So one day humanity manages to be able to use blood as a power source for machines (I bet they used cattle or whatnot but that's irrelevant). One day, for reasons unknown, HUMANITY IS DEAD. All that is left are their machines. These machines take on a sort of sentience now that they're all that's left. The fact remains that BLOOD IS FUEL and the machines need it to stay powered as much as we need oxygen to breathe. The problem for them is, almost all life on Earth is dead. No more blood on Earth. So they come to the conclusion that HELL IS FULL!

Machines invade Hell, and we're talking the actual Hell in the Bible, one of the two afterlife's in the Hebrew religion. As such, the robots, along with you, the player, start killing EVERYTHING you can find there, and apparently the machine start to fight each other for their blood I guess!

So you, V1, on a rampage fighting husks (the souls of dead people), demons, and robots through the NINE CIRCLES OF HELL:

I would like to say that I'm a big fan of Dante's Inferno and the concept of this fleshed out, structured afterlife, so New Blood really appealed to me there! It's something I wish DOOM took some from.

-Limbo - The "nicest" place in Hell, where, at least in the Inferno novel, the people who didn't sin but did not believe in God go to. It is filled with nice piano music when out of combat, churches and cathedrals, fake skies in rooms disguised to be outdoors, but according to a journal of someone in there the actual torment comes from the fact the niceness is fake and that apparently demons tempt him to go further into Hell. The enemies don't change though, you're still slaughtering demons, but here it's like you're at Sunday church. As for the boss I think I'll keep that to myself so you get the big reaction :)

-Lust - Cheated on your wife? Welcome to Lust! In the Inferno it is described as a raging tempest worse than anything Florida has gotten as of yet, where forever the damned are flying around hitting each other midair. The game depicts this where you're fighting in floating, neon themed structures high in the sky above this... neon city in the distance below (reminds me of the Storm realm from Acceleracers but if you actually know what I'm talking about you loved Hot Wheels as a kid we're gonna be best friends!) I think it gives off a sorta nightclub vibe. NOW ONTO THE BOSS! BIGGER LORE SPOILERS AHEAD SO I MADE A SEPARATE SPOILER BOX! King Minos rules over Lust, and he's this TOWERING THING you can literally see in every level in the distance, and closer in each one as you cover said distance until you eventually fight him. Apparently though, he's dead, killed by someone you will fight later on, and is literally controlled by the parasites writhing within him. Minos had actually brought prosperity to Lust before his death, so that may have to do with the neon, techy vibe of the circle. When you fight him, it's like a zombie kid peaking into their toybox. Knarly af.

-Gluttony - Way back then, stuffing yourself full was believed to be a sin, but not like making yourself fat is why to be clear. Apparently it was the solitary self-indulgence and degradation that made it sinful according to the people of Dante's time. Seriously though, this place is CREEPY AF! Everything is flesh, there are GIANT EYES that track you, and the doors are human mouths with teeth and all that 'clack' when closing. While creepy, also fascinating I must say. New Blood nailed it with the aesthetic and theme. ONTO BOSS AND LORE SPOILERS! EVEN BIGGER THAN LUST! FRICKEN GABRIEL (YES one of the archangels, the level Satan was on before he fell in Bible lore) is the boss. They actually have a voice actor for him, and boy he is good. Gabriel is this arrogant thing, but especially arrogant over the fact that you're a machine, not even a mortal (and he says this aloud). He's a good boss in gameplay, and the key is to look at what weapons he conjures to predict his attacks. Challenging but fair, as once you know what's coming you can dodge it effectively, but if not he'll cut you down to ribbons among other things. Once you actually beat him, oh my gosh, the voice actor was so good at acting angry it's hilarious that the character is an angel acting this way. MORE LORE SPOILERS! So Gabriel goes back to Heaven, and is under the judge of this council who rules Heaven (apparently God doesn't run Heaven Himself it seems, but still owns it) and they literally can't believe that the "Light of the Father" was defeated by a machine, a robot, an OBJECT and calls Gabriel a heretic. As punishment, they strip Gabby of all his God granted powers and so he has 48 hours left to live where he either redeems himself and dies. Needless to say Gabby here has a grudge against robots now and we can see where this is going :)

-Greed - I don't need to quite explain how someone gets into Greed! The punishment here is that sinners have to haul rocks uphill forever in burning sand (the sand hurts you in the game. Think the floor is lava, except the only lava areas are the thing Anakin hates). The whole thing is Egypt themed, and they even have this level where you navigate a REALLY dark temple. They also add new mechanics, like a support enemy that turns allied blood into golden sand so YOU can't get blood and heal from them! LORE SPOILERS! So it turns out at one point Heaven was distracted by something internal, and Hell got a lot of relief, which allowed prosperity, hence why King Minos was able to make Lust an actually nice place for a time. The ruler of Greed, I can't remember his name, prepared an army to fight back Heaven once they got their s**t together and went back to managing Hell. Apparently ONE of those soldiers is a miniboss, and they'll all scarred from their fight with Heaven meaning back then they were even STRONGER. Still, they got crushed, and they're very bitter about it, ready to vent their anger on any robot player that comes their way.

[The below are not yet released at the time of this review]
-Wrath
-Heresy
-Violence
-Fraud
-Treachery

As for gameplay, it's AWESOME! I just spent so much more time than I think I'd write so I'm gonna make this brief!

Healing comes from close range damage which encourages aggressiveness
Weapons have further variety from their switchable mods, but are more unique than say DOOM in that they actually change how the gun functions altogether rather than a simple ALT FIRE, basically dividing weapons into subclasses

Great enemy variety, with fodder, big boys, and everything in between. Ranged dudes, melee dudes, and there's a flamethrower one, but there are some unique ones in there that are especially creative

Movement is amazing, as you have a dash, unlimited slide, and ground pound.

And I'm just gonna end it here! GET THIS GAME! It's still in early access but man it's already worth it's money!

So one day humanity manages to be able to use blood as a power source for machines (I bet they used cattle or whatnot but that's irrelevant). One day, for reasons unknown, [b]HUMANITY IS DEAD[/b]. All that is left are their machines. These machines take on a sort of sentience now that they're all that's left. The fact remains that [b]BLOOD IS FUEL[/b] and the machines [i]need[/i] it to stay powered as much as we need oxygen to breathe. The problem for them is, almost all life on Earth is dead. No more blood on Earth. So they come to the conclusion that [b]HELL IS FULL[/b]! Machines invade Hell, and we're talking the actual [i]Hell[/i] in the [i]Bible[/i], one of the two afterlife's in the Hebrew religion. As such, the robots, along with you, the player, start killing EVERYTHING you can find there, and [i]apparently[/i] the machine start to fight each other for their blood I guess! So you, [b]V1[/b], on a rampage fighting husks (the souls of dead people), demons, and robots through the [i]NINE CIRCLES OF HELL:[/i] I would like to say that I'm a big fan of Dante's Inferno and the concept of this fleshed out, structured afterlife, so New Blood really appealed to me there! It's something I wish DOOM took some from. -Limbo - [spoiler]The "nicest" place in Hell, where, at least in the Inferno novel, the people who didn't sin but did not believe in God go to. It is filled with nice piano music when out of combat, churches and cathedrals, fake skies in rooms disguised to be outdoors, but according to a journal of someone in there the actual torment comes from the fact the niceness is fake and that apparently demons tempt him to go further into Hell. The enemies don't change though, you're still slaughtering demons, but here it's like you're at Sunday church.[/spoiler] As for the boss [spoiler]I think I'll keep that to myself so you get the big reaction :)[/spoiler] -Lust - [spoiler]Cheated on your wife? Welcome to Lust! In the Inferno it is described as a raging tempest worse than anything Florida has gotten as of yet, where forever the damned are flying around hitting each other midair. The game depicts this where you're fighting in floating, neon themed structures high in the sky above this... neon city in the distance below (reminds me of the Storm realm from Acceleracers but if you actually know what I'm talking about you loved Hot Wheels as a kid we're gonna be best friends!) I think it gives off a sorta nightclub vibe.[/spoiler] NOW ONTO THE BOSS! BIGGER LORE SPOILERS AHEAD SO I MADE A SEPARATE SPOILER BOX! [spoiler]King Minos rules over Lust, and he's this TOWERING THING you can literally see in every level in the distance, and closer in each one as you cover said distance until you eventually fight him. Apparently though, he's dead, killed by someone you will fight later on, and is literally controlled by the parasites writhing within him. Minos had actually brought prosperity to Lust before his death, so that may have to do with the neon, techy vibe of the circle. When you fight him, it's like a zombie kid peaking into their toybox. Knarly af.[/spoiler] -Gluttony - [spoiler]Way back then, stuffing yourself full was believed to be a sin, but not like making yourself fat is why to be clear. Apparently it was the solitary self-indulgence and degradation that made it sinful according to the people of Dante's time. Seriously though, this place is CREEPY AF! Everything is flesh, there are GIANT EYES that track you, and the doors are human mouths with teeth and all that 'clack' when closing. While creepy, also fascinating I must say. New Blood nailed it with the aesthetic and theme.[/spoiler] ONTO BOSS AND LORE SPOILERS! EVEN BIGGER THAN LUST! [spoiler]FRICKEN [b]GABRIEL[/b] (YES one of the archangels, the level Satan was on before he fell in Bible lore) is the boss. They actually have a voice actor for him, and boy he is good. Gabriel is this arrogant thing, but especially arrogant over the fact that you're a machine, not even a mortal (and he says this aloud). He's a good boss in gameplay, and the key is to look at what weapons he conjures to predict his attacks. Challenging but fair, as once you know what's coming you can dodge it effectively, but if not he'll cut you down to ribbons among other things. Once you actually beat him, oh my gosh, the voice actor was so good at acting angry it's hilarious that the character is an angel acting this way.[/spoiler] MORE LORE SPOILERS! [spoiler]So Gabriel goes back to Heaven, and is under the judge of this council who rules Heaven (apparently God doesn't run Heaven Himself it seems, but still owns it) and they literally can't believe that the "Light of the Father" was defeated by a machine, a robot, an [b]OBJECT[/b] and calls Gabriel a heretic. As punishment, they strip Gabby of all his God granted powers and so he has 48 hours left to live where he either redeems himself and dies. Needless to say Gabby here has a grudge against robots now and we can see where this is going :)[/spoiler] -Greed - [spoiler]I don't need to quite explain how someone gets into Greed! The punishment here is that sinners have to haul rocks uphill forever in burning sand (the sand hurts you in the game. Think the floor is lava, except the only lava areas are the thing Anakin hates). The whole thing is Egypt themed, and they even have this level where you navigate a REALLY dark temple. They also add new mechanics, like a support enemy that turns allied blood into golden sand [i]so YOU can't get blood and heal from them![/i][/spoiler] LORE SPOILERS! [spoiler]So it turns out at one point Heaven was distracted by something internal, and Hell got a lot of relief, which allowed prosperity, hence why King Minos was able to make Lust an actually nice place for a time. The ruler of Greed, I can't remember his name, prepared an army to fight back Heaven once they got their s**t together and went back to managing Hell. Apparently ONE of those soldiers is a miniboss, and they'll all scarred from their fight with Heaven meaning back then they were even STRONGER. Still, they got crushed, and they're very bitter about it, ready to vent their anger on any robot player that comes their way.[/spoiler] [The below are not yet released at the time of this review] -Wrath -Heresy -Violence -Fraud -Treachery As for gameplay, it's AWESOME! I just spent so much more time than I think I'd write so I'm gonna make this brief! Healing comes from close range damage which encourages aggressiveness Weapons have further variety from their switchable mods, but are more unique than say DOOM in that they actually change how the gun functions altogether rather than a simple ALT FIRE, basically dividing weapons into subclasses Great enemy variety, with fodder, big boys, and everything in between. Ranged dudes, melee dudes, and there's a flamethrower one, but there are some unique ones in there that are especially creative Movement is amazing, as you have a dash, unlimited slide, and ground pound. And I'm just gonna end it here! GET THIS GAME! It's still in early access but man it's already worth it's money!