely weird enough to entice someone looking for something different from these sorts of games.

While some overly long levels and a few frustrating hazards threaten to hamper the game’s enjoyment, the amazing and cathartic action in Bloodroots still finds a way to power through these flaws in order to help deliver one highly enjoyable game. Be it the swift yet nicely chaotic gameplay that offers a good chunk of strategy and buckets of blood, the stylistic and attractive art style with a lot of flavor in every bit of scenery, or the simple yet captivating story, there’s a lot here to enjoy. Rain bring Paper Cult the strength, for they have earned it.

Bloodroots offers a satisfying gameplay loop, and the variety of weapons often make up for the overly difficult areas.

Bloodroots is madness in all the best ways… and in one of the worst. Difficulty is well balanced, and even when combat gets truly maddening, the experimentation the title offers is so much fun, it's hard to complain. However, when trying to platform through the many perilous environments, it becomes obvious where its faults lie. The camera and controls in these sections work against what's otherwise a very fun brawler, and drag the experience back from true excellence.

A stylized action fighting game that you will easily get tired of, but on the other hand it can also entertain and reward patient players. [Issue#303]

If you love Hotline Miami and are after an experience that’s similar but faster-paced, by all means give Bloodroots a try. You’ll probably like it. If you have access to a PS4 or PC, however, you should probably pick it up on one of those formats instead.