‘Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days’ Is the Video Game Prequel You Didn’t Know You Wanted

In 1992, Reservoir Dogs introduced Quentin Tarantino and his brand of cinematic violence to the world. Now, 25 years later, Big Star Games and Lionsgate are bringing a video game prequel to PC. Though video game tie-ins haven't exactly set the world on fire since, well, ever, Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days is hoping to be as memorable as Mr. Blonde, and not nearly as forgettable as Mr. Brown.

Bloody Days takes place some time before the events of the film, though the diamond heist at the center of it all does make a showing as a playable mission. You’ll get to play as all the different members of the Dogs across 18 different heists, with the game rotating the cast around to let you experience playing as each of the colorful criminals. As this game is licensed, but has no likenesses, so the characters are hardly recognizable from their silver screen counterparts. They do all have colored ties to help you figure out who’s who.

The top-down shooter has a bit of a Hotline Miami vibe, but what sets Bloody Days apart from similar shooters is the Time Rewind mechanic. Like the film, Bloody Days will play with the flow of time, allowing you to strategize as needed with a nifty rewinding mechanic. Each of the three characters taken on a given mission goes through the motions, with the lead character making all his moves for about 15 seconds first. Then the game rewinds, and allows you to take control of the second character as the first Dog acts out everything you’ve already set up.

The same follows again for the third. It’s actually kind of an interesting turn-based strategy concept, and one that should make missions replayable as you work to find the clearest path to victory for your criminals. Characters all have different abilities and stats — such as some having more health or the ability to carry more loot — so mixing and matching your three-man squads will be important as well as providing you different styles of play that suit your moods.

The cartoonish presentation does pull it farther from the original concept. On top of the two and a half decades it’s been since Reservoir Dogs hit cinemas, it’s almost a wonder why this game is related at all to the property. Aside from brand recognition anyway. This isn’t even the first Reservoir Dogs video game, though the PlayStation 2 and Xbox title was merely a video game retelling of the movie with slightly more backstory thrown in.

Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days will be out on Steam and PC on May 18.