In many ways Blood Dragon pokes fun at the same thing, with its incessant tutorial pop-ups and perceived hand-holding - but its a broader laugh here where a lot of other games really ought to pay attention. I wrote a piece specifically calling out Far Cry 3 and its hand-holding segments I felt detracted from what the rich game-world could offer the inner explorer in gaming. And that's the best thing about this alternate future history - at its very core it’s not pretending to be anything other than a reverent and self-referential look at our past and what we play today. Blood Dragon takes on the classic vision for these things we take for granted now, and takes no prisoners in its representations of them. Neon, lasers, cybernetics - all obviously exist today, but rather than the glaring over-the-top aesthetics we assumed they’d be, they’re far more subdued, and rarely ever used for evil machinations (well, neon aside). To get the most out of Blood Dragon you need to have a healthy respect for just how ridiculous our creativity was 30-odd years ago. Yeah I know, that’s a bit of an on-the-nose line in a review of a game whose premise is built around an 80s sci-fi ideal of what the future would actually be like, but I’m a true child of the 80s and Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon speaks to me in tones, colours and a language anyone not of that era could (or should) fully understand.

If I had my way, I’d give this game an 11/10 for being.

Far cry 3 blood dragon rex