Ninja Theory has been fairly busy since being acquired by Microsoft and incorporated into Xbox Game Studios. It has Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, a follow-up to the critically acclaimed Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, along with the ambitious Project Mara and The Insight Project. Unfortunately, its focus on the newer projects means support for Bleeding Edge is coming to a close.

The developer announced on Twitter that there would be no further content updates for the multiplayer title. It’s still playable on Xbox consoles and PC though but servers could likely be shut down in the coming days. Given the current player base – Steam indicates a peak player count of eight players in the last 24 hours – that could happen sooner than later.

Released in 2020 for Xbox One and PC, Bleeding Edge is a team-based multiplayer brawler with a roster of fighters to choose from. Each character has its own role and unique abilities with various objective-based modes to participate in. Despite being included with Xbox Game Pass, Bleeding Edge failed to really take off and has only slid further down overtime. You can check out our review for it here.

With the studio now focusing on our new projects (Senua’s Saga, Project Mara & The Insight Project) we have decided that there will be no further content updates for Bleeding Edge. The game is still playable on Xbox and PC. Thank you to the fans & keep teaming up & causing chaos!

— Bleeding Edge (@BleedingEdgeNT) January 28, 2021

Marvel’s Avengers

When Marvel’s Avengers was first revealed, “yikes” was the only real way to describe it, from the characters’ looks to the proud announcement of no loot boxes. All of this before any real gameplay, mind you. Following the game’s first delay, Crystal Dynamics began offering up more details and its looter focus became a bit clearer. But cue the first beta, which was monumentally flawed from the get-go, and the anticipation for launch became all the more soured. Sure enough at launch, Marvel’s Avengers suffered from performance issues, connectivity issues, balance issues, the list goes on. Even from a design standpoint, it was criticized for its grindy gameplay, one-note mission design, shallow end-game, lackluster loot, etc etc.

While it did sell an impressive 2.2 million digital units in its debut month, Square Enix would reveal in its second quarter FY2021 financial briefing that sales were lower than expected. In fact, development costs had yet to be recouped and the company suffered an operating loss of about $67 million. New content is on the way with the two Hawkeyes and Spider-Man, not to mention launches for Xbox Series X/S and PS5 next year but for now, Marvel’s Avengers is perhaps this year’s biggest commercial flop.

Warcraft 3: Reforged

How do you possibly mess up a classic game like Warcraft 3? It’s one thing to have multitudes of bugs, horrible multiplayer, an underwhelming UI, and an uneven graphics update. It’s quite another to claim ownership over all custom games with players not even getting credit. Or outright lying about remastered cutscenes and presentation. Or making it so that owners of the original had to update to Reforged, thus ruining their nostalgia as well. Or a dozen other things that make you wonder how Blizzard got to this point.

Ninja Theory’s 4v4 multiplayer brawler Bleeding Edge might have died down since launch but the development continues to work on it. In its latest community update, it confirmed that Mekko the Dolphin – the first post-launch fighter – would be arriving next week. A new emote along with the Techno Viking board will also be available for all fighters.

Mekko is certainly an interesting character since it’s a dolphin inside of a mech designed like a crab. Along with firing at enemies with its Sonar Gun, Mekko can also use a bubble shield to tank damage. Different abilities include Lifeline, which absorbs a percent of damage from an ally and can reel them in, and Safety Zone, which provides an area for Mekko’s team to gain life-steal and armor.

Then there are Mekko’s Super abilities like Sonic Barrage for knocking back enemies, ideally into environmental hazards. You can also take an enemy out of a team fight with Exclusion Bubble, though they can’t take damage and the opposing team can destroy said bubble. Stay tuned for more detailed patch notes when Mekko goes live next week.

When you start up Bleeding Edge for the first time, you’re thrown into a brief tutorial that runs you through the basic mechanics of the game. Each character has a main attack that is triggered with the X button, as well as three abilities triggered with B, Y, and the right bumper. A chargeable meter attack, kind of like your super in Destiny or an ultimate in Overwatch, is triggered with left bumper.

The controls, while fairly simple, never quite became intuitive; the layout is just so different from any other game like this, and it doesn’t feel like it makes the gameplay smoother. Still, the controls are simple enough, and they never change between characters, so once you do master them, you’re good for the rest of the game.

"The controls, while fairly simple, never quite became intuitive; the layout is just so different from any other game like this, and it doesn’t feel like it makes the gameplay smoother."

The different abilities are what define the characters, who are divided into three broad categories; DPS, Support, and Tank. The classes are fairly self-explanatory, and the game does a good job of making the characters within each class feel mechanically distinct from one another. Some of my personal favorites included Gizmo, an engineer who controls the battlefield with turrets and a long range machine gun; Miko, a combat healer with a really cool tribal aesthetic; and El Bastardo, a tank who lunges into battle with dual swords and a stunning ability.

There’s also Maeve, easily the most mechanically interesting; an elderly woman who can summon cages to trap foes in place, opening them up to devastating damage. The character list at launch is relatively small, but I actually think that’s a strength of the game. It allows each character to feel developed and distinct, and gives the team time to balance the roster. No one character feels noticeably better than the rest, at least not outside their specialized roles; roster balance is excellent here.

The characters are a huge part of the appeal of Bleeding Edge; the character designs ooze personality, and help carry the already vibrant, cell-shaded visuals. Each character has a distinct design, which makes them easy to spot on the battlefield, an important thing in any multiplayer shooter. The animations are crisp, and the levels are vibrant, with interesting and distinct locales; however, the maps are sometimes a weakness of the game.

There’s a relatively small number of them, and some maps are definitely better than others. They also have a tendency to rely on chokepoints at spots, funneling players down a couple of narrow pathways to an objective, resulting in matches that can sometimes feel like chaotic bloodbaths. Still, the maps are better more often than not; these faults are just something to be aware of.

"The animations are crisp, and the levels are vibrant, with interesting and distinct locales; however, the maps are sometimes a weakness of the game."

The core gameplay of Bleeding Edge is fun, if fairly straightforward. Aside from the tutorial, which is fairly short, and a dojo mode, where you can practice with any character you want, against or alongside up to three AI controlled bots, the whole game revolves around its competitive multiplayer experience.

With nothing else on offer, the game relies heavily on it’s multiplayer maps and modes to carry the experience. It mostly succeeds, though once again, what’s on offer here is relatively limited. The game is split into two modes; an objective capture mode, and a collection mode. The objective capture mode is fairly straightforward; each map has a handful of control points.

Every so often, a random number of those zones will unlock, allowing teams to capture and hold them to earn points. After a period of time, the control points lock and become neutral, and then a different set of them open up. The locking an unlocking helps keep the gameplay fluid, and prevents matches from ever becoming a stalemate at one specific objective, which is a welcome change of pace from other similar games.

"With nothing else on offer, the game relies heavily on it’s multiplayer maps and modes to carry the experience."

The collection mode is similar; sets of crates spawn on the map, which can be destroyed to pick up power cells within them. When all the cells are collected, objectives appear on the map where teams can deposit their collected cells for points. The cycle then repeats; killed players drop any cells they were carrying, making them vulnerable to being acquired by the opposing team. The two modes are similar, but the specific dynamics of each one are varied enough to keep them interesting.

And this is both the biggest strength and biggest weakness of the game. Everything about it is so condensed; there’s only a handful of characters and maps, and only two modes. This allows the developers to fine tune each aspect, and has helped make the game a lot more balanced than many other entries in the genre. But it also results in a game where, unless you’re absolutely sold on it’s core gameplay, will start to wear thin fairly quickly. It doesn’t help either that the game has relatively little progression; levelling up unlocks you mods for different characters, and earns credits that can be used to purchase cosmetics.

This is cool, but the mods never felt terribly essential, and either way they were earned at random; you could spend hours grinding a certain character and not unlock mods for them. The cosmetics, meanwhile, were very limited; each character only had a couple of skins available for purchase, none of which looked all that distinct from each other, consisting mostly of just a color swap of what is otherwise the exact same costume. Once again, it results in a game very light in content, that grows rather same-y fairly quickly, unless you’re fully invested in the gameplay for its own sake.

"I’m just not quite convinced that Bleeding Edge will successfully stand out from the pack. I hope I’m wrong, I really do, because there’s a lot to like about this game. "

And as a further consequence, the light content results in a game that feels like it lacks a distinct identity, or rather, a reason to be picked instead of it’s competition. It has a lot going for it under the surface; a better balanced roster than most other games in the genre, one that overflows with character and personality.

But on the surface, it appears to offer relatively little that couldn’t already be acquired elsewhere. In a genre as crowded as the class-based multiplayer shooter, standing out is vital for success; these games live and die by their play count. And I’m just not quite convinced that Bleeding Edge will successfully stand out from the pack.

I hope I’m wrong, I really do, because there’s a lot to like about this game. But a lack of a distinct personality, plus some light content at launch, may cause the game to have some problems retaining players, which will be a death sentence for this game. If you have any interest, I recommend giving it a shot; it’s really a solid entry into the genre. Just be aware of its shortcomings; the next couple of months will be critical in deciding the fate of Bleeding Edge. I hope it succeeds.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox One.

Ninja Theory’s Bleeding Edge is coming next week, providing a team-based multiplayer brawling experience for Xbox One and PC players. In the midst of all this however, it’s easy to forget that there is a story playing out in the background. Check out the launch trailer below for more details.

Essentially, leaked augmentations in a future full of megacorporations has resulted in the rise of a twisted underground fighting ring. But those who don’t care won’t have to bother much with story set-up. Bleeding Edge gets right to the action, providing several different characters with unique abilities. You can pull enemies around using Buttercup’s saw blade, tank damage with Makutu or play stealthy as Daemon.

Bleeding Edge also overs some unique traversal options like hoverboards and environmental hazards like trains. You can also unlock different upgrades and parts, customizing each fighter in different ways. Releasing on March 24th for PC and Xbox One, Bleeding Edge will be available on Xbox Game Pass. Stay tuned for more details in the coming days.

A new slate of high-profile games is coming to Xbox Game Pass for consoles tomorrow. Bandai Namco’s Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown and Focus Home Interactive’s The Surge 2 will be available along with investigative thriller Kona from Parabole. The Surge 2 will also be available for Xbox Game Pass for PC later in March.

On March 24th, Xbox One and PC players get Bleeding Edge, Ninja Theory’s team-based brawler. March 26th marks the arrival of Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid on consoles, which will also be available for Xbox Game Pass for PC later this month. Astroglaster rounds out the remaining PC releases for the month.

Unfortunately, there a number of titles that will be leaving both Game Pass platforms this month. Console players will be losing Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, The Golf Club 2 and LEGO Worlds. PC players will be losing out on Battle Chef Brigade, Kingsway and Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You. Both platforms will lose Operencia: The Stolen Sun, Cities: Skylines and Vampyr in addition to the above.

Despite being known for their unique single player titles, Ninja Theory’s next game is all about a new take on multiplayer. With a lot of very unique and cool designs, and a mixture of both shooting and melee combat, Bleeding Edge is looking to carve out a niche for itself in an already crowded marketplace, with promises to listen closely to their community for post-launch support. And thankfully, it won’t take up much space on your system’s storage (initially, at least).

The listing for the game has popped up on the Microsoft Store. On Xbox One, it looks like the size is 11.44 GB, with the PC version requiring 14.85 GB. This, of course, will balloon up, presumably, since the game will have a lot of updates, being multiplayer-focused and all- but still, that’s not too bad out of the gate.

Bleeding Edge is set to release on March 24th for both Xbox One and PC, including a day and date release on Game Pass for both. You can read up on some things to know about the game before you check it out through here.

This month will see the launch of Ninja Theory’s Bleeding Edge. The game shares a lot of the aesthetics you expect to see from the developer, but is a far different project than what they’ve done in the past. It’s a multiplayer focused affair that sees a mix of melee and shooting, something rather unique for the genre. As you’d expect, the game will also have post-launch content, and Ninja Theory will be looking to the community for what to focus on.

In a long interview with Windows Central, Director Rahni Tucker spoke at lengthy about various aspects of the game. When talking about the game’s inevitable DLC, she said they didn’t have a specific roadmap in mind. They said things like new fighters are a given, but they’re going to look to the community’s feedback on what it is to prioritize.

“We don’t have a specific roadmap to share, but we’re definitely going to be supporting the game post launch. I’ve got a team ready to go on that. We have a massive list of features and content that we want to make. I mean, more fighters and maps and stuff like that is kind of a given,” Tucker said. “There’s lots of other stuff we’d like to add as well but we’re kind of taking cues from the community on how to prioritize that stuff.

“So, you know, post beta one, there was a lot of feedback about competitive modes like wanting ranked mode, that sort of thing. That’s kind of about something we were always going to add. It was just a matter of time. So yeah, more fighters for sure. Other features based on what the community is asking for.”

The game will apparently lack microtransactions (at least at launch), so it’ll be interesting to see what they do for continued support on the title. Bleeding Edge will launch March 24th for Xbox One and PC, with a beta coming on the 13th. You can get a beginner-friendly breakdown on the game’s combat through here.

Another month means another batch of titles for the Xbox Game Pass service. We already got a good breakdown of what’s coming to the PC version of Game Pass, which you can read about through here. There’s a lot of bleed over between the service’s PC and console versions though, and some big titles on different spectrums will be there, with Microsoft having revealed the Xbox One March lineup for Game Pass as well.

The two biggest titles are by far the latest entry in the mammoth basketball franchise, NKA 2K20. It will come March 5th along with Train Sim World 2020. The other big title is the upcoming Ori and the Will of the Wisps, the sequel to the beloved artful platformer. That game will be added on March 11th, with Pikuniku coming a day afterward on March 12th. The Bleeding Edge beta will also be available on March 13th.

As always, it’s a good mix of titles for everyone who has the service. The new titles will begin coming to the service to all Xbox One devices starting on March 5th.