Blood Will Tell E3 2004 Preshow Hands-On Impressions

We recently got to try our hand at Blood Will Tell, an upcoming action game from Sega based on Osamu Tezuka's classic manga Dororo. Perhaps we should be thankful that we have hands to play the game with, because the main character here doesn't. This character, Hyakkimaru, was strangely robbed of all of his limbs, his internal organs, and even his cry when he was a baby, and now that he's grown up, he's ready to take revenge and regain his stolen body parts from the bosses that you'll fight throughout the game.

How does Hyakkimaru move around or even survive without limbs and organs? Don't ask. In place of his stolen limbs, he installed prosthetic appendages that contain an assortment of lethal weapons. In the demo level we played, Hyakkimaru was able to switch between short and long blades, a powerful cannon weapon, and an embedded machine gun. Hyakkimaru's attributes will increase and his weaponry will become more powerful as you progress through the game, kill bosses, and regain your body parts.

Hyakkimaru won't be alone in his quest, though--he'll be joined by his companion, a child of ambiguous gender named Dororo. In the action levels, Dororo will journey with you, and you can command him/her to pick up and retrieve items, attack enemies, or come back and assume a defensive posture. You'll also be able to play two-player cooperative, with the second player controlling the sidekick. Dororo will also have his/her own levels that will focus less on combat and more on puzzle-solving and evasion. Dororo will be able to fight in a rudimentary manner with childish kicks and punches and by throwing rocks, however.

Blood Will Tell will be spread across eight levels and will primarily focus on Hyakkimaru's action gameplay, with a smattering of Dororo puzzle-solving elements mixed throughout. The game is scheduled for release in the fall of this year, so look for more on the game soon.