Bloodless relaunches today on PC and Mac via Steam, bringing two new roguelike modes and an expanded epilogue story to the 2024 indie action adventure from developer Point N' Sheep and publisher Shoreline Games. The relaunch adds a standalone mode called Namazu's Wrath alongside the original campaign, giving players a fresh way into a game built around a single provocative constraint: you cannot kill anyone.
That constraint is the spine of everything Bloodless does. Ronin Tomoe has sworn off taking lives, which means every encounter in the feudal land of Bakugawa plays out through disarming counters and ki attacks rather than lethal strikes. She fights with bare fists. The combat asks you to master a signature dash-counter mechanic, reading enemy timing and turning their aggression back on them without drawing blood. The refusal to kill isn't a narrative flourish bolted onto standard action. It shapes how every fight feels, how every combo chains, and what victory actually looks like when the last enemy drops their weapon instead of dropping dead.
Bakugawa itself carries the weight of that violence Tomoe has rejected. Sacred natural environments sit alongside districts crushed under a corrupt military regime, a society isolated from the outside world and scarred by past wars. The retro visual style gives these spaces an atmospheric quality that suits the tone: a land caught between what it once stood for and what it has become under occupation. Shogun Akechi, Tomoe's former master, rules with an iron grip, and the people living under his authority have no reason to trust the woman who once served him.
The combat system layers depth onto its non-lethal foundation. Ki techniques open up unique combos, while crests and herb infusions found across Bakugawa let players shape their own fighting style. The soulslike loop rewards patience and precision, punishing reckless aggression and rewarding players who learn enemy patterns well enough to dismantle them without a blade. Warrior Idols scattered throughout the world unlock Arenas that push those skills further, offering dedicated challenge spaces for players who want to test their mastery outside the main story. Namazu's Wrath condenses that intensity into a roguelike structure with scaling difficulty, six equippable power-ups, and new techniques that ensure runs feel distinct from one another. It works as a separate experience from the base campaign, playable before or after the main storyline.
Click to load trailer from YouTube
By clicking, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy. Data will be shared with Google.
Tomoe's story is one of guilt and attempted redemption. A seasoned ronin returning to Bakugawa after years in exile, she finds a homeland that remembers her, though not fondly. Whispers of past atrocities follow her through every district, and even her own nephew has pledged loyalty to Akechi's regime. She is branded as both traitor and coward by the people she hopes to protect, and the game leans into that tension rather than resolving it quickly. Challenging Akechi's rule means first confronting what she did when she served under it. Namazu's Wrath digs deeper into that history, stranding Tomoe on a mysterious oneiric island where she encounters a corrupted version of her former self, The Slasher, and must chase and cleanse it with guidance from the gods Namazu and Baku. Painful memories surface as players progress, and special moments uncovered along the way become the tools used to fight what Tomoe used to be.
The question running through all of it, whether a warrior defined by violence can truly change, plays out in every mechanic and narrative beat. Bloodless doesn't just tell you Tomoe has renounced killing. It makes you prove it, fight after fight, in a world that neither forgives nor forgets.