Officially unveiled at Microsoft’s E3 press conference, Bleeding Edge is the next game from Hellblade developer Ninja Theory. It’s a third-person brawler with a focus on melee combat, and a roster of heroes reminiscent of Overwatch and its many imitators. Does Ninja Theory’s action game expertise help Bleeding Edge to stand out from the busy crowd? To find out, James, Samuel and Phil all played a
Officially unveiled at Microsoft’s E3 press conference, Bleeding Edge is the next game from Hellblade developer Ninja Theory. It’s a third-person brawler with a focus on melee combat, and a roster of heroes reminiscent of Overwatch and its many imitators. Does Ninja Theory’s action game expertise help Bleeding Edge to stand out from the busy crowd? To find out, James, Samuel and Phil all played a round at the Xbox Showcase event.
James Davenport: How do we describe Bleeding Edge? I think calling it a melee action game and citing Ninja Theory’s DmC Devil May Cry is misleading. Melee factors in, but you’re not juggling opponents in prolonged combos or even engaging in intimate duels like you do in Ninja Theory’s more recent and restrained Hellblade. It’s a game that bridges the gap between a MOBA and Overwatch, focusing more on team compositions and tactical ability use than bashing one another’s heads in.
A basic overview before we dig in: Every character is assigned a class—assassin, support, or tank—basic melee or ranged attacks, a few special abilities that operate on a cooldown, and a super move that charges up over time. We played was a simple 4v4 control point mode on a three-laned map, and the action articulated as chaotic teamfights.
I got ten kills, and I only remember getting four of them.
Samuel Roberts: I’ll admit my first response to the trailer was ‘ack, another game with these character designs’. I guess I mean that MOBA-ish grab bag of colourful characters with big personalities, which has become slightly tired to me in the years following Overwatch. And yes, based on one match, I too found it utterly chaotic. I see where careful strategies can come from. One heavy character has a grapple hook ability that drags an enemy in, which combined with AOE attacks from other teammates could end up being an effective strategy. Each character has a ground slam ability, which could result in some exciting jump-down assaults from parties onto populated control points.
