Blues and Bullets - Episode 1: The End of Peace

A visually evocative story-based game, compensating a pretty rough technical side with great artistic design, a spectacular soundtrack and a compelling and brutal noir story.

Irrespective of its perceived value based on its length and price though, there’s no doubt that Blues and Bullets: Episode One alludes to a series that could be somewhat of a diamond in the rough, and I for one am keen to see as to how it develops.

It’s not as polished as a Telltale game but the story is unique and I’m intrigued to see where it will go in episode 2.

The game’s story, confident art style, and engaging crime scene investigation puzzles give the game enough intrigue to stay around. Unfortunately, in its current state, hiccups such as long load times, empty environments, and weak shooting sections hold it back from being something great.

There certainly seems to be a lot of adventure games around these days, and we're happy to state that Blues and Bullets is yet another one you should keep your eyes on.

If you've played a Telltale game, you should have a basic understanding of how Blues and Bullets plays out: tightly scripted scenes, moral choices, QTE battles, and not all that much interaction from the player. But its well-crafted film noir atmosphere—along with some honest-to-god puzzles—make this adventure more than just another copycat.

Elliot Ness never thought that his retirement was going to be as interesting as his job time. This indie adventure shows some promising mechanics that must be fully developed during future episodes of the game.

Blues and Bullets has a very rough start, but it has enough shining moments to keep players intrigued to see where Ness’s story will roll.

It's hard to recommend Blues and Bullets Episode 1 because it feels like two games in one. The first half feels tedious, confusing and poorly paced, but then the second really shows the promise that A Crowd of Monsters has put into the game. If Episode 2 can really keep up the momentum that the second half of Episode 1 had, we're in for a treat. Otherwise, this is one cold case you probably shouldn't open again.

It could have been a good start to the series, but there are some really frustrating elements, and it baffles me how the developers looked at them and said, “yes, this is the product we want to release to the world”: the terrible semi-fixed camera that moves in an unpredictable manner as you move around, the boring gunfight segments, and the fact that, for a standalone episode, pretty much nothing actually happens.

Episode one of Blues and Bullets is a short, whistle-stop tour. Does it have me interested enough to go and buy the next episode? Perhaps. Although not as instantly gripping as The Walking Dead or Life is Strange, it does do something different.