From jousting against friends-turned-enemies to riding a bicycle towards the afterlife, to now ducking, dodging, dipping, diving, and dodging (whilst autoshooting), you never really know what Los Angeles-based studio Messhof will come out with. Blood Dungeon feels like a circle back to a simpler time, when their Nidhogg series had a singular premise which was executed with precision. Whether or not this is because the more ambitious – and criminally underplayed – Wheel World took more time to develop, leading to more costs, more inward pressure to commercially succeed in an already difficult market to break through in, is just my speculation. But there is something to be said about a studio’s understanding of scope and sharpening their tools to perfect their output.
I think Blood Dungeon, whilst not perfect, is a step towards that. Messhof’s style is undefinable, but the cohesive element is the studio’s focus on how each game plays. There’s a flow in Blood Dungeon’s movement that absolutely is not the same as Wheel World or Nidhogg, yet somehow feels refined, tactile and often enough the star of the show. Which is a great template for a rouglite “bullet heaven” or, as Blood Dungeon’s Steam page puts it, an auto shooter. i.e. a platforming-focused Vampire Survivors-like.
Although I couldn’t blindly recommend this to anyone who loved Vampire Survivors. Blood Dungeon is for the sickos who thought progression in VS was too easy, or the gameplay too passive. The masochists that yearn for a game to echo Binding of Isaac’s crushing difficulty. Or the ageing gamers nostalgic for the crude flash games you’d find on Newgrounds. I may be one of those listed – I’ll let you figure out which one – but I can’t stress enough that despite a clear Venn diagram, Blood Dungeon is going for a game with satisfying moment-to-moment gameplay whilst scratching the roguelite itch. Brain-in-the-jar-game, podcast game, just one-more-run-game, however you see it, this may just be the next one occupying your time.
How much time will vary. I’m around 8-10 hours in, 50-something per cent progression, and I’ve definitely hit a plateau. That’s not to say I’m done with the game, but the rush to go for another run isn’t compelling me as it did in hour four. This is due to the game’s vague and limited sense of progression. Much like every Vampire Survivors-inspired game, you choose a character with a distinct weapon and, unique to Blood Dungeon, a traversal ability. You choose the arena you want to run and gun in, and defeat bosses in the level to “beat” it. But in the VS vein, you’re not linearly beating the levels and moving onto the next one.
Instead, you are replaying levels, improving your score for them and completing various quests, unlocking more weapons and abilities. These quests can range from beating a boss in a certain arena or as a certain character, to defeating 1000 enemies with a specific weapon. They’re all fairly straightforward, requiring you to experiment with weapons, characters and to dabble in each arena. The problem I’m facing now is my ability to finish each arena. Killing rewards blood, which levels you up, granting you a random charm, weapon or special. More often than not, I’m managing to beat the first boss in the arena, but then the hordes of enemies increase in volume and are lethal.
I wouldn’t last much longer than that – except for one time! Check the leaderboard – leaving me to wonder if I’m lacking the skill for Blood Dungeon, or if I’ve not focused on completing quests to grant me good unlocks for my runs. I think it’s both. The game’s movement is its biggest positive here. Whilst characters all traverse a little differently, they’re all viable options, as your character can cling onto any surface, climb on walls, run, jump, sometimes double jump. It creates a perfect notion of flow state as you flawlessly glide across the nine arenas given to you. The real puzzle to the game’s platforming is learning enemy attack patterns and styling it out around them.
Its freneticism perfectly got its hooks into me, and the style has this crude, immature 00s internet vibe to it. Like the various stickmen flash games or MS Paint-style shooters – think of games like Madness Combat Interactive but with the crassness of South Park. There’s a fart weapon that toots every shot, one of the characters wang swings (can be censored), and you spawn into the hub world out of a butt. There’s just too much goofiness going on to ever feel implicitly competitive in Blood Dungeon. Despite that goofiness, the arsenal of unlocks is serious.
From the unconventional lasers to bouncing balls or your regular firearms, there’s a bunch to dispose of the hundreds of enemy types. Then you’ve got a slew of charms and specials that round out your potential when on runs. Some are simple upgrades like faster reloading, but then there are some more obscure ones like a ring of mosquitoes to extract blood from your enemies to help level up. I’m still at the stage of experimenting with builds, and the RNG of the game’s roulette of unlocks helps that, but there’s a handful of viable builds that’ll cater to how you play.
Which is why I had a lot of fun in it despite being stifled by the game’s progression. Blood Dungeon may not be as deep as its peers in terms of offerings; it may feel aimless to play once you’ve unlocked the easy stuff, but the act of going on your runs is flawless. I love how chaotic and frantic I feel platforming across the breadth of arenas. The arenas themselves more or less feel the same, except for a couple that have a gimmick, with varying results. Rounding the game out is the inclusion of daily runs, leaderboards and characters whose style you can get adept at, and you’ve got a game you can really get stuck into. This may be an overall safe pivot from Messhof, shooting for a popular genre, but they’ve proved once again that they can create a gameplay loop that’s sticky and craving.
Blood Dungeon is out now for PlayStation 5 (review platform), Xbox Series S|X, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC via Steam
Developers: Messhof
Publisher: Messhof
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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