Laika: Aged Through Blood
A motorcycle-riding coyote defends her village in a post-apocalyptic Western.
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Laika: Aged Through Blood is a 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania set in a Western-style post-apocalyptic world where the player controls an anthropomorphic coyote named Laika on a motorcycle.[1] Brainwash Gang, an independent studio whose base is in Madrid, Spain, created the game, and its development started in 2019 as one of several prototypes made to secure publisher funding.[2]
Key facts and history
When killed, she respawns at the last activated checkpoint—bone shrines—or at the area entrance, and enemies respawn upon her death or if she leaves and re-enters an area.[3] The music was composed by Beatriz "Beícoli" Ruiz-Castillo, who divided tracks into ambient pieces for boss battles and story moments and "mixtapes" that play as Laika travels the Wasteland.[4] While navigating the game's multiple named zones, the player can accelerate, stop, reverse, and rotate the motorcycle left or right.[1] The enemies are anthropomorphic birds that mostly use ranged weapons to attack Laika as soon as they see her.[3]
The motorcycle's underside can block non-explosive attacks, and if a parry is timed correctly at the moment of impact, the attack is deflected back.[3] Any attack that hits Laika, or her head making contact with the ground or other surfaces, results in her death.[3] Laika's arsenal includes a revolver, shotgun, machine gun, crossbow, sniper rifle, and rocket launcher; each has limited ammunition but can be reloaded by completing a full backward rotation of the motorcycle.[5] A single shot kills both Laika and the birds, except in boss battles where multiple hits are required to defeat the enemy.[5]
The Windows version launched on October 19, 2023, followed by releases for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on December 5, 2023; the Nintendo Switch port was postponed and finally arrived on January 30, 2025.[6]
What the cited sources add
Scibetta noted that the frequent checkpoints transform combat into a sort of Hotline Miami or Katana Zero experience, where the player dies often while seeking the best strategy.[7] Ivan Papiol, an artist from Brainwash Gang, stated that the game combines motorbike tricks from Trials with a stylish story featuring anthropomorphic animals.[8] Farrell also reported that an indicator on the crosshair does not actually work like a crosshair, making aiming feel like guesswork, and that blood covering the screen makes it harder to tell which direction you are facing.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Laika: Aged Through Blood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Scibetta, "Laika: Aged Through Blood – Recensione", The Games Machine, November 14, 2023; Farrell, "Laika: Aged Through Blood (PC) Review", CGMagazine, October 20, 2023 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Laika: Aged Through Blood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brainwash Gang, "Laika: Aged through blood: We showed a demo in an event here in Spain. Now we're deep into its development and we'll show you some cool stuff about it. All we'll say from now is motorbikes, shooting, mot; Papiol, "Motorbike stunts and metrovania combine in stylish Laika: Aged Through Blood", Sifter (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Laika: Aged Through Blood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Graeber, "Laika: Aged Through Blood Review", IGN, October 19, 2023; Maki-chan, IGN Japan, November 3, 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Laika: Aged Through Blood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Dev Interview about the Music of Laika: Aged Through Blood! 🦊", Headup Games, October 14, 2023 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Laika: Aged Through Blood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Graeber, "Laika: Aged Through Blood Review", IGN, October 19, 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Laika: Aged Through Blood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "We talk all things Laika and Friends vs Friends with the Brainwash Gang at the BIG Conference", Gamereactor, January 4, 2024; Brainwash Gang, "Laika: Aged Through Blood - Announce Trailer", Gematsu; Romano, "Western-inspired 'motorvania' Laika: Aged Through Blood announced for console, PC", Gematsu, November 10, 2021; Romano, "Laika: Aged Through Blood for PC launches October 19", Gematsu, October 6, 2023; Romano, "Laika: Aged Through Blood launches December 5 for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, and Xbox One; January 11, 2024 for Swit en.wikipedia.org
- Scibetta, "Laika: Aged Through Blood – Recensione", The Games Machine, November 14, 2023. facts only, no text reused. thegamesmachine.it
- Papiol, "Motorbike stunts and metrovania combine in stylish Laika: Aged Through Blood", Sifter. facts only, no text reused. sifter.com.au
- Farrell, "Laika: Aged Through Blood (PC) Review", CGMagazine, October 20, 2023. facts only, no text reused. cgmagonline.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Laika: Aged Through Blood (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Laika: Aged Through Blood (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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