Laika: Aged Through Blood (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.2.2 Update

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a Western-inspired motorvania set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It is the story of a tribe oppressed by occupant forces, and the personal story of a mother coyote warrior who descends on an endless path of vengeance to take back what her people lost.

Drive, jump, and fight your way through the huge hand-drawn world on your trustworthy motorbike. Race through the wasteland and perform dangerous jumps, shoot enemies in slow-mo, and reload your gun by performing a backflip! Use skill-based power-ups and persist in challenging battles against big bosses!

STORY

Laika hears that a child from her town, Poochie, has been crucified by the Birds. Poochie’s father, Jakob, in a fit of blind rage, took Laika’s revolver to confront them. Laika follows Jakob to the military base Where Birds Lurk to retrieve her gun. As Laika takes back her revolver from dying Jakob, she finds out the Birds are experimenting with the genes of prehistoric animals and weaponizing them. After successfully defeating one of the Birds’ mutations, Laika takes Jakob’s body back to Where We Live.

After Jakob’s funeral, Laika’s mother Maya worries that Laika is coddling her daughter Puppy, wanting Puppy to be trained in combat and biking before she comes of age to inherit Laika’s immortality. However, Laika believes that Puppy is too young and should enjoy the innocence of youth a little longer. All the while, Puppy worries for Poochie since his body was never recovered and his soul cannot rest without a proper burial. Finding out the Birds are moving closer and closer to Where They Live, the village Elder orders Laika to seek an alliance with Where Rocks Bleed, a large mining town of mole people. After clearing the town of invading Birds and their mutated weapons, she finds that all but three mole people have been killed or fled into hiding.

Next, the village Elder ordered Laika to disrupt the Birds’ communication by destroying their relay station inside the Lighthouse. Pretending to be a maintenance worker, she hitches a ride on Roy’s ship to the Birds’ naval base Where Water Glistens. Realizing that Laika is lying, the Birds and Laika fight, and Roy is shot in the process. Laika succeeds in destroying the Lighthouse as Roy dies from his wounds.

The Elder’s next order was for Laika to go to Where Birds Came From and destroy The Big Tree, a pyramid cathedral that holds historic and religious value to the Birds in hopes of crippling their leadership and morale. With the help of Orella, a historian who has been working for the Birds, Laika successfully navigates and topples The Big Tree and kills the Birds’ religious leader, Pope Melva VIII.

Distraught from taking part in the destruction of art and history, Orella hangs herself. In her death, Orella warns Laika that her actions have only escalated the war since not only have the Birds taken notice of Laika, but the Pope she killed was the weakest in history and would surely be replaced by someone much stronger.

Laika returns to Where They Live with the grave news, angry at the orders of the Elder since they have achieved nothing but the increased presence of Birds in the Wasteland. All the while, Puppy shows signs of stubborn adolescence and anger towards her mother for not finding Poochie’s body. The next morning, Laika finds out Puppy ran away from home in search of Poochie’s body. After searching for clues, she finds out that one of the townsfolk sold Puppy to Beícoli, a singer exiled from Where We Live.

After confronting and killing Beícoli, Laika finds out Puppy is about to be transported to “Heaven” because the Birds know about Laika’s immortality and want to experiment on it. Laika takes Puppy back, apologizing for not recognizing her child’s worries. The puppy then suffers from high fevers, a sign that she is soon to Bleed. Maya worries that Puppy may either die from her fevers, leaving Laika with no next-of-kin, or inherit the immortality too early, leaving Puppy in an escalating war with no training, so Laika goes off to end to war as soon as possible.