For those of you that never had a chance to try it during its heyday, Bloodline Champions was a truly one of a kind arena brawler. There was no randomness, no overpowered moves or broken combinations, just you and a couple of buddies against the world. The only thing that could bring you victory was coordination and personal skill, which meant that Bloodline Champions had a practically infinite skill ceiling, and with it practically infinite replayability. Unfortunately, one of the long-awaited post-launch updates brought with it the very hammer that would strike Bloodline Champions down - the introduction of randomness and customizable stats. As you would expect, this quickly ruined the delicate balance and drove most of the dedicated playerbase away, me included.

While Bloodline Champions remains to this day as a shell of its former self, there is hope on the horizon as the original developers have just released Battlerite, a spiritual successor to the Bloodline Champions of old, onto Steam Early Access. If you're wondering what Battlerite looks like and how closely it emulates Bloodline Champions, here's one of the recent gameplay videos:

Now for the big question - is Battlerite any good or is it your standard 'dead in the water' Early Access title? While I haven't had the chance to play it myself just yet, I'm happy to say that the user reviews on both Steam and various online forums paint a rather glorious picture. There is some missing content and the optimization might not be the best, but when it comes to pure action Battlerite is just as good as Bloodline Champions, with the potential to become far greater in the future as well.

If all of this has your interest piqued, you can grab Battlerite from Steam at a €18/$18 price tag (which includes the currently ongoing 10%) discount. Do bear in mind, however, the full version of Battlerite is going to be free-to-play, though that doesn't mean your Early Access purchase is a waste of time and money. On the contrary, everyone who purchases Battlerite during its Early Access stay will be given free access to all current and future heroes, essentially ensuring you never have to 'grind' a single bit of currency ever again. A pretty damn good deal in my eyes, though I do hate grinding with a burning passion so I might be biased here.

Either way, have fun!