Preview: Distinct style of ‘Bleeding Edge’ makes it stand out in a crowd

One of the first characters designed for "Bleeding Edge" had a motorcycle wheel for legs. To speed across the map, the hero clasps her arms together so that the circular blades at her hands turn into a second wheel and that lets her roar down to the skirmish.

Buttercup, as the character was later called, is a tone-setter for Ninja Theory's team-based melee combat game. She symbolizes a character design and ethos for the game.

"At the beginning, we were compared to 'Overwatch,'" said sound designer Daniele Galante, "but it's not a shooter. The style is completely different." He said Blizzard's game has a clean, modern sci-fi vibe while Ninja Theory's project is dirtier.

Put another way, the feel of "Bleeding Edge" is more down to earth. The characters aren't trying to save the world; instead, the matches are about good-natured competition and their powers come from an obsession with body enhancement.

Maeve was once a vampy witch but Ninja Theory reworked her into a Baba Yaga-type character. (Microsoft) 

"The characters are every persons," said Warwick Mellow, principal animator. "We want them to be fallible and come from all walks of life. They're regular people in real life. Their augmentations let them do superhero things but they're regular people."

That's how players get the unusual take on the witch. When Maeve was created, Ninja Theory imagined her as a vampy and attractive spellcaster, but the design didn't connect with the rest of the game. After rethinking her design, the team turned Maeve into an elderly lady who got around with the help of a ball.

"We decided to let her be an elderly lady, a Baba Yaga type," Mellow said. "We asked ourselves: Can we do something with an old lady? But that turned out to fit so perfectly."

GETTING DOWN AND DIRTYThat vibe filters in to the rest of the game as players group together in teams of four and duke it out. Because the combat is focused on melee attacks, it's grittier than the slick style of "Overwatch." "Bleeding Edge" wants players to get into the fray and figure out positioning and teamwork.

The gameplay divides the initial 12 characters into damage, support and tank classes. Within that grouping, Ninja Theory manages to create an array of distinct heroes. For example, Miko is a healer that has to do her work close up because of her melee weapon while Zerocool can heal from a distance but is vulnerable and needs to use his bigger jumps to evade enemies. Despite playing the same role, both heroes feel distinct and have different roles on the team.

With a handle on that, players can decide squad makeup. A number of mixes are viable but players need to understand that teams should stick together. Being a lone wolf leads to the other team ganging up on the individual and that puts the team at a disadvantage.

In the matches, I played I got a good sense of the characters and how they worked. Squads usually go after the healer, which keeps the rest of the team alive. It's up to the tanks and to defend them. Meanwhile, the damage the dealers are the ones that either go after the healer or pummel the tanks to open to the other teammates.

Strategy often depends on the makeup of the team. Some damage dealer such as Daemon and Maeve have stealth so they can sneak behind enemies and burst damage a healer to death. Other characters such as Nidhoggr do percentage-based damage and are ideal for knocking out tanks. The other element players have to take into account are the ultimates, which can upend the state of the match. Nidhoggr has a mass stun, which can lead to a team wipe while Zerocool's ability to give a teammate a 1-up save a team from dire defeat. Healers play an important role on a squad keeping teammates alive. (Microsoft) FIGHTING GAME INSPIRATIONAside from the ultimates, players also have to take into account the range of abilities and how they work. In many ways, "Bleeding Edge" leverages Ninja Theory's expertise with action genre to make a team-based melee combat that feels right.

"We took inspiration from fighting games," said creative director Rahni Tucker. She explained how Daemon's quick attack give him a combo advantage and how some special abilities have super armor frames that give players a bit of an advantage. "Bleeding Edge" also has concepts such as wake-ups that are available to all players.

Although offense is straight-forward, the defense is more complex. Characters have an evade that's useful to avoiding attacks or running away. They can't repeatedly spam it though because the meter only allows for a certain number, depending ont he character. On top of that, players can parry attacks and gain a frame advantage. Highly skilled players can stand up in 2 vs. 1 situations, Tucker said, but "Bleeding Edge" is ultimately a team game and one person will eventually become overwhelmed when outnumbered.

That type of element is reminiscent of a multplayer online battle arena. In fact, "Bleeding Edge" originally started out as MOBA, according to senior designer Gerald Poon. That partly informs the teamplay. Players will find natural synergies and counters between characters.

To create more diversity to the mix, "Bleeding Edge" also features mods. A character can equip three at a time and they help boost different aspects of their abilities. They can focus on upgrading healing or being more offensive.

"You can have three different builds for heroes, but you can keep the same character," Poon said. "You can do something unique for different games."

It adds another layer for players to figure out the meta, and Ninja Theory says it plans on monitoring and using analytics to keep that part of the game fresh. Also because players may not know a rivals mods by heart, it can create a surprise during a matchup. An offensive character could last longer than expected or a support character can be more offensive than one would expect.

All of this creates such a unique take on team-based gameplay and that makes "Bleeding Edge" stand out. Everything from its cast of characters to its melee-based gameplay hasn't been much in team-based games. Players can try it out for themselves when "Bleeding Edge" is released March 24, 2020, on Xbox One and PC.

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