In an increasingly competitive and over-saturated genre, it can be difficult, if not impossible, for an indie Metroidvania to truly stand out among the crowd, but Laika: Aged Through Blood very much succeeds in pulling the player into its dystopian world through the eyes of its titular, canine rebel, with the gritty and visceral experience leaving a lasting impression long after the credits roll.
While it does carry some minor frustrations and narrative shortcomings, Laika is the kind of game you can easily lose yourself in, thanks to the story’s formidable protagonist, clever Trials-esque game mechanics, beautifully-crafted, screenshot-worthy world (I have a whole album saved to my PS5, along with a new home screen backdrop), and outstanding original soundtrack that’s great to listen to both in and out of the game (I ended up quickly adding the OST to my Apple Music playlist, and have since turned more and more people onto Beícoli’s wonderfully haunting, melancholic melodies).
On paper, Laika’s motorbike-themed movements and gameplay—which feel reminiscent of games like Trials—may sound a bit strange within the world of Metroidvanias, where one is used to plodding on foot, jumping, crouching, and sometimes parrying for precise movement and kills. Instead of traveling on foot, outside of a few specific areas—such as your homebase and a few shops scattered across the map—you’ll spend the majority of the game atop your trusty motorbike.
While Laika’s bike mechanics do admittedly take a little while to get used to (I won’t lie: It is very easy to die in this game, be it from a poorly-timed jump, an enemy’s single, errant bullet, or simply face-planting while standing still), those who give it a chance will find themselves quickly adapting to the bike’s movements and satisfying tricks, at which point the road opens itself up to a dazzling journey filled with beautifully-crafted landscapes, such as desolate deserts, floating cities, and steampunk-esque facilities that house the story’s avian villains and their dangerous plans for world domination.
There’s genuinely a lot to like here—those who enjoy Metroidvania-themed sidescrollers and emotionally-charged adventures will most likely find themselves right at home throughout Laika’s 18+ hour journey.
The hero’s motorbike is an extension of both herself and the player—it will be your best friend throughout Laika’s journey, and it feels genuinely satisfying to pull off its slick tricks as you navigate perilous obstacles and deadly avian soldiers. Performing a mid-air backflip reloads your gun, a front spin reloads your deflect/parry, and you activate a satisfying mid-drive directional change with the hold of a button (square on PS5), which, in addition to changing the direction you’re facing, deflects an enemy’s bullet, via a satisfying metal *ping* off the bike’s body, right back at them (I’m a sucker for a parry, and really enjoyed Brainwash Gang’s personal spin on this mechanic).
The game offers a small selection of weapons, where you start off with a simple, two-ammo-capacity revolver and eventually unlock more weapons as you make your way through the story, like a shotgun, crossbow, and sniper; while the guns don’t necessarily carry Earth-shattering differences (aside from the shotgun, which helps propel you to harder-to-reach places thanks to its handy knock-back), it’s still satisfying to gradually upgrade them via acquired environmental materials, and the adrenalin of quickly juggling your remaining ammo, while facing perilous obstacles and strategically-placed enemies and their encroaching gunfire, never loses its appeal.
When everything goes right, you feel like Mad Max kicking ass on the open road, and when everything falls apart (which it often will), a quick checkpoint, which is mercifully never far from your last place of death, is there to put you right back in the action to try again.
A lot of what makes or breaks a Metroidvania are its map and settings, and thankfully Laika offers a varied and visually-pleasing environment that urges exploration.
While in the middle of a main mission, I often found myself just hitting the road and exploring new areas, which would result in a sudden change of scenery, be it a junkyard-themed landscape, rusted pipes, or floral treetops. Laika really nails the gratifying itch of discovering new areas, and its fun to hunt down the strategically-placed, mysterious map-holding figure, who grants you a map of each new section for a small fee called “Viscera” (which consists of meaty chunks of your dead enemies that are magnetically pulled to your character), all while lovingly calling you a silly wanker.
Although I genuinely enjoyed almost every area of the map, certain sections do tend to drag a bit and/or feel unnecessarily long or tedious—the boat-themed section, and a later pyramid-themed area, in particular, while still fairly enjoyable, ended up being as some of my least-favorite parts of the game, largely due to a specific harpoon-themed tool that ends up being largely useless in the open world, and excessive backtracking that felt more like forced filler than well-crafted puzzle solving. Thankfully, these kinds of sections are few and far between, and ended up not really detracting from the overall experience.
For its narrative, you’ll find yourself quickly invested in the plot, where you play as a coyote named Laika—a nihilistic, battle-worn, and bike-toting gunslinger who possesses an ability to resurrect herself from death. At the start of the game you’re tasked in locating a couple of missing denizens from Laika’s small village, which launches an emotional journey where Laika’s daughter, aptly named Puppy, urges you to find her friend’s missing body so as to lay its spirit to rest, all while you attempt to avoid all-out war with the authoritarian bird-themed militia responsible for the merciless killings.
There’s a lot of mysticism and spirituality in play, with Laika possessing the power to resurrect herself after death thanks to her family’s hereditary, blood-based powers, which become a central point to the villain’s motives; this also works as a clever way to incorporate your countless deaths into the story itself. Certain other story elements, like the magical totem poles/bone memorials, which are peppered throughout the map and serve as save points, characters’ discussions regarding life, death, and spirituality, and the often melancholic soundtrack, also greatly add to the distinct feel of the world and the characters that inhabit it.
I often found myself getting lost in these spiritual and introspective moments, which, in turn, made me careful not to rush through the story and to allow myself to soak up the game’s surprisingly transcendental undertones, which juxtapose well with the narrative’s often violent key plot points. It’s the kind of game where you find yourself reflecting on your own life, putting yourself in certain characters’ shoes, and attempting to understand the motives behind the more unfavorable individuals in the game’s unforgiving world.
Aside from the game’s tricky movement-based mechanics, and instances of minor glitches (I had to reset my game a couple of times due to my character suddenly being frozen in place, and the map not allowing me to move its cursor or teleport to a new area, in addition to a couple of other minor visual and audio glitches), the story’s ending ended up being as one of the weakest points of the game, with its head-scratchingly-easy final boss (compared to the much harder earlier boss fights, one of which took me close to twenty tries to finally defeat), and rushed/somewhat abrupt final cutscene making it feel like Brainwash Gang simply wanted to wrap the story up rather than reach a more satisfying or rewarding sense of closure.
While subjective, since the story did such a great job of pulling me in and making me care for its characters and the world they inhabit, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated by how much the final act fumbled in sticking the landing, resulting in a “what could have been” kind of moment as I watched the credits roll. Laika’s lack of NG+ or multiple endings—which is a bit surprising for a Metroidvania-themed game—sadly kills the game’s replayability as well; unless you want to upgrade all your weapons, collect all the music tapes, and complete every side quest (which you’ll likely get close to achieving in your first playthrough anyway, if you take your time like I did), there’s admittedly not a lot of incentive for multiple playthroughs.
Regarding its performance, while I played Laika on a base PS5, where I enjoyed crisp graphics and a 60 FPS experience—in addition to a few minor hiccups, as mentioned before—the Nintendo Switch’s 30 FPS version may prove to be less fluid by comparison, as well as graphically softer around the edges. For a game like this, where timing is everything, I’d recommend choosing a version that hits those sixty frames per second.
Verdict
While Laika: Aged Through Blood does demand a lot from the player, due to the game’s sensitive motorbike-centric mechanics, once you get a firmer grasp on the controls (and the bike’s handlebars), the game immediately rewards you with satisfying gunplay and bike tricks, a likable, badass protagonist, a beautifully-drawn world, and stellar OST, making the price of entry—i.e. a brief amount of patience to get used to the controls—very much worth the journey.
The game’s minor glitches, occasional excessive backtracking, and rushed ending do bog the experience down a bit, but Laika: Aged Through Blood is nonetheless a unique and exciting Metroidvania that sticks in your brain long after you watch the credits roll; a kind of game that oozes artistic inspiration and, in many ways, helps elevate the video game medium.
8/10 GREAT
The Good
- Beautifully-crafted and visually-rich world that urges exploration
- Three-dimensional-sounding characters that immediately pull you into the narrative
- Slick motorbike-themed mechanics that feel well-implemented and satisfying to pull off, at least once you get accustomed to the controls
- Satisfying gunplay and a couple of genuinely memorable boss fights
- Wonderful OST that serves as a great backdrop to the story and environment as you explore the desolate wasteland
The Bad
- The game’s reliance on its squirrely and specific bike-themed mechanics may be a turnoff for some players
- A couple of needlessly-heavy backtracking areas feel more like filler than clever puzzle solving
- Certain sections and mechanics/tools end up lacking stronger intrigue or usefulness (looking at you, harpoon)
- Underwhelming and abrupt conclusion to an otherwise immersive and captivating story
Les clocked in close to 30 hours during his time with Laika: Aged Through Blood on PS5, where he completed nearly every side quest and acquired nearly every collectible throughout his blood-soaked journey.
