Mother Russia Bleeds Interview

Written by Charles Husemann on 8/26/2015 for PC  

Mother Russia Bleeds was a bit of a surprise reveal at E3.  Not because it was a return to the Beat 'em Up games of yore but because of the shocking level of violence in the game.  I'm a bit numb when it comes to violence but Mother Russia Bleeds cranked everything up to 11.  The game left such an impression that we had to learn more.  Luckily we were able to get some of lead designer Frederic Coispeau's time to answer a few questions about the game.

What is the backstory of Mother Russia Bleeds?
Four characters: Sergeï, Ivan, Natasha and Boris were street fighters living in a poor community in USSR. One day, as other unknown poor people, they are kidnapped by mafia. They are locked in a dark lab owned by the mafia, and get experimented. All these experimentations have only one objective: create a new drug and earn a lot of money. The game begins when they wake up and will try to escape from the lab. They get some visions and hallucination. Then, all the story is about understanding what happened to them, what are these visions, what is that drug, who is involved into it?

We don't really see beat-em up games much anymore. Are you hoping to revitalize the genre with Mother Russia Bleeds?
You know, the last beat em all we really loved, it's streets of rage 2. It will now be 23 years it came out .Beat em all that came out recently are a little too watered down to our liking. That does not mean they are bad! No! But it is true that we really wanted to provide a beat em all with a dark universe, urban, yellow, and rather violent. We do not think we are the only ones to revitalize the genre, recently Scott Pilgrim, Shank, Charlie Murder, Castle Crashers did. Nevertheless, it makes a point of honor to propose a beat em all with the spirit beat em all that could be found in the 80.

What modern touches are you bringing to this classic genre?
4 players, More fluid and fast, New gameplay mechanics, like the syringe. (There is no power ups, like lives, health). You have a synringe with 3 slots. You can choose between two actions: Heal or get into berserk. Each action costs you one slot. And there is only one way to refill your syringe. Some of dying ennemies can be sampled: You have to stick the syringe in them, and wait while your syringe is refilled. 

Music, SFX are also modern.

Can you delve into the decision to make the game hyper-violent?
We make a beat em all. What is beat em all genre? It is a kind of game where the combat is central. Moreover, it is street fighting. For me, a pure beat em all (that do not mix other genres) is primarily a game that is fun to beat up on a dark street. That's the essence of this kind. This is not to earn xp, or to buy lives in a shop. No, the essence of this kind is to imagine being in the place of the character we play, and beat up in shabby places! Making the hyper-violent game that is primarily because it goes with the genre. Since when streets bastons are not violent? They are! We also chose pixel art because it makes violence more fun if we had gone on a realistic art direction.

Outside of the obvious games like Double Dragon what other games have inspired Mother Russia Bleeds?
Firstly Hotline Miami. When we played it on the first time, we were so impressed. Because that game has a real soul. Really. After playing it, we learnt that only two guys made it. We thought it was possible for us to the same. You know, we are also inspired by moves, like Gaspar Noé movies, David Lynch, nicolas winding refn. But also music, like Kickback, Diapsiquir, Necro...

Besides your firsts what other weapons will players have at their disposal?
Many kinds of weapons 

• Guns (pistols, shotguns) -> Heads explose
• Big weapon (Baseball bat, fire extinguishers, beam, golf club, chair, WC...)
• Middle weapon (baton, toilet paper, crowbar...)
• Tazer
• Cutting (Broken bottle, knife, katana...)

As you see, there are a lot of possibities!

The game supports up to four players - is that all local co-op or will there be online multiplayer as well?
For sure local, but we need to check how works online on Unity! It's our next production step!

Is there anything we missed that you think is important?
We're also working on PVP mode, like battle arena!

We'd like to thank Frederic for taking the time to answer our questions as well as Stephanie for being the wind beneath our wings (and coordinating the interview)