Laika: Aged Through Blood Critic Reviews

Laika: Aged Through Blood is an unrelenting motorcycle ride through a bloody wasteland with one of the most unique and compelling spins on the metroidvania genre. It expertly blends ruthless death-defying combat with a beautiful hand-painted side scrolling world with a riveting story of revenge, desperation, and survival. Though uncompromising in its insistence that you quickly become adept at handling your bike in addition to taking on multiple threats, a heaping helping of checkpoints guarantees revenge is always within striking distance. If you’ve ever considered yourself a fan of exploring and platforming across 2D landscapes, you’ll find these open roads well worth your time.

Laika: Aged Though Blood is a gorgeous metroidvania on wheels with amazing combat and soundtrack, a truly astonishing gem that is simply a must play.

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a experience that every gamer should try. The hand drawn visuals and classical guitar bring the wasteland to life, while the unique controls and progressive difficulty keep the pace of the game from stalling out. The motorbike combat and exploration is fun and approachable, but takes time to master as you explore what's left of the world. While there are a few minor annoyances with the bosses and systems, Laika: Aged Through Blood is a stand-out title and I highly recommend it.

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a metroidvania that experiments in interesting way with stunts and slow motion in combat and exploration thanks to the motorbike mechanics. It has a wonderful diegetic soundtrack and a cruel plot well screenplayed with some great ludonarrative moments.

Laika is not an easy game to enjoy. It’s a story, at its core, about how dehumanization of an enemy is a necessary step preceding genocide — about how people will become monsters if left with no other options. Most importantly, though, it’s about how cycles of violence can only end if people make the decision to not pull a trigger, no matter how difficult that might be. It’s a brutal, uncompromising journey, and it should have been one of the best titles of 2023, even if reality hadn’t decided to make it painfully relevant.

An original and well-executed metroidvania of action and exploration on wheels, with a fantastic artistic style, a careful narrative, and a very fun gameplay, although with some room for improvement in some aspects such as backtracking or boss fights.

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a very original and satisfying metroidvania once you master the motorcycle, the true protagonist of a post-apocalyptic adventure of violence and revenge. A 2D game with a very stylish artistic direction and a soundtrack that you won't want to stop listening to.

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a blend between motor racing and gun action that feels somewhat similar to the Trials series. While the exploration elements don’t quite hit, shooting at enemies while riding a bike feels fresh and satisfying. Elements besides the gameplay, such as a melancholic soundtrack, are also well executed, and the story that depicts the relationship between Laika and her daughter feels novel in an action game like this.

It's extremely difficult to present something completely fresh in a metroidvania game but Laika: Aged Through Blood achieves that hard-earned goal. Thanks to the well-made motorbike handling and clever ideas in regards to shooting, alongside a touching and dramatic story this "motorvania" is a must addition to the fans of the genre.

If you've missed Trials, love dark and well-designed worlds, and dream of short play sessions, there is simply no better choice for a few minutes before bed than Laika: Aged Through Blood.

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a haunting metroidvania unlike any other. The blend of breakneck motorcycle combat and a harrowing story of revenge smash together to create an artistic experience few games this year can rival.

At first, Aged Through Blood’s blend of Trails-style bike tricks, slow-motion gunplay, and exploration seems shrewd. But the mixture of mechanics eventually grows laborious across Laika’s 10- to 12-hour trek. If developer Brainwash Gang could get the action to match the quality of the exposition, I’d gladly ride again with this mama coyote.

When it works, Laika: Aged Through Blood is top-notch entertainment in prime time, and proof that suddenly there is pure innovation on the indie scene worthy of mainstream attention.

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a fairly remarkable game, even if it got on my nerves something fierce due to its predilection for unnecessary mechanics.

Laika: Aged through Blood is an awesome game fulls of ideas and that feels totally new