.45 Parabellum Bloodhound has an immediately arresting first trailer: the breakcore beats, gloomy tenements, and turn of the millennium anime swagger really speak to me, and it’s also coming from cyberpunk bartending visual novel VA-11 Hall-A creator Sukeban Games.
The developer’s direct sequel to VA-11 Hall-A, a second bartending visual novel called N1RV Ann-A, seems to be on indefinite hiatus after undisclosed difficulties. “Development began in late 2019 during a tumultuous time for the team,” Sukeban wrote of .45 Parabellum Bloodhound’s inception. “We landed on its current form roughly two years ago.”
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It’s giving the best kind of experimental PS2 action game, sporting fixed camera angles, a variety of interesting enemy designs—I spotted a speedy ninja, fire wizard, and some kind of mech-tank in the trailer alone—and what looks like a tactical, paused ability selection the dev refers to as “Active Time Action.” I still barely understand what “Active Time Action” is, but this seems like a great game for Steam Deck. Or even better, a modern PC hooked up to a CRT monitor.
But I’m here for the vibes: the music, art style, and UI are all a real treat. Bloodhound calls to mind classic sci-fi anime like Ghost in the Shell, while its specific melding of PS1 noise and dithering with anachronistically high-quality assets reminds me of 2022’s excellent Signalis. The UI, meanwhile, has a similarly incongruous but appealing mix of pixelated PS1 JRPG fonts and Persona-style poppy graphic design.
.45 Parabellum Bloodhound currently does not have a release window, but Sukeban says that its script is finalized and the studio is “building the remaining chapters.” You can wishlist .45 Parabellum Bloodhound on Steam.