The legendary Bruce Lee has been in video games for about as long as the medium itself has existed, and now he is coming to Naraka: Bladepoint in time for this weekend’s free promotional event. Unlike a lot of other multiplayer battle royale titles, Naraka: Bladepoint puts more of an emphasis on melee combat rather than gunplay, with up to 60 players battling it with weapons, a parkour-style traversal system, and special abilities from seven customizable Naraka: Bladepoint playable characters. It first launched back in August, with developer 24 Entertainment recently announcing that the first-ever Naraka: Bladepoint World Championship eSports event will be held sometime early next year.
So far, Naraka Bladepoint has sold over six million copies worldwide as of last month, making it one of the fastest-selling Chinese PC games in history. Since this successful release, 24 Entertainment has started to expand Naraka: Bladepoint’s roster of playable heroes with its first new character in September, along with a new Koi Bonanza event and a reputation system that punishes rage quitters. Naraka: Bladepoint has also featured plenty of crossovers with other media, such as sword spirit Yoto Hime from Onmyouji being included as a pre-order bonus character and a 1v1 game mode inspired by the classic Jean-Claude Van Damme film Bloodsport being added to the game in October.
As it turns out, this won’t be the last time Naraka: Bladepoint draws influence from classic martial arts cinema, as PCGamesN reports that 24 Entertainment has announced that a new batch of DLC content based on Bruce Lee will be available starting on December 14. This includes alternate character skins based on the late martial artist, as well as Lee’s iconic nunchucks as a new weapon. Yesterday’s Bruce Lee X Naraka: Bladepoint Official Collaboration Cinematic trailer features a CG version of Lee walking through a desert landscape and showing off some of his famous fighting moves, as can be seen below:
Additionally, 24 Entertainment will be holding a free weekend for Naraka: Bladepoint, starting on December 17 and running until December 21. This will allow players to try the game out for themselves, with everyone being sorted into lobbies by skill level to prevent newcomers from being overpowered by battle-hardened veterans. Additionally, 24 Entertainment has announced further crossover events for the coming year, such as Viper Ning featured in Fall Guys and Shadow Warrior 3’s Shuriken Spitter weapon added to Naraka: Bladepoint.
Bruce Lee has served as an inspiration to many fighting game characters over the years, such as Street Fighter’s Fei Long, Tekken’s Marshall Law, and even Mortal Kombat protagonist Liu Kang - and it seems this trend will continue with Naraka: Bladepoint’s upcoming batch of Lee-inspired DLC. Players will be able to try out these Dragon-themed weapons and character skins during this weekend’s free Naraka: Bladepoint event starting on Friday, December 17.
Source: PCGamesN, Naraka: Bladepoint/YouTube