Blood Bowl 3 is the third installment of the favorite series of all the players who think American football should be much more violent and bloody. Let’s see what the newest adaptation of the Warhammer classic board game brings to the table.
The genesis
Blood Bowl is a parody of American football set in the Warhammer fantasy universe. It debuted as a miniature board game in 1986, while the first video game adaptation of Blood Bowl hit the shelves nine years later. Although it was enjoyable and even won several awards, it didn’t get a sequel. As a result, its fans had to wait over a decade for the next Blood Bowl video game. The first modern incarnation of this tabletop classic was developed by Cyanide and released in 2009. It was followed by multiple expansions and a direct sequel called Blood Bowl 2 in 2015. Now, players will have a chance to lead their teams of orcs, elves, and other fantasy races in Blood Bowl 3.
The release date
The third installment in the series was initially planned for release in early 2021. Unfortunately, this date turned out to be far from realistic. Multiple reasons led to the delays of the Blood Bowl 3 premiere, including the necessity of implementing rules from the new edition of the original game, moving from Gamebryo to Unreal Engine, and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the game will premiere much later than expected. Blood Bowl 3 will be released on February 23, 2023.
The game will be available on all popular gaming platforms: Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. The Nintendo Switch version of Blood Bowl 3 will be released later this year. Some players already had a chance to play Blood Bowl 3 during several beta tests. Cyanide has even canceled the PC early access release to give themselves more time to run additional beta tests. The last closed beta ran in June 2022. Even though the feedback was positive, the developer has decided to implement some suggestions, such as a more intuitive interface and toned-down colors.
Playable races (teams)
Similarly to previous Blood Bowl games, the latest installment lets players choose from a vast range of fantasy races with unique abilities. There are 12 playable teams in the base edition of Blood Bowl 3:
- Black Orcs,
- Chaos Chosen,
- Chaos Renegades,
- Dark Elf,
- Dwarfs,
- Elven Union,
- Humans,
- Imperial Nobility,
- Nurgle,
- Old World Alliance,
- Orcs,
- Skaven.
Both Blood Bowl and Blood Bowl 2 were extended with additional races released as DLC. Consequently, we anticipate that Cyanide will stick with this strategy and add more teams to Blood Bowl 3 sometime after the premiere.
New rules and features
As we’ve said earlier, the implementation of new rules was one of the reasons forcing Cyanide to postpone the game’s release. This is because Blood Bowl 3 is the first installment in the series that uses the Second Season Edition ruleset. It was presented in 2020 and has provided some essential changes regarding player characteristics, pre-game factors, passing the ball, and injuries, to mention only a few.
Another new feature that’s undoubtedly worth mentioning is the Blood Pass system. Each 3-month season introduces a new faction and lets players unlock unique cosmetics, including balls and dice. The presence of microtransactions may be rather concerning. The good news is that players can either buy an in-game currency called Warpstone or earn it just by playing matches. However, usually, gaining virtual money through playing requires endless grinding. We hope Blood Bowl 3 won’t follow this path.
Gameplay
Blood Bowl III contains new rules and features, but it brings no revolution when it comes to its core. It’s brutal and funny, yet a tactical sports game with turn-based gameplay. In a single-player campaign, you’ll assume the role of a manager who has to build a team from scratch. Therefore, you’ll recruit players, a coach, and cheerleaders, customize their looks and decide on the game plan.
In the world of Blood Bowl, you can do whatever it takes to win. Thus, you can try to cheat or make sure that referees turn a blind eye to your dirty moves. Unfortunately, your opponents will try to hit back. And those hits are hard, literally. As a result, your star player may suffer an injury or even get killed during a match.
Besides the campaign, Blood Bowl 3 offers multiple other game modes that let you compete against AI or other players. It is worth highlighting that you can use your carefully crafted campaign team in any other Blood Bowl 3 mode
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