Pixel Bomb Games were established in 2011 and are based in Manchester, which also serves as the game's setting - which as far as I know, makes it a world first for one of the UK's largest cities.
The game is set in the year 2281, and tasks you - a military engineer - to travel back to Earth from the Tree of Life, an orbital station containing the last remnants of civilisation. Humanity has suffered near extinction at the hands of a 20 year long hi-tech global war, and those who remain seek to reclaim the surface of Earth, sending out an 'Olive Branch' team to assist what remains of Earth's peacekeeping force, the UGR (United Global Remnant).
It turns out team Olive Branch have gone missing, and your mission to discover their whereabouts quickly devolves into a desperate fight to survive against roaming mutants and bands of savage scavengers across a dystopian Manchester obliterated by war.
Earth's 23rd century horrors begin to unfurl and you are forced to fight in order to control Manchester, UK – a key evacuation and aid point during the 20-year Global War – and you need it to restore comms pointing back to the Tree of Life. You are no longer 'just' a hacker; not just an engineer. Beyond Flesh and Blood is a mech-in-mech 3PS – and a Mancunian baptism of fire.
Beyond Flesh and Blood describes itself as a gory nod to the 3rd person shooter genre, and carries a focus on mech suits in combat. The player can utilize an array of unique machines to further their chances of survival, in a game which hopes to provide fast paced gameplay that will 'push shooter skills to the limit'. The engineer (currently named Ethan) pilots mechs remotely to proceed. Death isn't a factor, but the amount of UGR mechs you waste on your journey across the blasted Manchester cityscape will negatively impact your combat scores.
Pixelbomb criticise the 'endemic' hand holding modern games have, hoping instead that their game will offer a more satisfying challenge. There are no chest high walls, no health regen. Health packs and weapons upgrades will be procured in the field across a 6-7 hour long story driven campaign, with the aim of kicking off a trilogy. Pixelbomb's highly detailed dystopic Mancunian environments hope to utilize the full power of the Xbox One via the popular Unreal 4 engine.
As a fan of mechs, post-apocalypse, guns, and the like, Beyond Flesh and Blood already ticks a lot of boxes for me. As a Brummy, the chance to see Manchester in ruins is also quite attractive... (kidding!)
The game has been approved for Steam Greenlight, and has a PC demo. Beyond Flesh and Blood will be released in full on Xbox One, PS4, PC and Linux towards the end of the year.
Jez Corden is a Senior Editor for Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by caffeine. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his Xbox Two podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!
