The Black Heart (2021)
The Black Heart was a rather interesting release for Steam. Ten years prior, Andre used Mugen the custom fighting game that's virtually all over the internet. He ended up creating his own unique fighting game from it's engine. He even went through a period that was necessary to allow The Black Heart an full release on Steam.
We are going to be discussing the full Steam version today. I played a few horror theme fighting games with most being among my favorites. We are talking Killer Instinct, Darkstalkers and Terrordrome series to name a few. This is sorta an unusual Mortal Kombat homage game. Trust me, it's way better than a lot of MK rip off games during the 90s.
It's almost like if Silent Hill and Mortal Kombat came together. Sure the roster is the usual size back in the 90s. Sometimes fighting games simply works better with a smaller roster. I rather have everyone done well then too many characters playing the same or just not being fun to play. The artwork alone is enough reason to play this!!!
The animations are some of the finest I ever seen in an 2D fighting game. Yes I did played Skullgirls, this is truly amazing stuff. The soundtrack is exactly spot on, I highly recommend checking it out. Yes I did bought the soundtrack along with the game as well as the other stuff in the same purchase. There are finishers with most being rather brutal.
If you love Mortal Kombat series for the fatalities, this won't disappoint. You start off with six characters with two characters you can unlock. There's plenty of modes to play, a must in fighting games. The Black Heart has an interesting perceptive. Every character has their own reasons to seek Final, whose the final boss.
The more of the story you see, there's a few surprises. I usually don't have much fun with the combo except for Soulcalibur and Tekken respectively. Here I absolutely love going in for combos. I also loved how the story for each character is told. You get the first half before your first match. You get the other half starting before Final's match with what's left after he's defeated.
There's a lot of alternative color sets for each character. Alright let's finally talk about the actual characters. We got Peketo who sorta reminds me of Ghostface. Seriously that face while wielding an knife how can I not think that? His head comes off as a particular attack. I seem to have the most trouble playing him out of the default roster.
Ananzi reminds me of a few fighting game characters. She is a spider woman like Sadira from Killer Instinct (2013 game). What you thought think as her "clothes" actually spiders covering her body. Which is similar to Morrigan from Darkstalkers doing the same thing with bats. She is surprisingly decent with combos.
Animus reminds me of Hellraiser's Chatterer characters. Also heavily comes off being somewhat inspired by Silent Hill too. Animus can swap genders during an match. Final reveals Animus being their child. Clearly an nightmare fuel character that's enjoyable to play as. Some truly freaky animations too, you may not see stuff like this elsewhere.
Shar-Makai is a giant worm creature from another plain of existence. This creature works for the true antagonist of the game, Janos. I am really surprised how fun this character turned out to be. Obviously the biggest among the default roster. I will give them credit, a lot of fighting games struggles making large characters fun to play as.
Hashi is a plant creature that wants to save his people from extinction. He's dressed up like Monkey D. Luffy for some reason lol. He can recreate all kinds of plants including fruits. Yes I didn't expect such an ability being used in a game like this. Hashi is a lot of fun to play as too. Parts of him with some of his moves reminds me of Amigo from Marvel vs. Capcom 2 since he's an humanoid cactus character.
Alright we finally reached the one character among the default roster that freaks me out the most. Check this out, Noroko is a ghost that's connected to an Japanese doll. It's no secret there's several ghost characters in fighting games. I can't say I was actually expecting this character to be so bizarre. Not quite JoJo's Bizarre Adventure stuff but it's still quite bizarre.
She can have hands appears from anywhere including her face!!! She likely was inspired by Ringu/The Ring ghost character. She also a lot of fun to play as. She is truly amazing with combos with some rather freaky moves. Noroko is exactly perfect for this game, she really does work incredibly well. Easily, the best ghost character in an fighting game I ever played as!!!
Now we gotta talk about Final, usually I heavily dislike facing cheap final bosses in fighting games. Yes I am looking at you, Sagat in Street Fighter 1. He does have some broken moves including one he glows bright red while grabbing you. If he pulls that move off, you gotta face three crimson red clones of your character.
He often teleports as well as firing beams with the worst taking notably the longest. I don't think it can be blocked either once he fires it. You can prevent him from doing some of these moves. Either by doing combos or quickly jump out the way in time. I also gotta say the stories in this game are quite interesting too.
The Black Heart is a strong recommendation for me. I quickly got my mind blown within seconds of playing it. I really not kidding, it's a very decent fighting game. You do get your money's worth without needing to worry about buying dlcs for it. Everything about this game is done incredibly well. I dare say it's way better than Terrordrome series no joke.
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