Grim Pulse: The First Blood

Grim Pulse: The First Blood is a single-player action game about Aelthar Valeric, a human transformed by an ancient system called the Pulse Core. After more than 9,743 years in an eternal sleep, he awakens in a modern city shaped by vampire covens and begins recovering his memories. You fight, explore the city above and the labyrinth beneath it, and uncover how the systems that govern vampirism came to persist.

Aelthar’s awakening

The story takes place in a dream city that Aelthar initially mistakes for the real world. This dream is a calibration space created by the Pulse, where he learns to sense the blood around him and draw understanding from the thoughts of the living. As he climbs towers, defeats bosses and listens to whispers, he regains memories and gets closer to waking.

Aelthar was human when the Pulse Core malfunctioned in an ancient civilization. The failure produced the Legion of Night, beings and systems that endured after reality’s boundaries fractured. Aelthar fought the resulting creatures for more than 300 years before the covens put him into eternal rest. The world has since reorganized, and vampirism has become an entrenched system maintained through hierarchy, fear and control.

The story follows a linear quest series with open-world elements. Its planned narrative spans the Prologue and Chapters I–VIII, from the Pulse Core’s creation and Aelthar’s transformation to his conflict with the covens and the Council. Lisette, a human Aelthar loved, becomes an immortal who believes governance and structure are necessary; she is among the figures tied to his past and awakening.

Explore and observe

The modern city has an Overworld of active streets and social structures, as well as an Underground City of ancient, shifting passages. Rooftops offer opportunities to observe and listen, while streets expose you to danger and surveillance. The underground network extends beneath New Orleans and connects toward Poverty Point and the covens’ skyscrapers; its unstable routes must be learned rather than followed with navigation tools.

NPCs talk, argue, gossip and make plans whether or not Aelthar is nearby. Through eavesdropping, you can uncover information that unlocks or changes quests, reveals conflicts and may close off other opportunities. Conversations can be unreliable, and listening depends on proximity and positioning; missing information can have lasting consequences. Some quests and routes depend on what you hear, and learning patrols or power struggles can let you avoid combat.

Combat, stealth, observation and restraint all shape how you approach the world. Quests can change or disappear, and outcomes persist according to your actions. The game also offers free-play wandering through the city.

Combat and progression

You fight with light and heavy attacks, dodges, aerial sequences and weapon transitions, chaining them into combos. Aelthar can transform during combat to adapt his abilities and extend combos. His weapons swap dynamically, and progression choices can change their properties, attacks, finishers and enhanced combat states—not just their damage or appearance.

Aelthar begins with five weapon sets: The Phantom Blade, Legions Scythe, Nightcrawler Pulse Blades, Aelthar’s Regalia and Hatchet’s of Eternity. Boss encounters include overworld and underground mini-bosses, multi-phase tower bosses and other high-stakes fights. Victories can reveal memories and more about the city.

The covens and the city

Three major covens control skyscrapers above the city. To reach each tower, Aelthar must make his way through the Underground City; each climb has 16 levels, with four mini-bosses and a two-stage final boss. Defeating a tower’s final boss unlocks memories that point toward the next coven leader. Illusion magic distorts the towers, making them far larger inside than they appear from outside.

The Covenless are vampires rejected by the covens who wander the upper city. They can provide information through conversation, eavesdropping and blood memories, and they are involved in side quests that can begin at specific events or locations. You can choose whether to take part in these quests or mini-games. The planned encounters also include 12 overworld mini-bosses, 14 underground mini-bosses, and nine final bosses after the tower climbs.

Quests and story content

The main quest series contains 50 quests and 830 objectives. The description also outlines 270 side quests, with the total objective count expected to reach 3,500 across the Overworld and Underground City. More than 200 cinematics are planned to support key story moments.