Sony’s press conference at E3 2015 once again affirmed the PlayStation 4’s place as a home for indie development, with publisher Devolver Digital taking the stage to show off the crimson-soaked fury of Mother Russia Bleeds and the creeping terror of Eitr.
Mother Russia Bleeds looks a lot like Sega Genesis classic Streets of Rage – if
the heroes of Streets of Rage took a bunch of drugs and brutally punched rival gang members in the face while a soundtrack drenched in raunchy bass synthesizers wails in the background. Bring along three other friends with online and local co-op, and inject yourselves with narcotics to gain super-human strength and take on your foes. Be warned: the trailer features a few decapitations, a guy crushing someone’s skull with his bare hands, a couple people getting shot square in the face, and oh so much blood. So yeah, it’s about what you’d expect from the house that brought us Hotline Miami.
On the complete other end of the spectrum, we’ve got Eitr: a Norse mythology-themed top-down action-RPG. The creepy, pixelated visuals and hordes of enemies evoke strains of Dark Souls, especially since death plays a huge role in how you build your character. When you level up in Eitr, you can decide between more permanent stat boosts, or take on more powerful abilities that can actually be lost when you die. Even acquired loot will degrade with each death, so you’ll have to take great care in this bleak world.
Both games will be headed to PS4 and PC some time in 2016. For more announcements, hop over to our hub for all the E3 2015 coverage.