Blood & Truth

Blood & Truth is a first-person shooter developed by London Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released on May 28, 2019 for the PlayStation 4's virtual reality headset PlayStation VR.

Blood & Truth
Developer(s)	London Studio
Publisher(s)	Sony Interactive Entertainment
Composer(s)	Joe Thwaites Jim Fowler
Engine	LSSDK engine
Platform(s)	PlayStation 4
Release	May 28, 2019
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Gameplay

The game is a first-person shooter. The player assumes control of Ryan Marks, a former Special Forces soldier who must save his family from a London crime boss.[1] Players can hide behind cover and pick up different guns to shoot enemies. To move in the game, players only need to look at a spot and press a button. The playable character will then automatically move to the spot. Players can also interact with different objects.[2]

Plot

The game begins with Ryan Marks being interrogated by an agent named Carson, who explains his current situation. During the interrogation, flashbacks show the events that happened up until the interrogation.

Ryan infiltrates a compound and rescues fellow soldier, Deacon and both escape the compound before Ryan is informed that his father had died from a heart attack. Ryan is sent back home in London and is picked up by his brother Nick from the airport. After the funeral, Ryan meets with his mother Anne, but then they are interrupted by gunfire, the family is then confronted by Tony Sharp, a London crime boss, Kayla, a woman who supposedly works for Tony and kills one of Anne's bodyguards and Tony's brother Keach.

The family is held at gunpoint by Keach, but Keach is fooled by Nick into thinking that the gun's safety is on. At this moment, Michelle and Nick takedown Keach and knock him out, the family then flees to their hidden safe house. The family then discovers that Tony will be at his private casino and Ryan volunteers to infiltrate the casino and kill Tony, although Anne is reluctant to the plan.

Ryan successfully infiltrates the casino but discovers that Tony is not in the building and is at his art gallery, but Keach still remains and tracks him down to a hotel room. After rigging the casino with bombs, Ryan confronts Keach and chases him through the building. Once he stops Keach, Ryan questions him on where Tony is, but Keach doesn't know where he is. Keach is either killed by Ryan or is suddenly killed by an armored guard and Ryan is able to escape and blow up the casino with the bombs he had rigged.

Ryan disguises himself and enters the art gallery during the day and discovers a private room that might contain information. Ryan and Nick then sneak into the gallery at night and vandalize most of the exhibits. The brothers are also able to find documents that all link back to Falstead Airfield.

After returning to the safe house, Tony calls the brothers along with Michelle to inform them that he has captured Anne and has held her in Freeson Towers, a building that is due for demolition.

The siblings work together to rescue Anne and Ryan is able to escape the demolition, however, Anne is then killed by Kayla, Michelle and Ryan are presumably arrested by the police while Nick goes off to hunt Tony. Back in the interrogation room, Ryan realizes that Carson is trying to recruit him into taking down Tony, to which Ryan agrees to help him while also guaranteeing Michelle's safety. Carson also reveals that there is a secret organization that is helping Tony.

Ryan infiltrates Falstead Airfield-hoping to find Nick-and discovers how the organization works. They sell black market materials and Carson explains that the organization uses the money to control society from the shadows. Ryan then escapes the Airfield.

Carson is able to track down where the materials are coming from and sends Deacon to the safehouse and the two form a plan to infiltrate the source and plant a trojan into the systems.

The plan goes well until Ryan is knocked out by gas and is captured by Tony and Kalya who reveal that they have also killed Nick. Although Tony orders Kayla to stay in the room with a tied up Ryan-as Tony goes to find Michelle-Kayla abandons Tony and reveals she is working for the organization and reveals that Ryans dad was originally going to work with the organization, but because he had died, they were reluctantly forced to work with Tony and finally reveals that she knows Carson and asks Ryan to tell him 'Amanda says hi'.

Ryan escapes his captivity with help from Deacon and Ryan infiltrates Tony's tower alone. But when he confronts him, Tony reveals that he is hiding behind bulletproof glass and escapes, with Ryan following him.

With help from Michelle, Ryan is able to chase Tony to his private plane and jumps aboard mid-flight. On the plane, Carson tells Ryan that there is a bomb on the plane that is set to explode, Ryan confronts Tony and has the choice to kill Tony or listen to Tony as he recounts a childhood story. Either way, the plane explodes with Tony inside of it and Ryan is thrown out of the plane but survives thanks to a parachute he had found earlier in the plane.

Moments later, Carson explains to Ryan that Kayla's real name is Amanda Kincaide and that she was a respected CIA operative, but then she disappeared to work with the organization. Ryan and Carson then agree to go after the organization.

Development

The game was based on the London Heist level in PlayStation VR Worlds and London Studio initially envisioned the game to be an installment in The Getaway series.[3] London Studio described the game as a "love letter to classic cockney gangster movies" and took inspiration from other Hollywood blockbusters.[4] The game was officially announced by publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment at Paris Games Week 2017.[5] It was released for the virtual reality headset PlayStation VR on May 28, 2019.[6]

Reception

The game received generally positive reviews from critics according to review aggregator Metacritic.[7] The game topped the UK chart in its week of release, a first for a virtual reality game.[8]

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2019	The Independent Game Developers' Association Awards	Best Action and Adventure Game	Nominated	[9]
		Creativity Award	Nominated
		Heritage Award	Won
		Best Visual Design	Nominated
	2019 Golden Joystick Awards	Best VR/AR Game	Nominated	[10]
		PlayStation Game of the Year	Nominated
	The Game Awards 2019	Best VR/AR Game	Nominated	[11]
2020	New York Game Awards	Coney Island Dreamland Award for Best AR/VR Game	Nominated	[12]
	23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards	Immersive Reality Technical Achievement	Won	[13][14]
		Immersive Reality Game of the Year	Nominated
	NAVGTR Awards	Direction in Virtual Reality	Nominated	[15]
	MCV/Develop Awards	Visual Innovation of the Year	Nominated	[16]
		Audio Innovation of the Year	Nominated
	Game Developers Choice Awards	Best VR/AR Game	Nominated	[17]
	SXSW Gaming Awards	XR Game of the Year	Nominated	[18]
	18th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards	Best Virtual Reality Audio	Nominated	[19]

References

1. Bankhurst, Adam (March 25, 2019). "Blood & Truth Release Date Revealed". IGN. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
2. Takahashi, Dean (April 2, 2019). "Blood & Truth hands-on — A VR shooting gallery on rails". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
3. McCarthy, Cate (April 2, 2019). "Blood and Truth Shows How Far VR Has Come, But Maybe Not in the Way You Might Think". USgamer. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
4. McWhertor, Michael (October 30, 2017). "Blood and Truth is an explosive action game for PlayStation VR". Polygon. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
5. Minotti, Mike (October 30, 2017). "Blood & Truth is a Bond-style spy action game for PlayStation VR". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
6. Wales, Matt (March 25, 2019). "Cockney PSVR crime shooter Blood & Truth gets a release date". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
7. "Blood & Truth for PlayStation 4 review". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
8. Dayus, Oscar (June 3, 2019). "Top 10 UK Games Chart: Blood & Truth Becomes First Ever VR No.1". GameSpot. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
9. "2019 Winners". The Independent Game Developers' Association. November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
10. Tailby, Stephen (September 20, 2019). "Days Gone Rides Off with Three Nominations in This Year's Golden Joystick Awards". Push Square. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
11. Winslow, Jeremy (November 19, 2019). "The Game Awards 2019 Nominees Full List". GameSpot. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
12. Sheehan, Gavin (January 2, 2020). "The New York Game Awards Announces 2020 Nominees". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
13. Chalk, Andy (January 13, 2020). "Control and Death Stranding get 8 nominations each for the 2020 DICE Awards". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
14. Van Allen, Eric (February 14, 2020). "Untitled Goose Game Wins Top Bill at the 2020 D.I.C.E. Awards". USgamer. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
15. "2019 Nominees". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. January 13, 2020. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
16. Wallace, Chris (February 14, 2020). "It's your last chance to vote for the MCV/DEVELOP Awards winners 2020". MCV/Develop. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
17. Shanley, Patrick (January 8, 2020). "'Death Stranding' Leads Game Developers Choice Awards Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
18. Grayshadow (February 17, 2020). "2020 SXSW Gaming Awards Nominees Revealed". NoobFeed. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
19. Tangcay, Jazz (May 6, 2020). "'Death Stranding' Sweeps Gaming's G.A.N.G. Awards With Six Wins Including Audio of the Year". Variety. Retrieved May 7, 2020.