“You will die!”
That's what the developers of Blood Seekers promised…
The most challenging MMO ever created—that’s what they said. Taglines like, “Not your granddaddy’s game,” and, “Only for the hardest of the hardcore,” had gamers going crazy. Set in a dark, gothic, Lovecraftian world, with fully realized A.I. NPCs, gamers were desperate to get their hands on the game and dive in, and Clay was one of them. It was going to be tough, but he was ready for it.
What he wasn’t ready for, was countless players having their minds hijacked and being transformed into hostile, zombie-like creatures filled with nothing but hate, who attack anyone on sight. They became known as the Bloodless, and now, Clay’s best friend is among them.
Rey moved across the country when they were twelve, but they kept in touch online, and when Blood Seekers was released, they were both ready to face the new challenge together. But now, Rey has been possessed by the mysterious plague, her mind held hostage with no sign of a cure.
To make things worse, Clay’s mind is plagued by visions of a mysterious black monolith that has appeared at the center of the highest level zone in the game, a place no one has even come close to reaching. Some think it will provide answers—others say it will only lead to more questions:
Who is behind all of this? Why are people’s minds being taken and what will it take to bring them back? How many more people will be lost when no one is able to log out?
Nothing is certain, but if there’s any chance that reaching the monolith will bring Rey back, then Clay will do everything he can to reach it.
My Opinion: 484 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
From the author of Call of Carrethen comes a new LitRPG story inspired by video games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. The story revolves around a Clay/Rand, who is one of the few players of Blood Seekers that is immune to the ‘trapped in the game’ issue that arises on launch day. Only his best friend Rey isn’t so lucky. So, he goes back in and faces all the challenges of this intentionally difficult game world so that he can level up and figure out how to save his friend.
The early part of the story is mostly monster grinding so that the game mechanics can be explained and the main character (MC) can level and become more powerful. As the story progresses, it becomes a bit more cyberpunk as the story secrets are revealed but it’s still mostly action-adventure with lots of fights with a wide variety of pretty creepy monsters. The action is good though, with good descriptions, smart use of powers, and good group work.
The game mechanics are going to feel pretty familiar to anyone that has played Dark Souls and Bloodborne. There are stats and levels that can be increased by gathering Quintessence, the games version of XP, by defeating monsters and completing quests. It can also be spent on special items, new weapons, health potions, and other things. There are lots of item, skills, and ability descriptions as well as damage notices. A good bit of crunchy RPG-ness here.
Overall, the story is entertaining. The pulls from Dark Souls and Bloodborne are good. There’s even a bit of the matrix mixed into the story for laughs that I thought was neat. It’s a very action focused story, which worked for me, but might not for everyone. Also, there is a bit of a cliff hanger.
Score: 7.4 out of 10