I got to play Black State for twenty minutes and got what it’s all about: lots of fun.
Game graphics are a funny thing.
On the one hand, it can be very impressive to play visually appealing titles. On the other hand, that doesn’t help at all if the game isn’t fun.
I got to play the title at gamescom 2025 at Nvidia and now I know more. My impression: The graphics are ultimately just a side issue here, and the game itself has a lot of potential to be a lot of fun.
Black State in action: You can see what happens when a guy who has mainly been playing League of Legends and indie games for years tries his hand at a fast-paced shooter again in my Black State gameplay video here (and yes, I didn’t get the robots):
The graphics are good, but in the end it (almost) doesn’t matter
Because the Turkish studio Motion Blur behind Black State is hardly known, there were doubts after the announcement about a year ago: Can a game that looks so good really be realized by a no-name developer?
Even though you can never know for sure, I am now very confident in this case: Yes, Motion Blur can do it. On the one hand, because of the increasing amount of new material. On the other hand, because of my own impressions of the game at gc 2024 and 2025.
But what I also know since playing it yesterday is that I quickly forgot about the graphics while gaming because I enjoyed the gameplay so much.
Fast and creative
On the one hand, Black State feels very fast and smooth. On the other hand, I have lots of equipment and options to customize my approach.
It remains to be seen how well it will be possible to fight your way through the game in stealth mode. But there are options for doing so, such as silently taking down multiple enemies at once and using gadgets that make the bodies of killed enemies disappear so as not to attract attention.
Overall, however, the weapons and gadgets available to me in the gameplay demo are more suited to a “I’m Rambo and I’m going to move through the levels like Rambo!” approach.
But even if a quiet and slow approach isn’t relevant in the end, I’m sure I’ll have a lot of fun with Black State.
The right mix makes it all
Black State offers a wide variety of weapons, from classic assault rifles to guns that fire sticky explosive rounds and one-shot lasers.
There are also gadgets such as damage and stun drones that roll toward enemies, topped off with a bullet time mode.
During my brief playthrough, I found it a bit annoying to have to switch to a separate selection menu quite often. However, this can possibly (and hopefully) be solved more smoothly via the customizable controls.
In the end, the decisive factor will be how well such a smooth gameplay loop can be achieved.
And whether, in addition to the stylish graphics, the story and the portal mechanics with doors that repeatedly send me to other areas will work well.
