Sidescrolling Chaos Makes Blood Dungeon the Best Survivors-Style Game Yet
- Antal Bokor
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
I’m not a huge fan of the survivors style autoshooter/bullet heaven games. Before Blood Dungeon, I probably had the most fun playing Deep Rock Galactic Survivors–and that was just as much because of the theme as the gameplay. Blood Dungeon takes the survivors-type formula and adds a genre twist: sidescrolling. On its face it doesn’t seem a significant swap from top-down to sidescroller, but it completely reinvigorates the genre. In fact, Blood Dungeon is easily the most fun I’ve had playing a survivors-style game ever.
First off, I need to address Blood Dungeon’s art style. Developer Messhof has never been known for its hi-fidelity graphics. They’re best known for Nidhogg and its sequel Nidhogg 2, both of those games had stylized low-res graphics. The art style for Blood Dungeon is somewhat unique–with graphics that look like they were crafted in MS Paint, and look more like they belong on Slay the Spire cards as placeholder art. Not only that, but there is also gratuitous nudity and even helicoptering penises–but it’s all so low-res it comes off as more charming than lascivious. The animation also has a jittery almost Squigglevision look to it, adding to the absurdity.
Since you’re sidescrolling in Blood Dungeon, there’s more to consider when it comes to traversal. There’s gravity, and falling–sometimes making it much more difficult to get around groups of enemies. There’s also water, so swimming and drowning is a consideration–and plays a significant part in some levels. You can get around pretty easily, however. Characters can run and jump, obviously–but they can also climb on every surface. They’re even able to cling to the ceiling when needed.
Each level is a little bit different, and has its own layout. While I appreciate a handcrafted level, I think Blood Dungeon really missed out by not having procedurally generated levels. Still, there is something satisfying about mastering a level’s layout. Some levels will require you to swim, or dig, some are laid out vertically and others completely horizontally. Levels have unique enemies, but enemies and bosses tend to overlap with other levels quite often.
Enemies have different behaviors, though most of them will go right towards you, with some having ranged attacks that can quickly fill up the screen with projectiles. There are some that swarm, and others that come out and attack one by one, etc. They’re also visually unique, though there’s a lot of “the same enemy but bigger” variations. What I’m saying is: you’ll be seeing a lot of the same enemy types, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing in this case.
There are several different characters you can play as, and each one of them has their own passive ability, health pool, and movement speed. Each also starts out with a weapon that isn’t unique to that character, so if you like a character’s main weapon but hate everything else, you’re likely able to play who you want and find your preferred weapon as you play, though that’s not guaranteed.
The biggest draw of Blood Dungeon is just how chaotically hectic and frenetic the gameplay is. No two runs are exactly the same as you collect different combinations of weapons, spells, and charms. Eventually you can unlock the ability to carry four weapons and four spells, but you can always carry as many charms as you can pick up. There are synergies to be had, though Blood Dungeon isn't reliant on them. I’ve had runs that were chaotic and great without gear that really specifically synergized with each other. There’s a bit of freedom in that. And the game definitely rewards you as you try different combinations and weapons, since that’s a major way to unlock challenges–and therefore new weapons, charms, spells and sometimes characters. There’s also the Bone Shop to spend your meta progression currency: bones. These help you unlock permanent upgrades like faster movement speed, higher jumps, more health, more weapon slots, and a bunch more.
Blood Dungeon is great for short play sessions, but it’s addictive enough that I often find myself playing for hours. It has a strong “just one more run” appeal to it. And with lots of unlocks and challenges to complete, it’s a game you could be going back to for a long time.
I think developer Messhof has something special on their hands with Blood Dungeon. It’s easily my favorite survivors-style game, despite its unconventional art style. It’s not exactly pretty to look at, but it’s fast and fun as hell.
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