Laika: Aged Through Blood

Laika: Aged Through Blood is a 2023 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania video game developed by Brainwash Gang and published by Headup Games. The game, set in a Western-style post-apocalyptic world, follows Laika, an anthropomorphic coyote, as she tries to protect her family and village from the encroaching Bird empire. She journeys through the game world on a motorcycle, which the player accelerates and rotates to ride on uneven ground, block bullets, and reload Laika's various guns. The game began development in 2019 as one of several prototypes by the Madrid, Spain-based developer and underwent several revisions in design. Once funding was established from Headup Games in late 2021, development was restarted as a more polished product. Brainwash Gang is run as a co-operative and does not divide its developers into formal job roles, as many of them have experience with multiple parts of game design as solo developers, though the music for the game was composed and performed by Beatriz "Beícoli" Ruiz-Castillo. Laika was released for Microsoft Windows on October 19, 2023 and for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on December 5. A Nintendo Switch port was released on January 30, 2025. The game was positively received upon release, with most critics acclaiming its story, art design and music, but having mixed opinions on how frustrating they found the challenging gameplay.