Naraka: Bladepoint is adding a 1v1 mode tomorrow

After launching in August, mostly-melee battle royale ’em up Naraka: Bladepoint rated on RPS’s list of best battle royale games for its parkour and grabble hook fights. If you’re all about the battle and less about the royale, Naraka is queueing up a new game mode for you. The new 1v1 mode is inspired by and named after the movie Bloodsport, pitting sixteen players against one another in an elimination tourney until just one emerges as the winner. Naraka’s new Bloodsport mode is kicking off tomorrow for you to go face to face and sword to sword with solo challengers.

Developers 24 Entertainment say that Bloodsport is a melee-only mode that they believe will entice fighting game fans. “With increased melee resistances, fights will offer a deeper back and forth action pattern with more chances of outplays and last-minute comebacks,” they say. “Players will be able to use their normal ability—but ultimates are disabled.”

Unlike the usual battle royale format, which can get pretty drawn out, Bloodsport rounds will be 75 seconds apiece. With a roster of 16, that should mean winning three matches to reach the final encounter. Once you get to the last battle, it’ll be a best of three match. There are some tactical considerations outside the actual 1v1 fights as well, they explain. Players will pick a hero and weapon before each round and won’t be able to select the same one again until the final round.

If it comes as a surprise that any battle royale, even a melee-heavy one, would attract fighting game fans, well that’s down to Naraka’s punishing, fast-paced combat.

“I should stress that Naraka doesn’t feel all that much like other royales,” Matt Cox explains in his Naraka: Bladepoint review. “There are ranged weapons, sure, but they’re mostly just for softening people up. No—when death comes, it’ll be at the tip of a greatsword or a spear, right after you’ve rolled into someone’s swing or fluffed up a parry. You always have a chance to put up a fight, even if it does prove mercilessly short. It’s much more Tekken than Chivalry. Fighting game aficionados will feel right at home here, au fait as they may be with combos, split-second timing and (once you really get going) animation cancelling.”

Naraka: Bladepoint’s Bloodsport mode begins tomorrow, October 14, for those looking for a bit of sporting solos. You can find it over on Steam.