If you’re in the market for a new arena multiplayer battler, then Ninja Theory’s latest game, Bleeding Edge, is available to playtest this weekend. But only if you’re a pre-order backer or Xbox Game Pass owner.
Overwatch? Stale. Apex Legends? It's been done. PUBG? What's that... G? All these games are just guns, guns, and more guns. What you want is something a little more up close, a little more in your face, and a little more... brutal.
If this sounds like you, then you might want to take a look at Bleeding Edge. The latest game from the same studio that brought you Hellblade and DmC: Devil May Cry, Bleeding Edge is a multiplayer hero arena game along the same lines as Overwatch, but instead of focusing on guns and ranged attacks, Bleeding Edge is more about blades and third-person hack-and-slash action.
Announced at 2019's E3, Bleeding Edge has been in development for about three years. Originally conceived as a MOBA, the developers decided to stick with what they're good at and turn the game into a more focused third-person action experience where the player doesn't need to consider the needs of minions and towers and stuff.
Combat is 4v4 with 12 characters to choose from (so far--games like this tend to add tons of characters later on). Each character falls into three categories: Assassin, Support, or Tank. Buttercup, the extra-thicc woman with a buzzsaw blade on each hand, is a melee tank, while Zero Cool is a Hackers-inspired Support healer.
Everyone has special abilities with cooldowns, although the exact details of what those abilities do remains a mystery. A mystery that should be solved this weekend.
Bleeding Edge is heading into its first beta test this weekend. Beginning February 14th at 10 AM PST, anyone who subscribes to Xbox Game Pass or who has pre-ordered the game can log in and try Bleeding Edge out. The beta runs until February 17th at 12 AM PST, giving you all weekend to figure things out.
If you miss it, there's another beta test happening on the weekend of March 13th, then it's just one week to go before the game's official launch on March 24th.
Bleeding Edge is for Xbox One and PC via Steam and the Microsoft store.
Source: Microsoft