This week I started on the sixth level! I probably won’t talk about the sixth or seventh levels that much, because I’d like to leave some surprise when you finally play the game. Not that anyone plays Bleed for the story, but knowing everything that’s coming would kill some of my buzz, at least.

So in light of that, today I’ll spoil something else from earlier in the game! The Rival character is coming back, making his reappearance at the end of level one in a souped-up Mirror Core.

The fight has seen some big changes over the years. It takes place while racing through a tunnel, and originally the Mirror Core smashed through gates, creating holes for you to dodge through.

One problem was that it was really, really hard for a first-level boss. That, and it just felt sloppy or unsatisfying — something about dodging forward through the gates, and then having to run immediately backward to give yourself room to dodge through the next gate… the back-and-forth-ness of it just wasn’t working.

So, I took out the gates gimmick and changed the boss to mainly use reflectable bullets for its attacks. It means the fight is a lot easier, but it’s the first level so that’s kind of desireable. Like the Blast Jumper before it, it gives players a chance to really get familiar with the reflecting mechanics.

I’m positive nobody in the world cares about this as much as I do, but it makes me feel weird even revealing that he’s coming back, since it’s a fun little secret I kept to myself for so long.

 

I do wonder if this is a boss too far… if you count the two ‘tutorial’ mini-bosses, the first level has four boss fights total. Watching people play at TCAF, I noticed they expected the level to end after the ‘third’ boss, the Blast Jumper. The Blast Jumper is a step up from everything that’s come before so it probably feels like the climax, not to mention everyone’s used to the magic number three in storytelling. If I had to cut a fight, the new Mirror Core would be it.

Buuuuuut I’m probably not going to. The Rival is a recurring boss, and I think it would be weird not to introduce an element like that as early as possible. Bleed 2 is also a game largely focused on boss fights, so… this is kind of a sign of things to come. There’s gonna be a lot of them, it’s what the game’s about. May as well let that freak flag fly!