A couple of months ago I got to go hands-on with Shotgun Cop Man ahead of a public demo, and I was absolutely delighted with it. Using a gun to blast through perilous platforming stages was seriously entertaining, and it immediately made me happy to know that a cool and unique platformer was coming later this year. With only a couple of weeks before it releases though, Sacre Bleu is here to share the spotlight. This delightfully french platformer also involves using a gun to launch yourself through the air, except this time it’s a blunderbuss.
Your role in Sacre Bleu is of the leader of the musketeers, who has been wrongfully imprisoned by the corrupt aristocracy. After an impromptu cell escape you devise a plan to create an escape vehicle with an unlikely ally. To do this you’ll need to collect all sorts of important components, but wouldn’t you know it they’re all at the end of tricky platforming stages. Time to get jumping and shooting on an adventure to eat the rich, but mon dieu it will not be easy.
For the hero of a 2D platformer our dashing French protagonist isn’t much of a jumper, but thankfully his trusty blunderbuss more than makes up for that. By firing this in one direction you’ll be sent flying through the air in the opposite direction, and with the ability to shoot three times before landing you can get some epic air with this method of locomotion. Whether you’re shooting to cross a massive gap or weaving effortlessly between spikes and saw blades, it’s always ridiculously satisfying to get around in Sacre Bleu.
Your blunderbuss isn’t just for getting around though, it’s also a weapon. You actually have a pretty impressive arsenal at your disposal to take down foes, from a sword and pistol to devastating grenades. These all work as you’d expect, and are pretty satisfying to use. The blunderbuss weirdly doesn’t actually damage the baddies though, and instead just blows them back. You can use it to reflect arrows and other projectiles however, which is as cool as it sounds.
After surviving a combat encounter you’ll be given a ranking grade, which will take some seconds off your overall completion time and generally makes you feel good if it’s high. Scoring high only happens if you vary your attack types though, which incentivises you playing more creatively. I’ll admit it probably made combat harder for me, but it also made it more interesting.
Across three different worlds there’s a lot of creativity on display in Sacre Bleu, with clever gimmicks that use your gun in exciting ways. Sewer stages require you to blast air into the sails of a little boat to get around, whereas another world features cannons that fire energy balls you can deflect to activate switches. One section even had me playing a mini game of Breakout with these balls, which was just delightful. There are even boss fights scattered throughout the game, each of which centred around something unique. Getting bored was not an option thanks to this variety, and it made my playthrough much more enjoyable.
It only took me a few hours to make my way to the credits of Sacre Bleu, but outside of that there’s still plenty to do. You’ll need to get the best times possible on each stage to unlock a final extra level in each world, and if you’re really feeling up to the challenge you can try and top the leaderboards. There are also secret flags hidden in each stage which unlock mini challenge missions which are wonderful, and I couldn’t help but go back through the game to access them all.
There’s really not a lot worth moaning about in Sacre Bleu, but a few small issues prevent it from reaching legendary status in the platforming genre. The combat, while fun, was never my favourite part of the game, and as you progress it only becomes more prominent. I also experienced a lot of bugs in my playthrough, where certain doors wouldn’t open after respawning or sound bytes played on repeat. Hopefully these can be patched in the future, and others will have less issues than me.
Sacre Bleu is a fun and bombastic platformer, with wonderful locomotion and plenty of variety. If you like a challenge and don’t mind dealing with a little too much combat then you’ll devour this game as quickly as I did, and probably go back to unlock all the bonus content too.
