Laika: Aged Through Blood was one of the few titles I dared to pick up at launch this year, and I wasn’t disappointed. Where do I begin? I’ve been wanting a solid action game built on top of a Trials-styled platformer for ages. ‘You do a backflip to reload your gun’ is possibly the best selling point I’ve heard for a game, and it works in practice too. Taking down harder groups of enemies naturally encourages you to pull off stunts while firing off bullets, emptying several clips at a time when you get it just right. As far as ‘Trials combat’ goes, I think it’s one of the better approaches I’ve seen.
The aesthetic of the environments are enjoyable to explore, the story is emotionally-heavy yet self-indulgent in all of the right ways, and the protagonist strikes that tricky balance of a flawed-yet-likable character. I especially liked the distinct focus on the protagonist’s village and family as a driving force of the plot; Both Laika’s daughter and mother play important roles in the plot, on top of being strong foils, ultimately stringing together and complimenting the story as a whole. They’re themes that aren’t commonly emphasized in indie games, and I really appreciate it for being different.
It almost feels like a disservice to be highlighting one of the instrumental songs here, when the game’s made a name for itself with its impressive vocal soundtrack. You can even find the singer and songwriter represented as an in-game character, which fittingly adds to the importance of the songs themselves, and is a trope I’ve always enjoyed in other titles (particularly Supergiant’s works). But the atmospheric songs in-between those vocal highlights are something really special in themselves, and really set the mood for each story beat, boss battle and shift in area as you pedal about the wasteland setting.
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