Netflix Expands Zach Snyder's Rebel Moon Series With Blood Line Game

CNET

5 days ago

I never got around to watching Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon film series on Netflix. So, before I started playing an early version of Blood Line: A Rebel Moon Game through Netflix Games, I was nervous I wouldn't understand what was happening. But you don't need to have seen the films to enjoy this mobile game.
Super Evil Megacorp, the team behind the award-winning game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate, developed Blood Line: A Rebel Moon Game in collaboration with Snyder. The game is a whole new story with a fresh cast of characters set within the Rebel Moon universe.
Here's what you should know about Netflix's Rebel Moon tie-in game, Blood Line, before you get started.
Blood Line's story fits into Rebel Moon, but you don't need to have seen the films
This new Rebel Moon story is set on the planet Krypt, and it features an original cast of characters.
Netflix
The game begins when your character decides to rebel against the Imperium -- think the Empire from Star Wars. You link up with other rebels, carry out raids and attacks on Imperium strongholds and use resources to upgrade weapons and loadout.
All this takes place on the planet Krypt, which fans of the films might recognize as an ally of the Imperium. According to Snyder, this choice led to some cool ideas.
"We find out what makes the Krypteians such capable warriors," Snyder said in a video shown in a press briefing. "What if a rift formed between these two cultures who have aligned for a thousand years … and what if that rift exploded into a planet-wide rebellion?"
But you don't need to know the lore of the films to enjoy this game, because this is a fun mobile game you can play with your friends or by yourself. The different classes of characters let you take on missions how you want, and the quick missions offer enough of a challenge to keep you coming back to try and perfect your run.
Which Blood Line class is right for you?
The four classes in Blood Line are -- from left to right -- the Forsaken, Evoker, Kindred and Bannerguard.
Netflix
There are four different classes with unique playstyles and abilities you can play as in the game. There's the Bannerguard, which is a heavy assault class. Their main weapon is a machine gun, and some of their abilities allow them to boost their team's damage or allow teammates to take reduced damage.
The Evoker is your support class, and their main weapon is a staff that can charge up attacks over time -- and the starting staff can attack multiple enemies at once. As a support class, their abilities focus on healing others and providing teammates with increased movement speed and other buffs.
The Forsaken is an assassin class and specializes in close-range combat. They carry two dual-edged swords, and some of their abilities can give them, as well as nearby teammates, a speed boost.
Finally, there's the Kindred, which is a long-range sniper class. The Kindred has a bow that can inflict a lot of damage when fully charged, and they can set traps around the battlefield that can stun enemies.
I found myself switching between the Bannerguard and Forsaken classes when I played the game. The Bannerguard is a pretty well-rounded unit that can deal and take a lot of damage, so that is an easy first class to get acquainted with the game. And the Forsaken was just fun to play. I spammed the dodge button like I was playing Elden Ring to get in close to enemies, hit them fast, and then I'd jump out of the way of enemy fire.
However, the Evoker and Kindred classes feel like they would be more helpful in multiplayer matches as opposed to single-player games -- especially the Evoker support class. I completed a mission with each class, but the Evoker's buffs felt like they were meant to share with others, and the Kindred's sniper class and traps felt wasted because enemies always saw me, so I could never hide or lay any traps. Both classes make the missions more challenging in single-player mode, but I imagine each class really shines when you're playing with others.
As you play, your character gains experience and levels up and becomes more formidable, bringing an RPG element to the game. You can also upgrade your weapons, giving them more damage or other benefits.
Short but engaging missions make it easy to hop in and out of this game
You can take on these missions on your own or with friends.
Netflix
The missions I played were fairly short, taking only a few minutes to accomplish, which I liked. It allowed me to jump into the game for a few minutes at a time without requiring a huge chunk of my time. So I could play a quick mission while I waited for some food to heat up in the microwave.
I also enjoyed the different side objectives for each mission. Each mission has a main objective as well as secondary goals that give you more rewards. Some secondary goals are to take out a certain number of enemy troops, and others are to beat the mission within a given time limit. Luckily, you can replay each mission; that way, you can go back and accomplish any objectives you might have missed and level your character up.
Between each mission, you go to your hideout where you can talk to other members of the rebellion to learn more about them, upgrade your weapons and loadout or change your class. The hideout is also where the main narrative beats happen as you learn more about what is happening in the rebellion and what your next move is.
If you played Super Evil Megacorp's TMNT game, you might expect Blood Line to be a roguelike since they are similar in other areas, like their co-op mechanics and top-down gameplay. However, that's not the case. Each level in Blood Line has a consistent layout and enemy count, so you know what you're getting into each time you select a given mission. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but something to be aware of if you thought this was going to be a roguelike game.
Netflix's content development continues to evolve
While Blood Line offers a fun and challenging experience, it also marks another step by Netflix to revamp its gaming strategy.
Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in the streaming company's fourth-quarter earnings call for 2024 that it would keep adjusting its games strategy, focusing more on narrative games based on Netflix content. "We want to do more recognizable, mainstream titles, whether that is licensed titles, like GTA…as well as home-grown titles based on our IP," he said.
To that end, Netflix released the Black Mirror tie-in game Thronglets in April on the same day the company released the seventh season of the show. The game was featured in one episode of the season, and I felt the game gave more depth to the story the episode was telling.
The story in Blood Line isn't featured in a Rebel Moon film the way Thronglets was in Black Mirror. It expands the universe of Rebel Moon and makes it more immersive by giving the Krypteians more depth. They aren't the good guys in the films, but in the game, we get to see another side of their people and world that fleshes them out and gives them more character and agency in the larger Rebel Moon universe.
Netflix subscribers can play Blood Line: A Rebel Moon Game now on mobile. This and other games are included in the price of a Netflix subscription (starting at $8 a month). You can access Blood Line and other Netflix games through the Netflix mobile app.
For more on Netflix games, check out what to know about Spirit Crossing, WWE 2K and the Grand Theft Auto series on the service.