Despite how important combat has always been in most games, there are only a select few that come to mind when I think of hand-to-hand focused brawlers. Sifu is my personal favourite and has some of the best melee mechanics of any video game, but for many, the biggest example is bound to be Sleeping Dogs.
While Sleeping Dogs mostly made a name for itself by being one of the best “GTA clones” of all time (a medal it truly deserves), it was special for a lot more than that. Wei Shen was an excellent protagonist, the city of Hong Kong was wonderfully realised, and the open-world features were far more fleshed out than most expected them to be.
What really made Sleeping Dogs stand out from the crowd, though, was its hand-to-hand combat, an area that similar titles like GTA and Saints Row always struggled with. While Niko, Trevor, and The Boss just flailed their fists about with basic movements, Wei Shen was the martial arts equivalent of Batman, complete with the same Arkham-style counters, combos, and finishers.
Wei Shen’s moveset also stood out thanks to all of the brutal environmental takedowns he had at his disposal, giving Sleeping Dogs a bit more of a unique flavour.
Acts Of Blood Is As Close To Sleeping Dogs 2 As We’re Going To Get
There have been a lot of open-world games since Square Enix let Sleeping Dogs lie, but none of them have tried to replicate its masterful mix of combat and exploration. In fact, there are very few linear games that have given me the same satisfying feeling that Wei did. Sifu was the next best thing, but I’ve been waiting a long time to get my martial arts back on.
Enter Acts of Blood, a brutal new third-person action game in the vein of Batman: Arkham, Mad Max, Sleeping Dogs, and Sifu that’s being created by Indonesian developer Fajrul FN and Eksil Team. I’d not heard anything about Acts of Blood despite it being announced back in April, but thanks to a free demo on Steam, it’s now gone viral.
As soon as I saw gameplay footage spreading across Twitter and YouTube, my Sleeping Dogs and Sifu alarm bells started ringing and I jumped straight to downloading the demo. While there’s clearly some work left to be done, I walked away very impressed with how it managed to scratch that martial arts itch and left me wanting more.
Nice To Sifu
Acts of Blood takes place in the dystopian version of Indonesia’s Bandung, and has you playing as law student Hendra following the death of his family at the hands of a business rival. Being the badass that he is, Hendra decides to go after the group behind the murders, setting up an epic tale of vengeance and bone-breaking brawls.
Mind you, you wouldn’t know all of that from playing the demo, which kicks things off part way through the story during a rainy night on the docks of Bandung, and serves as more of a gameplay showcase. If you’ve ever played Sleeping Dogs or Batman: Arkham before, then the core mechanics will feel immediately familiar, with a bit of Sifu’s weapon-based combat mixed in for good measure.
Just like in Sleeping Dogs, Hendra can also wield guns during combat and use them as both bludgeoning tools and health-draining firearms.
Just like the games that clearly inspired it, the fighting mechanics in Acts of Blood can feel almost rhythmic at times as Hendra dances between enemies with crushing kicks, fast-paced reversals, and the occasional lead pipe to the face. It’s a little less polished and slower-paced than its inspirations, but it still feels and looks great, especially considering it comes from an indie team. There’s not much more to the demo than fighting, but what’s here is a very strong showing.
While Acts of Blood doesn’t do much to differentiate itself from what came before it (from what we’ve seen so far, at least) it does manage to replicate a lot of what made them special. Even in my short time with the demo, I was captivated by its combat to the point where I couldn’t help myself from fighting everyone I saw, even when they were clearly optional and meant to be avoided. I even jumped straight into the arena mode and stuck with it until I got a perfect rating.
More than anything, Acts of Blood reminded me just how starved we’ve been lately of melee and weapon-focused games. There are a lot of gems in the slim lineup, and what I’ve played of Acts of Blood has me confident that, with a little more polish and time, it could end up joining those ranks.
Next
The PS5 Pro Is Great, But You Don’t Need One
Don’t be a fool and spend $700 on one like I did. Unless you really want to…