Side-Scrolling Beat'em up Blade Hunter begins Alpha Tomorrow

After the closure of both DarkBlood Online and Dungeon Fighter Online, the age of 2D Side-Scrolling Beat'em ups seemed to be on its last leg. After all, who wanted to play a boring 2D scroller when you could do the same thing in glorious 3D? Apparently lots of people do, as the myriads of popular retro Indie titles can attest to.

Enter Blade Hunter from R2Games. Blade Hunter marks the genre's return to 2D sidescrolling with promises of time-tested combat mechanics allowing players to execute nearly unlimited combos, including aerial ones against a wide array of enemies. The switch back to 2D also allows for full stage boss fights which span the length of the screen much like those found in old arcade Beat'em ups. It's always better showing combat rather than describing so here's Blade Hunter's official trailer:

Blade Hunter's Alpha test begins tomorrow, December 12th. During the Alpha players will be able to try out three classes; the Knight, Rogue, and Valkyrie. There currently appears to be no code requirement for the Alpha, which means everyone who signs up on the official site should be able to participate during the test.