Bloodrayne Betrayal: Fresh Bites (Switch)

Bloodrayne, we all know her that famous booby vampire from the PS2 era of games but what people forget is she also had 1 outing on the PS3/360 era under different developers and a radically different style, this is a remaster of that title Bloodrayne Betrayal dubbed “Fresh Bites” is it worth a trip down mammary lane? 

Bloodrayne Betrayal isn’t one for ceremony and long drawn out narrative, heck it isn’t until halfway through the game you’ll find out what the plot is.

You take control of the lady vampire herself Rayne who assists on an assault on a mysterious evil castle which totally doesn’t give off ANY Symphony of the Night vibes, you find out Rayne’s estranged Vampire father is here a little later on and the story comes out at the same pace of blood dripping from one of Rayne’s victims throughout. 

The story isn’t one that is particularly unique or all that interesting to be honest but what’s there is well voice acted now by voice talents and universally loved by all Laura Bailey and Troy Baker which gives the narrative a little more umph than in the previous release.

Visually Bloodrayne Betrayal is the best looking game of the Bloodrayne series and swaps those pesky polygons for beautifully hand drawn animations with a tonne of animation and charm, while toneally the game is a far cry from the 2 that came before it, it gives it a unique charm which has managed to make it shine just as bright as it did on launch.

Vibrant colours, fantastic animations and some really solid artwork really take this game the extra mile and lives up to that “Wayforward” seal of quality that comes with their games. 

The gameplay in Bloodrayne Betrayal is that of a linear platformer game with a heavy focus on combat, no signs of a Metroidvania here to the point all of your abilities are available from the get go and provided with a handy movelist.

Combat is timing based with only 1 melee button, a dodge button, jump, feed and ranged attack, the game slowly drip feeds you tutorials for certain moves and abilities but it’s worth having a flick through to get the most out of Rayne’s ability.

The combat is fun and when you learn the moves quite in-depth it’s just a shame there are ALOT of reused enemies almost scrolling beat em up levels, it’s also quite tough too so you’ll be wise to become one with the dodge. 

There are skulls and treasure you can find in the game’s 17 levels, treasure adds to your end of level score and the Skulls let you gain extra health or bullets once you have collected a few. 

Levels can range from combat focused to heavily platformer based and some even have sections where you’ll control a white raven dodging spikes and foes alike. 

Fresh Bites has not only added voice acting but also a completely rebalanced difficulty, this still can be a cruel vampiric mistress but not half as tough as it’s original difficulty which is available for masochists here too.

I love Bloodrayne Betrayal: Fresh Bites, it’s fantastic to get it on my Switch and replay a forgotten gem, it doesn’t quite add enough for me to suggest anyone who still owns the original or plays it regularly should pick up, but for people wanting to know what the fuss is about, this is still the best Bloodrayne title to date and still holds up brilliantly.