Bloodshore

Bloodshore (2021) is a narrative game that uses video footage of real actors to invite you to enter an extreme game show where contestants compete to be the last one alive on a desert island. To play you make choices for your character that affect your alliances with other contestants and resources. Seeing how your decisions affect the outcome and discovering all the different endings makes for a unique game.

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You play Nick, an actor who, when his career takes a downturn, signs up to be on the hit reality game show Kill/Stream. It's an extreme contest where people battle it out in a Hunger Games-style fight to the death on the tropical Bloodshore Island. But all is not as it seems, and as you play, you begin to unravel the island's secrets by making decisions that could cost you (or fellow contestants) your life.

To play you watch video scenes unfold, listening to conversations and noting important details, then making a choice at the end of each one. Some of these choices can appear inconsequential, like deciding which gun to give to someone in your temporary alliance, while others are far more significant and can permanently affect the story, like choosing whether to kill or spare a stranger. The story's climax varies significantly depending on your choices, which can ultimately affect whether you make it out alive.

The result is a unique take on the FMV (full-motion video) genre, where you make life-and-death choices and dictate your character's fate. Going back after a first play-through to make different choices and discover new outcomes and story beats is all part of the fun and means there's still lots to do after the credits roll.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Bloodshore 17 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 17 months ago.