Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds is an action beat 'em up video game and the fourth of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise, and the only multiplatform game. It was the first to allow players to control characters other than Buffy Summers and feature a fully developed multiplayer mode. Plot In this game Buffy discovers that Ethan Rayne is at the center of a great struggle with the First, literally the first incarnation of evil the world has ever known. She and the gang must face an undead army of vampires, zombies, and demons to keep these nefarious villains from casting the world into permanent darkness. The plot involves different alternate realities bleeding into Buffy's own reality, leading to the reappearance of deceased enemies and the appearance of evil versions of allies. With the help of Sid the Dummy and Ethan's ancestor Cassandra Rayne, Buffy and her friends defeat the First in its own dimension and, though it can never be killed, they disperse it across multiple realities for centuries. Setting The story is set during the television series' fifth season. Due to certain plot points mentioned and character styles, the game takes place some time after Forever (since Joyce's grave is seen), but before Tough Love (since Tara has not been driven insane by Glory), presumably in between Intervention and Tough Love (since Spike is on more-or-less friendly terms with the Scooby Gang). Oddly, Dawn Summers is nowhere to be seen and is not even mentioned. The game also includes many references to previous episodes of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, including Faith being in jail and Giles' days as Ripper. The game extends an idea from a previous game: that of bringing back dead characters (the Master returned in a previous game), by bringing back Sid the Dummy, Kakistos, Adam and Anya's former demon self, Anyanka. Gameplay As well as the single-player story mode, the game features several different multiplayer games. These are: "Survival" - player-on-player combat; "Bunny Catcher" - players compete to collect rabbits; "Slayer Challenge" - a single player must defeat as many enemies as possible (additional players can take control of the enemies); "Domination" - players must compete to control magical pentagrams for as long as possible. At first, only one map (Zoo) and four characters (Buffy, Spike, Willow, Xander) are available. More maps (Cemetery, Initiative Hanger, Quarry) and characters (Male Vampire,