First Bite: Bad Blood proves you can never have too much of a good thing
Never has a game quite took me by the throat and given me a little shake quite like First Bite, a dark-comedy visual novel featuring three chaotic vampires who love nothing more to but fuck, eat, and sleep. And not necessarily in that order. It’s mini-sequel, First Bite: Bad Blood does that and more, returning players to the familiar chaos of Dead End Drive and the mischief that vampires Valeria, Illyas and Laurel have in store.
Fast forward six months after you’ve first been turned as a vampire by whichever sire you chose last time around, things are looking good for the player character. Hell, you’re looking better than good, you’re a freaking sexy vampire living with three other sexy vampires. As far as most people on the internet would judge, you’ve won the lottery of life, all while being dead.
Unfortunately, being a vampire comes with something that Twilight taught us when we were in our teens: weird-ass bureaucracy. First Bite: Bad Blood is keen to remind us of that particular tidbit too because, as great as those six months have been to you and your relationship with your fellow vampires, there’s one little problem: the Council of Vampires did not approve of your turning. Sounds harmless right? Just gotta fill some paperwork, right? Wrong. Not only are your sires faced with one hefty fine for their many, many misdeeds, if you’re unable to prove that you’ll fit into vampire society without risk of being caught then you’ll be killed.
To prove that you can be a good vampire, you and your vampire favourites are sent a vampire who I’ve affectionately dubbed as ‘Mommy’, but is actually called Rose. Despite having a tattoo on her neck that says ‘Pussy Hunter’, Rose is not here to put up with your baby vampire shenanigans and outright seems to resent you from the get-go. The reason for that I’ll leave unspoiled, but let me once state: she is not here to play. Well, unless you ask her nicely. Maybe.
With only a handful of days to learn 6 months worth of vampire knowledge that should have been taught to you from the beginning, you’ll have to depend on Illyas, Valeria and Laurel to teach you enough so that you don’t get your throat ripped out. Easy peasy.
Much like the original game, First Bite: Bad Blood isn’t interested in changing the formula when it comes to vampire fiction. It’s vampires certainly aren’t the angst-ridden Dracula fest, instead embracing the modern day setting with a penchant for violence and superiority that is borderline psychotic at times. Does that make it hard to play? The exact opposite, there is inherently nothing funnier than vampires who are both clued in and yet clueless about how their behaviour looks to outsiders looking in. These characters are creatures of the night, and the developers at First Bite Games commitment to making them all be little freaks instead of guilt-ridden, vegetarian vampires is refreshing.
Of course, the sequel doesn’t throw these three having ‘feelings’ out of the window. Murderous and bloodthirsty as they are, the three of them having something worth fighting for in this sequel: namely, you. Whereas before it was about worming your way into their good graces by manipulation and sex, this time around you are already an established member of this coven and their love for you is already guaranteed. How they show this love is entirely up to you because, even if this game continues to ramp up the racy scenes (and I, for one, am not complaining), it also gives you the option to just keep it as non-sexual as possible. For a game where you have Illyas, a guy who I’m certain would walk around naked 24/7 if given the opportunity, the option to keep things fairly mild is a welcome addition.
On the surface, First Bite: Bad Blood doesn’t do anything that makes it out of the ordinary; but it’s hard to further enhance something that was already so good from the start, isn’t it? First Bite was campy, gory and fun, and it’s mini-sequel is that and more, proving once and for all that there really is no such thing as having too much of a good thing. Especially if that good thing is being surrounded by three hot vampires who want to bite you in more ways than one. The only criticism I have? I wish it was longer just so I could hang out with Laurel, Valeria and Illyas some more.
Score: 4/5
A copy of First Bite: Bad Blood for PC was provided to Gayming Magazine by the developer.
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