Bleeding Edge is the latest Microsoft Exclusive title from acclaimed developer Ninja Theory. The 4 on 4 Brawler may look like a grunge Overwatch at first glance but it proves to be more reminiscent to Dissidia NT from 2018. Though the Final Fantasy arcade/anime brawler didn’t make a huge splash, the concept is fun and exciting in practice. Bleeding Edge took this cue and grounded it to make a fun, compelling team fighting game worth your time.
The Rules of Engagement
Bleeding Edge focuses on objective-based gameplay with kills adding to the score in each game mode. Whether you are collecting power cells to deposit for points or capturing objectives on the map, finishing the enemy is always worth the effort. This leads to aggressive gameplay rather than stagnant camping with power-ups littered across the map for fighters who are looking to pack a bigger punch. This leads to exciting battles, glorious victories and crushing defeats.
The maps are diverse and offer unique ways of quick travel on the larger battlegrounds. While not numerous, hazards such as trains and electrified gates are present and elements such as smokescreens offer invisibility to the cunning player. With the tank-support-damage role flexible but in full effect, the map design allows fun combat flow while rewarding exploration. With each character able to mount up, traversal is quick and easy.
Killer Characters, Crushing Combos
The techno-punk antiheroes of Bleeding Edge fight in various ways and they’re all dirty. The game offers traditional damage, healer, and tank type characters, bu it more often than not skews the line between the archetypes which allows the design to shine. While this creates a clear hierarchy at higher levels of play, the design offers great flexibility that will have you switching characters rather than quitting matches to try to win.
The breadth of play-styles offered gives something for everyone. From the technical domination of Maeve and her spell combos to the easily understood assassination arts of Daemon the damage characters feel fun and offer something for everyone across any skill spectrum. The tanks offer robust play-styles between the three, with all of them able to distinctly control the match in different ways. The support characters are where the design truly shines in Bleeding Edge as each of them offers a fantastic spin on the healer style. With a dodgy traditional style healer, a tank-y area focused healer, and a melee attacker with healing abilities, you have never had more fun playing support in any game.
This makes each combat encounter dynamic when combined with the universal dodge and parry. It also makes it worth learning each character to learn the variations in their combos in order to learn what attacks are the easiest to parry or dodge. This is especially helpful in teamfight situations, where a well-timed dodged or parry can give you the edge you need to reverse the flow of combat against your enemy. No character in this game is defenseless and each has the potential to completely turn the tables on the careless fighter. Melee focused characters can also break free of the single-button combo sequence with their special attacks or by using their jump attacks to mix up the enemy, making parrying even harder.
Slick Tricks and Top Tier Fighters
The Support character is the core of the team in Bleeding Edge. With this in mind, the roster is dynamic enough for any character to be viable and matches will more often than not see you switching characters or Super moves between deaths. Flexibility is the most important aspect of Bleeding Edge and with every character able to have 3 customizable mods and 2 very different Super moves, it is impossible to predict what your opponent could be packing. The following tips are given from a fundamental level, as higher levels of play will offer more nuanced customization options.
The Top Cut:
These are the best choices for climbing the ranks of Bleeding Edge. Each of these characters offers utility and damage that stands out above the rest and will be a fine fit on any team.
Buttercup – The big boss lady Buttercup is the stand-out Tank of her class. She is a juggernaut of mobility and power, with a diverse attack spread and devastating supers that excel at peeling assailants from your allies. She is also unstoppable while attacking, flinching only for stuns and launch attacks, which makes her a deadly opponent for enemy tanks. Her Yank ability is also able to rope enemies during their Super attacks to cancel them out completely. Her lack of a dodge is made up for in spades by her ability to use her Stamina to boost her movement speed, making her both hard to kill and able to hunt down low health enemies. These aspects make Buttercup the best choice for a team in need of tank.
Cass – Cass is an incredibly mobile character who swaps between ranged harassment and melee assassination. Her basic attack is ranged and one of her special moves is a high-damage melee combo, while her others focus on quick, damaging movement. She also has no need to mount up, as she gains mount-level speed naturally while running. She is also able to hold the jump button to charge her jump, allowing her to jump to heights not possible by other characters. All of these elements combine to create a character who is incredibly difficult to corner who can easily harass and dive on enemy healers for quick, clean kills. Cass can also chase down any low-health character with ease, making escape nearly impossible for her targets.
Miko – A stand-out healer and a solid attacker, Miko is a dynamic character who will prove to be a main target for any enemy team who sees her. With fantastic burst healing and unparalleled utility with a Bubble shield to shut down all enemy ranged activity (including healing) and a freeze to stop anyone in their tracks. This gives her an unprecedented amount of control over a fight and she will wreak absolute havoc if not checked. Her Supers are also very different and dynamic, which allows her to be an excellent choice as both a main healer or a tank-y assassin. With one being a massive channeled healing beam and the other giving your allies healing and stealth, this character has all the tools to fit multiple roles that transcend her support typing.
Daemon – The enigmatic Daemon is the marquee character of Bleeding Edge and an incredibly solid choice for dealing a ton of damage. Daemons basic combo is comprised of numerous quick attacks that are difficult to parry and can be deadly in a mix-up situation. He is also able to move quickly across long distances with a dash to escape or pressure fleeing enemies, but Daemons invisibility is his stand-out quality. With the ability to disappear then use the same button to sleep an enemy, Daemons ability to keep a key enemy out of the fight can spell certain doom for an entire team. These combined with his two supers, one that marks an enemy for death with increased damage and the other focusing on massive area damage, make Daemon the most effective assassin choice in the game.
Kulev – Kulev is a strong support choice who can take hits like a champion. With a deploy-able healing area totem, a personal shield that can be given to anyone, and a curse that lowers an enemy’s defenses, Kulev’s utility is not to be underestimated. With his ability to put his shield on himself, Kulev is a surprisingly hard target to take down and can make a sloppy dive attempt on him fatal to his attacker. His healing does not stop when he is hit like other Support characters and while the healing totem can be killed, it requires focus to take down which Kulev’s team can take advantage of. With killer supers that can either seriously buff an ally or mind control an enemy, Kulev is a sneaky choice that effortlessly controls the battle.
While the rest of the cast has powerful options that dominate the opposition, these five characters stand out from the beginning. They have unique aspects to them that allow them to crush less aware players with ease by virtue of their basic tools. These advantages are nuanced, however, and in the end skill ultimately prevails so don’t be afraid to try anyone you like
The Bottom Line
Bleeding Edge is full of riotous action and a ton of fun. While not a perfect game, the robust offerings in this beta were enough to keep me playing all weekend. The most glaring issue is the hidden depth within the game that it never readily tells you, such as the importance of knockdowns and the mid-air juggle state you can trap enemies in for huge damage, that show their faces often while in normal gameplay. There is very little to prepare you for these situations and the game feels very sink or swim at times, especially when playing at higher levels.
These issues aside however, Bleeding Edge offers incredibly fun team brawler gameplay. The combo system is free-form and technical enough to create big damage combos, bait and punish situations, and crazy mix-ups that reward for creative thinking which is satisfying to see unfold. The aggressive nature of the game keeps you and your team looking for the next battle or preparing for it by finding the power-ups all over the map. I’m looking forward to the full release and any changes that come with the next beta period March 13th.
