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Bloodshed is a first person adaptation of the popular (Over 230K positive Steam reviews!) Vampire Survivors game. I was also reminded of the game Vampire Hunters that I wrote about a couple of years ago. The goal in these kinds of games is to survive for the specified amount of time and as time goes on, mobs of tougher enemies will continue to emerge. As you mow down enemies they’ll typically drop souls which will level up your character and give you the option to select one of many possible weapons and power ups. The experience needed to level up increases each time so more enemies will be needed to power up your character further.

To keep things interesting, you’ll have to unlock weapons, power ups, and additional characters as you play through the game. The starter weapons aren’t bad with pistols and sawed off shotguns, but the uzis, AK-47’s, rocket launchers, miniguns, and Tesla cannons are worth waiting for!

Each character has a unique ability and starting weapon. The males usually start off with one hundred health points (HP), but there’s an elderly monk-like guy that has eighty health points. Despite the female characters being seemingly stronger than the monk, they only have seventy HP which I found odd. Later in the game you can unlock a gargoyle that has one hundred and twenty HP.

I like how each of the characters have their own quirky personalities and the voice acting is well done for each of them. The starting character, Flynn has corny dad jokes but is a likeable fellow. The monk rambles on about his age and his desire for cushioned sandals. The female samurai has a dumb blonde cheerleader vibe. Be warned that multiple characters use foul language and drop F-bombs.

Although the characters start the levels with unique weapons, they can all wield the same munitions once they start leveling up. When enough experience is earned, the player will get the option to select one of a few upgrade options. You can unlock the ability to remove items that you don’t wish to see in the rotation.

Some of the power-ups can grant your character more overall strength/damage or increase their health. I like the area of effect abilities like pestilence that poisons nearby enemies and giant ticks that will weaken foes by sucking their blood before they can reach you. One of the power-ups casts a pentagram that will damage enemies that are standing on it.

Most of the levels have the goal of surviving for a set amount of time. At first it’s five minutes, but some of the levels require to stay alive for thirty. Given the increased number of foes and stronger ones spawning, this can get pretty challenging. After completing Episode 2, you can customize various levels by setting the time limit, difficulty level, and quantity of power-up pillars.

When power-up pillars are destroyed they can leave behind gems (currency), health replenishment, damage multipliers, a vacuum ability to gather items in a bigger radius, or a smart bomb that will significantly damage all enemies within its range. Workbenches are also worth checking out if they’re glowing red. They will often have upgrades available for your current weapon. These enhancements typically add an elemental affinity to them.

The story mission levels have three giant spiders in them that drop gold coins when killed. Special levels can be unlocked by spending three of these coins apiece. There are Steam guides with videos to show you the locations of these spiders. The special levels have starfish in them, and there are guides to find all of those as well.

If you don’t mind the excessive blood, gore, occult references, and foul language, Bloodshed can be a lot of fun. The asking price of $12.99 is reasonable, but I have already seen this game discounted by 50% during Steam sales.