When developer Ninja Theory first revealed that it would be taking a brief step away from single-player narrative-driven games to develop multiplayer brawler Bleeding Edge, it's safe to say that the industry was taken by surprise. From Heavenly Sword to DmC and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Ninja Theory has proven it’s more than capable of trying new things, enough to get picked up by Xbox Games Studios.
First revealed during Microsoft's E3 2019 Press Conference, Bleeding Edge is a third-person 4v4 multiplayer team fighter coming to Xbox and PC in the first quarter of 2020. Players are able to choose from 12 different hero characters, similar to those found in Overwatch 2 and Apex: Legends, each with their own unique playstyle, weapons, and abilities, split into three different class types: Assassin, Support, and Tank. Our hands-on time with Bleeding Edge was spent playing two 10-minute multiplayer matches in a Domination-style three flag capture game mode, on a city-based map called Jersey Sink.
After a brief tutorial that ran through Bleeding Edge's different hero types and how to use their abilities and supers, we went into the first game. When choosing a character to play, heroes are split into different class types and then ranked by their how difficult the hero is to control and master; a great way for new players to learn the mechanics at their own pace. Of the twelve heroes, we spent time with four: the samurai sword-wielding Daemon, the mechanical snake puppeteer Kulev, the techno kart driver known as Zero Cool, and a gothic guitarist called Nidhoggr, spending the vast majority of time with the latter.
Nidhoggr is wearing tight black leather pants, long hair with black make-up and tattoos, and a gothic aesthetic that's reminiscent of Marilyn Manson. Being one of the easier characters to control, Nidhoggr is a great first choice and one we quickly went back to when thing's got a little tough. His three special abilities included a powerful slide that knocks over enemies and has a burn effect, the ability to breathe fire at close range, and a guitar throw that stuns and slows enemies down, leaving them open to attack.
Each team started on opposite sides of the map with three central flags to be captured, rewarding points the longer a team holds down the position. When the action was high, Bleeding Edge is a lot of fun to play and offers a decent level of variety to keep players invested. Each of the heroes has interesting abilities including freezing enemies in place, mind control, riding missiles, breathing fire, and a guitar solo that sets off an electrifying AoE attack - perfect for capture and defend modes.
However, one thing that was immediately noticeable is the lack of a default sprint ability of all characters, making Bleeding Edge's gameplay feel a lot slower than one would want. Each player does have a hover-board that's meant as a replacement but it wasn't anywhere near as easily accessible or as useful. Unfortunately, when coupled with a large and spread-out map, that works against Bleeding Edge in a 4v4 environment. Traversal is slow and long revives with low numbers slows the pace down dramatically. Only once in the game were we ever in a fight of more than 3 players and that was at the start of the match at the center flag.
Between live-service games like Destiny 2, battle royale’s such as Fortnite and Apex: Legends and the recent Overwatch 2 reveal, the market is saturated with games that demand player's time like never before. In the lead-up to next-generation consoles like the PS5, it's not enough to be a good video game anymore and there’s less room for new games to stand out and leave there mark without a unique hook or feature to distinguish from the rest.
At least at first glance, Bleeding Edge does appear to be a great first foray into multiplayer games for Ninja Theory with more than enough creativity to peak players' interest at launch. The demo looked and felt polished, the core gameplay felt fun, and the heroes all feel like unique characters from design to their abilities. The pacing was the only major area that the game felt like it could be improved.
Bleeding Edge releases March 24, 2020, for PC and Xbox One.