Bow to Blood Review

Bow to Blood is an action adventure game published and developed by Tribetoy for the PS4, or more specifically the PSVR. The main appeal of this game is being able to stand on the bridge of your own airship. I feel that the PSVR was meant for games like this, as it feels like we are really there with all this power at our disposal. A game that combines two of the most popular elements found in gaming, combat and simulation management was a match made in heaven.

Set in a Sci-Fi world where the empire is declining, we are thrusted into an arena for the heart of the story in Bow to Blood. An arena where we have to destroy the competition, this is something that is becoming more and more common. But these games are the sort that you can keep coming back to, I thoroughly enjoy the feeling of annihilating my competition in a reality show environment where I need to win the love and adoration of the fans, whist also impressing the potential sponsors who have some goodies for the airships and their captains that they deem worthy.

The fans and sponsors are extremely important, an unpopular or underachieving airship is not going to do its self any favours; being the losing captain is a good way to guarantee you will always be the losing captain. If on the other hand, you and your ship are at the heart of some incredible battles with you walking away with victory, you will enjoy rewards and riches to give you an advantage as you progress even further through the story.

The combat in Bow to Blood is a lot of fun, when in battles it is critical that you give tasks to your crew, aim your weapons and most importantly pilot your ship, nothing worse than forgetting that you control everything causing yourself a defeat. Perhaps my favourite aspect of the air battles is when an enemy ship gets too close to comfort giving you the opportunity to go to that trusty side arm that all captains possess, you never know when things are going to get up close and personal, but when they do be prepared.

My favourite part of battling was picking and choosing my friends or foes, being able to team up with a rival to wipe out the competition made for some interesting events to witness. On occasion I found myself going one step further, why should I share the points earned from a battle? After the other challengers have been dealt with, that is when it became an opportune time to take out my temporary partner, effectively ending what was an uneasy alliance to begin with.

The graphics are better than I was anticipating, they style of the game works well, certainly suits the game itself, with its aesthetic strongly resembling No Mans Sky. It is clear to see what games helped to influence Bow to Blood besides how it looks, to me it seems clear that games such as Assassins Creed: Black Flag helped to shape the combat when battling in your air ship. The controls are well designed, with you having full control over the steering of your ship whilst being able to assign the tasks to your crew helping to ensure your impending victory.

While I enjoyed the experience and do feel that it has a certain amount of replayability, due to choosing allies or which rivals to screw over. The cast of characters also changes with each playthrough helping to create unique experiences. If you found yourself enjoying Star Trek: Bridge Crew then perhaps you should give this game a go, Bow to Blood does feel similar in the way you manage your crew. As far as a PSVR game goes Bow to Blood is certainly one to be considered for entry into your collection.

REVIEW CODE: A FREE Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.