The main reason #BLUD, an indie dungeon crawler, caught my attention was its expressive animation and colors that reminded me of a Cartoon Network show. I wishlisted #BLUD almost a year ago and now that it is out, did it live up to my hype? Unfortunately, not. From repetitive gameplay to a game-breaking bug, #BLUD didn’t offer enough reasons to continue playing.
#BLUD is a 90s-looking horror cartoon in video game form. Not only does it have vampires terrorizing a city, but there is also some good amount of gore and body horror that is really impressive and well done. In fact, the animation alone might be a reason to pick up this game.
You play as Becky Brewster, the new kid in Carpentersville. As Becky begins to adjust to her new life in the town and decides to join the school’s hockey team, strange vampire creatures start appearing in her school. Additionally, the mysterious school janitor also tells Becky her mother was a trained vampire hunter and now she may have inherited that title and duty. With her trusty hockey stick and fearless attitude, Becky sets out to protect her friends and community against a new evil rising within her town.
As much as the premise felt appealing to me, it stopped at that. Because apart from the animation, the game didn’t have much to offer, especially with its gameplay. The combat is simple enough to get a hold of, but, after a while, it became tedious and repetitive. As Becky, the players get to navigate several areas across Carpentersville mainly by fighting enemies back-to-back. Because of the game’s lack of balance between exploration and combat, I felt like I was stuck with just fighting enemies non-stop in every area without a break. At one point, I got so tired of fighting the same enemies every two minutes, I decided the best way is to just dodge and run away from them.
The game also offers some side quests which are mostly fetch missions but they were a good change of pace to complete. There is also a dedicated selfie-mode that allows Becky to click pictures while exploring Carpentersville and meeting new characters.
I got to play a total of three chapters and about two major boss fights before my game bugged out. The two boss fights were actually fun and better than fighting regular enemies. But just when I was on my third boss fight, I wasn’t able to access my weapon and inventory. Frustratingly, I couldn’t heal or fight my way successfully and so, I was forced to abandon my current playthrough. After multiple tries of restarting, reinstalling and even updating the game, I couldn’t continue from where I left off. Since I had not only put a lot of effort into completing certain quests but also dealt with the game’s lackluster gameplay, starting a new playthrough was the last thing I wanted to do. And so, unfortunately, my time with #BLUD was short and a bit disappointing.
#BLUD excelled in two areas – the characters and animation. When she isn’t fighting vampires, Becky’s expressive and vibrant personality makes a very relatable teenager and protagonist. Unfortunately, the gameplay was mediocre at best and it didn’t feel engaging enough to me as it was basically smashing the same button again and again. Maybe I’ll want to give #BLUD another go when a wave of 90s cartoon nostalgia hits, but until then, I’ll be checking out other indie games.
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