I’ve learned to temper my expectations when it comes to new releases with Games Workshop IPs. Having now played and reviewed multiple Warhammer titles, I often find their releases to range from slightly underwhelming to buggy and near enough incomplete messes on release. But here I am again diving back into the world of Warhammer, this time in the unique mash-up of sports, humour, and brutality with Blood Bowl 3.
Blood Bowl 3 is fantasy football in the most literal sense you could imagine. By combining Warhammer, the iconic Games Workshop IP, and American football, players use both tactical thinking and gratuitous violence to crush their opponents into bloody pulps or outwit them with strategic plays. Or maybe a mixture of both. This preview build looked to offer a taste of the new and improved features and gameplay with the newest ruleset, and after six hours of playtime, it certainly has great potential to be a hit with fans and purists. Thought I’d imagine that’s about it.
Blood Bowl 3 is a turn-based strategy (no surprise there when it’s from GW) that follows the rules of American football, having players attempting to score touchdowns and best the other team across two halves made up of eight turns each. Beyond the comprehensive tutorial, I was left to my own devices for the rest of my time playing, having the option to play online against other players, AI, or hot seat with two players playing on the same PC in turns. I had no friends who wanted to play, so I stuck to online matches.
Players control a team made up of various football players, each with different stats and abilities at their disposal who through careful planning, strategic thinking, or violent assaults aim to win matches through touchdowns or simply killing or maiming the enemy team. Different races have different playstyles, each having its own flavour that determines its strengths, weaknesses, and effective strategies. The nimble elves are perfect for passing and agile movements for those who favour smart plays, whereas those like me who crave violence can play the black orcs, and pummel the opposing team through aggressive tackles and foul plays. This preview only showcased four of the 12 races that will be available at launch, the imperial nobility, elven union, the dwarfs, and the black orcs.
Despite this, these four showed considerable differences in their playstyle, and no doubt the rest of the races will play very differently and give that nice amount of variety for players to explore and try. On top of that, upgrading your team and its players offensive and defensive skills and earning money for new players and bonuses like coaches layers on more of the strategy and nuance that the IP and its creators are known for. It’s very on-brand, but they do it well, so who’s complaining? And all this is taking place in a bizarre yet detailed and interesting world that on the surface may seem absurd, but is full of character and the signature Warhammer tone that feels right at home in a football stadium full of rabid fans cheering and chanting waiting for some bloodshed. Or maybe the occasional good play as well.
As you would expect from a Games Workshop title, the gameplay goes deeper and into more nuanced territory quickly, and in Blood Bowls’ case, that makes for a serious number and text-heavy experience. Nearly all player actions are determined by dice rolls, leaving you at their mercy with one bad roll potentially completely ruining a strategy or turn. Along with that, you have a lot of text boxes to read to properly understand how modifiers, percentages, and abilities affect your actions, as well as considering positioning, players types, enemy movements, and skills to effectively control the pitch and make the best use of their team. It is A LOT of information to digest, and it could be too much for a more casual player to really stick their teeth into. That said, The game is extremely faithful to its tabletop counterpart, which I imagine fans and purists will be glad to hear. When the game clicked and I pulled off a touchdown or brutal beating, the cheers of fans and the crowd’s response felt earned, and the time I spent planning and learning the game’s intricacies felt rewarding despite its daunting appearance.
There are a few grievances I had from my time playing despite its solid gameplay. None of the fields showcased the new special rules, a new feature that seemed to be absent from the preview. Along with that, there were some minor hiccups with graphics like pop in and muddy textures and some connectivity issues that resulted in matches being dropped, but these were pretty rare and forgivable for a preview/beta build. My biggest gripe comes from customisation or lack of it. Blood Bowl and its other IP’s are known for player choice, especially in the customisation and personalisation of your armies and teams. So it seems a bit strange that almost none of that was shown off in this preview. Aside from colours and emblems, barely any of the customisation options that have been announced were available and given how robust they are meant to be, letting you change anything including individual armour pieces on each player, seems like quite a misstep, especially for a Games Workshops products. Seriously, just show it off even a little bit next time.
Blood Bowl 3 looks to be a faithful adaptation and an overall solid game, albeit a rather niche one. Learning the layers of depth and nuance to the game can be a daunting one, but one that feels very rewarding once it all comes together and makes for an engaging experience, even if this preview wasn’t the best showing for the game. With an improved competitive mode, solo campaigns for all races, more races and new customisation coming in the full release, it looks to be a robust package that will deliver plenty of strategic and brutal fun for anyone willing to put in the time to learn it, and I do not doubt that fans of the series or other Games Workshop IP’s will be more than happy with what’s on offer.
Blood Bowl 3 is set to release in 2022 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Check out the Game’s Website and Twitter for more details.
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