Blood of Heroes Open Beta Impressions
There’s a new free-to-play PvP brawler in town, and its name is Blood of Heroes. This debut title by the PC and console division of Vizor Games is currently in open beta and inviting players to test their might in solo or team PvP game modes. Blood of Heroes is set in a dark, medieval, and distinctly Nordic realm where battles are fought in the arena and warriors compete to prove their worth. Although PvP games are not exactly our forte, the lure of glory and riches proved irresistible, so we entered the fray.
Blood of Heroes opens with a tutorial that teaches players all the basics needed to survive in the arena. After that, it is up to players to put this knowledge to good use and master the techniques if they want to have a shot at victory. The game is played in the third person, and players have access to three initial characters. Rathka is a frontline fighter with a massive shield and enough armor to take on an entire team. Renar is another formidable fighter but favors agility over armor, while Vorga is best kept behind the frontlines to provide support for the team through healing. At least, this is how things are meant to play out, but initially, the urge is strong for everyone in the team to just leap into action and flail away at opponents. The downside, of course, is that weaker characters like Vorga are wasted on the frontlines, and friendly fire is a thing, so Rathka players could end up decimating their own team in the chaos.
The game has a few different modes, so players who want to build up their confidence before entering the arena can do so against a training bot or in a friendly duel with a teammate. Players who wish to test their skills without the assistance of a team can take part in not-so-friendly duels with other players, while Brawl and Domination are for groups. Brawl is geared towards teams of three players duking it out, while Domination is a 5v5 battle for areas in larger arenas.
Since the game’s primary focus is combat, a lot of effort has gone into making it look and feel exciting. Players can perform light and heavy attacks along with the ability to block or dodge. In addition, each character has a special move, an “ultimate” ability, as well as a weapon ability. Changing a weapon’s skin can also change its ability, which adds some variety to battles even if players use the same character. For example, Rathka has a flanged mace and shield, but using the “Gada” skin gives him a stunning blow ability that stuns all enemies in range when activated. Switching to the “Shaspar” skin replaces it with a wall of resistance ability, which creates an area that periodically knocks down enemies. In addition to their health, bar players must also keep an eye on their stamina gauge unless they want to be at a disadvantage in battle.
Blood of Heroes is a great title for players who can work together as a team as this provides an advantage in battle. Being able to coordinate who uses which character is handy as a squad of second-line fighters will have a bad day against a team of frontline fighters. If a player is killed during brawls, they are out of action until the next round and have to choose another character. The only exception is if it is their last character and the battle turns into a best out of five scenario, in which case they can only continue with that character.
Although Blood of Heroes is a free-to-play title, it does have some monetization elements. The “premium” currency in the game is bloodstones, which can be bought in quantities of 50 up to 650 for anything between $4.99 and $49.99. These bloodstones can be spent on either a one-day or 30-day “premium” account, which only increases the number of coins earned during victory and defeat. In conjunction with coins, which is the in-game currency, bloodstones can also be used to purchase the three additional characters. Other items on sale include skins, arena elements, and resources. However, resources can also be earned in-game and used to craft arena elements. The arena customization is a rather interesting aspect of the game as it is only applicable to duels. Players can customize arenas with everything from graffiti and gates to pedestals and even the weather. These personal arenas are a great way to show off your dedication without causing an imbalance in the game. Our only concern was with one of the paid characters, Hontunga, who is not only very fast but can throw javelins from a distance and create temporary clones of himself. We came up against teams with Hontunga a few times, and he proved to be a pain to deal with, especially for slower characters like Rathka.
We didn’t have any trouble finding matches in a matter of seconds during the Open Beta, although there were a few instances where one of our own members or someone from the opposing team didn’t manage to join. This was thankfully a rare occurrence, and in most cases, we were quickly matched up with other players.
Only time will tell if Blood of Heroes has what it takes to keep players hooked, but we enjoyed our time with the open beta. The melee-focused combat has some real weight to it, and button mashing will only tire out your character and make them an easy target. Figuring out the special moves and abilities of each character and weapon also helps a lot instead of spamming them randomly. There is a definite learning curve to the game, but it is still a lot more accessible than other PvP focused titles out there. None of the battles we fought was a walk in the park, though, and some of our opponents already had devious strategies for dividing and conquering their enemies.
Check out the video below to see the game in action and to hear more about what we thought of our experience with the open beta. Players interested in finding out more about Blood of Heroes or entering the battles themselves can head to the official website.
