So first of all, let me preface this by saying I did not grow up with the Bloodrayne games, but as a kid it was hard to forget seeing something like Bloodrayne on those review shows on TV. Cut to 2020, and by complete chance, I saw that these remasters might be a good chance to finally experience the game for myself. My god, I was not expecting something that just kept pushing me to go crazy and have some fun! The combat is admitedly not very deep, there's no blocking whatsoever, and it's not particularly difficult (save for a couple bosses) but there's just something so satisfying about cutting entire groups of enemies to ribbons (the gore is fantastic, and the carnage doesn't disappear so you can take some time to look upon your work) and feeding on the last one. Did I mention there's unlimited bullet time? Because there's unlimited bullet time and watching all the bodies fly around you as you cut them apart with your blades or your guns does not get old. While the game isn't exactly Max Payne, there is plenty of room for self expression in combat, with my personal favourite being to activate slo-mo, super jump across a large pit while gunning down some poor sods on the other side and watch Rayne land gracefully with a roll. Now, as for the atmosphere, it knows exactly what it is. It's a leather-fetish clad, cheesy grindhouse film that revels in the blood-soaked violence and sexy overtones, in fact, if I had to describe this game in a few words it would definitely be "sex and violence". The dialogue, cutscene direction, even the cheatcodes are totally unapolagetic about what it is, and it's clear that the developers put a lot of love into it. I was saddened to read about what happened to Terminal Reality in the proceeding years. Despite some of the faults I listed earlier, I'm giving this a 5/5 to show my support for the possible return of this franchise and if you were a curious kid like me, you owe it to yourself to experience this awesome game. Rayne is bae.
