Fiora: Blood Binds

Blood never really washes out of silk, does it? Fiora Laurent, that sharp tongued duelist with the rapier and the ridiculous confidence, she finds out the hard way. This isn't some grand adventure, it's a tight, nasty little story about what happens when your idea of justice slams into a wall of Demacian corruption. The whole thing feels deliberately rough around the edges, like a sketch that got colored in just enough to make you uncomfortable. The voice work though, Zero Diamonds as Fiora, she gets that aristocratic sneer just right, even when the sneer is trembling. I kept poking around the main menu, you know, like you do when a game tells you there's hidden stuff. And yeah, there are scenes tucked away, not just the one you stumble through in the main story. The scientist guy, Mr Kristoff, his voice has this clinical detachment that makes the whole thing feel even more violating. It's a choice based thing, but don't expect branching paths that change the world. It's more like choosing which flavor of awful you're going to taste next. The animation by Manski has this weird, almost jerky quality to it, not smooth at all, but it fits the ugliness of what's happening. A princess, a warrior, all these high fantasy labels get stripped down to just flesh and consequence. I wish the Laurent brother had more to do. His voice from Nixon is good, full of that helpless rage, but he's mostly just a prop for Fiora's downfall. The music, that Hope and Hearth theme by Inon Zur, it plays almost mockingly over some of the grimiest parts. There's this one scene with Marcella, voiced by Ai chan, where the power dynamic flips so fast it gave me whiplash. The modeling is basic, Primer and LTR did the work, but it's the sounds that get you. The wet, slapping noises are mixed way too loud, or maybe just loud enough. It's not a game you enjoy, it's a game you endure, poking at the wounds of a kingdom that was never as noble as it pretended. The Crownguard voice, TECSARC, delivers this one line about honor that made me actually laugh out loud, right before things got worse.

• princess
• warrior
• hentai
• choice
• story