Secure the area. Enter the lab.

Espada has tracked down a lieutenant she's been after—he's inside a lab at a construction site. Meet her at a nearby water tower, secure the area, then enter the lab with her.

Gameplay of Blood Ties

A layout full of options2

Whether it's ladders, ziplines, or even swinging on giant cranes, there are so many ways to traverse the construction site. And you can enter from nearly any direction—aka the "360 Approach".

Along with the three main gates, there are several smaller entry points into the area. Some are more exposed, while others are more hidden—you can scout your preferred path from the nearby water tower.

You can use the two massive cranes to grapple across the different buildings—one of them leads you to a helicopter.

The rooftops offer interesting paths through gaps and jumps, marked by steel plates for guidance. And ziplines help you quickly return to the ground in a pinch.

There are many ways to traverse the layout

Enemies arranged like a puzzle

I treated the setup like a puzzle box, carefully considering the positions and paths of each enemy in the layout, as well as gameplay ingredients like poison and gas barrels to take them out.

The lab's front and rear entrances are guarded by two Heavy Gunners. When they become suspicious, one will step out to investigate, which is your chance to sneak in.

Several waves of reinforcements appear if you trigger the alarm. Most are unarmored so you can kill them quickly and recharge your special ability—use it against the more difficult enemies.

I improved pacing by spawning the tank from the very start, rather than with the reinforcements. Located in front of the lab where it's heavily guarded, the pay-off is quite high if you manage to steal it.

Contributions

  • Environment
  • Layout tweaks
  • Ziplines and grapples
  • Ammo distribution
  • Visual Scripting
  • Mission script
  • Reload logic
  • AI spawn system
  • AI
  • Enemy AI setup
  • Espada AI setup
  • AI paths
  • AI battlefields