Info about Bloodshed:

Official game description:
**Bloodshed** is an exhilarating fusion of Roguelite elements merged with retro-styled visuals and first-person “Survivors-like” frenetic combat action: Face endless waves of undead foes, collect experience points, and upgrade your skills and weapons in a battle to survive the night. Even after death, you keep your hard-earned money which can be exchanged for persistent improvements and unlockable content, allowing you to progress further while adding depth to the overall gameplay.
Face the malevolent threat of the Cult, whose members are pursuing a sinister plan to resurrect an ancient deity to bring about the apocalypse. Battle countless cultists, undead, demons, and other creatures of the night and send them (back) to their graves!
Each enemy presents a unique challenge and requires its own strategy - and you'd better get ready quickly, because they come in masses!
**Bloodshed** boasts a diverse roster of playable characters, each with distinct abilities and playstyles, providing a personalized gameplay experience. With a vast selection of weapons and skills at your disposal, you can experiment with various builds to discover the ideal strategy for your survival.
With a bit of luck and the right strategy you will stand your ground against the hordes of darkness!
Death doesn’t stop you from progressing. Persistent upgrades, unlockable content, and continuous improvement await in _Bloodshed_, with the ability to exchange hard-earned cash for permanent upgrades. You can also complete optional objectives for unlocking new skills and game features, ensuring each run pushes you further into the depths of the Cult's dark world.
*   **Engaging FPS Gameplay:** Experience fast-paced, intense auto-shooter battles across a variety of biomes.
*   **Diverse Character Selection:** Play as distinct heroes, each with unique strengths, weaknesses, and special abilities.
*   **Extensive Arsenal:** Discover and upgrade numerous weapons and skills to craft the ultimate build.
*   **Permanent Upgrades System:** Progress continuously, unlocking permanent character upgrades to boost replayability
*   **Dynamic Enemy Hordes:** Fight against adaptable enemies with unique abilities and attack patterns. Face off against elite foes who offer even more loot!
*   **Retro Look, Rockin’ Feel:** Enjoy pixelated Boomer Shooter graphics and highly dynamic, fluid movement mechanics.
*   **Immersive Soundtrack:** Dive into the atmospheric world of Bloodshed with an adaptive soundtrack that intensifies the action.
*   **Visceral Combat:** Relish the visually striking gore effects and satisfying combat that elevate every battle.
*   **Swappable Shooting Modes:** Use auto-shooting for a more Survivors-like experience, or “switch to manual” to aim and shoot your way!

Release date: 22 May, 2025

Categories: Roguelike, First-Person Shooter, Horde Shooter, Character Progression, Weapon Customization, Single-player, Real-time Combat, Character Collection


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Combines retro FPS with roguelike (weight 0.95): The game is frequently described as a blend of '90s boomer shooters like Doom and Blood with Vampire Survivors-style gameplay. This combination is praised for its addictiveness and unique feel, successfully merging retro FPS action with modern roguelike elements.
- Appealing retro aesthetic and atmosphere (weight 0.75): Many reviewers highlight the game's well-executed retro aesthetic, reminiscent of classic 90s shooters.  The visuals, sound design, and overall atmosphere contribute to a nostalgic and appealing experience.
- Good variety of weapons/characters/upgrades (weight 0.63): Reviewers appreciate the variety of weapons, characters, and upgrades available in the game.  Unlocking and experimenting with different builds adds depth and replayability.
- Satisfying and impactful gunplay (weight 0.61): The shooting mechanics and gunplay are consistently praised for feeling satisfying and impactful. Reviewers appreciate the responsive controls, well-designed sound effects, and the visceral feedback of the weapons.
- Fast-paced, frantic, addictive gameplay (weight 0.57): The game is noted for its fast-paced and frantic gameplay, encouraging constant movement and quick reflexes. This contributes to an engaging and addictive experience.
- Well-designed and visually appealing levels (weight 0.53): The level design is frequently mentioned as a positive aspect, with reviewers praising the intricate layouts and visual appeal. Well-designed levels contribute to the overall enjoyment of the game.
- Fluid and agile movement system (weight 0.51): The game's movement system is praised for being fluid, agile, and responsive. Mechanics like bunny-hopping enhance the fast-paced action and allow for skillful maneuvering.
- Solid foundation with active updates (weight 0.51): The game is in early access and is being actively updated with new content and features. Reviewers note that the game has a solid foundation and is heading in a good direction.
- Suitable for short or long sessions (weight 0.46): The game is suitable for both short and long play sessions, with missions that have varying time limits. This makes it easy to pick up and play for a few minutes or sink into a longer gaming session.
- Humorous characters and voice acting (weight 0.09): The game features humorous characters with witty dialogue and enjoyable voice acting. This adds charm and personality to the overall experience.

Common complaints:
- Lacks sufficient content/feels incomplete (weight 0.38): Many reviewers feel the game is incomplete and lacks sufficient content, especially considering it's out of Early Access. They cite a limited number of levels, short playtime, and repetitive gameplay loops. This lack of content makes the game feel rushed and not worth the price.
- Performance issues and repetitiveness (weight 0.38): Reviewers report performance issues like stuttering, frame rate drops, and hitches, even on systems that should handle the game easily. The game also suffers from repetitive gameplay due to limited enemy and level variety, with missions often consisting of surviving for extended periods.
- Aiming/Auto-fire issues (weight 0.09): The auto-fire mechanic is divisive, with some finding it detrimental to the gameplay experience. The game requires constant aiming, even with auto-shoot enabled, detracting from the relaxed gameplay experience typical of the genre.
- Grindy progression/expensive upgrades (weight 0.08): The game's progression system is grindy due to the high cost of upgrades and the scarcity of currency. Unlocking new characters and abilities feels like a chore, and the upgrades themselves are often unexciting, failing to provide a satisfying sense of progression.
- Uninspired blend of genres (weight 0.08): The game struggles to blend FPS and survivor-like elements effectively. Missions are repetitive, often requiring players to survive for extended periods in closed arenas. The survivor-like aspects detract from the overall experience.
- Underwhelming/ineffective spells (weight 0.06): Spells lack impact and variety, with many feeling ineffective or underwhelming. Damage spells are too weak, while control spells don't affect enough enemies to be useful. The game lacks fun options due to a lackluster spell lineup.
- Inconsistent difficulty (weight 0.06): Some reviewers found the game too easy, especially the boss fights. Others noted an unbalanced difficulty curve, with significant spikes between levels.
- Uninspired upgrades (weight 0.04): Upgrades feel unengaging due to the small percentage increases they provide. The upgrade pool feels limited, with the same upgrades appearing in each run, making runs feel samey.
- Poor voice acting (Sorceress) (weight 0.03): The audio quality of the Sorceress character's voice acting is inconsistent and low quality. Some reviewers found it to be a pain to use the character because of this.
- Hitbox issues (weight 0.03): Some reviewers have reported issues with hitboxes, particularly with enemy heads and melee weapons. Bullets sometimes pass through enemies, and melee hit registration is unsatisfying.
- Missing features/options (weight 0.03): The game lacks video options, combo power-ups, and a Chinese language option. The pixeled graphics do not render well on a large screen.

Gameplay feedback:
- Varied characters with unique stats (weight 0.05): The game features a selection of playable characters, each with unique stats and play styles, specializing in areas like magic, melee, and ranged combat. Characters also have different amounts of spell and weapon slots.
- Automatic ability unlocks (weight 0.04): Players unlock new abilities by maxing out others or through achievements. The process is automatic, revealing the ability's function only after unlocking. Leveling up offers a choice of random upgrades.
- Offers auto-shoot option (weight 0.04): The game offers both manual and automatic shooting options. Some players find auto-shooting preferable due to the large number of enemies, but the lack of a toggle can be detrimental in some situations.
- Currency for permanent upgrades (weight 0.04): Players collect money for permanent upgrades to health and damage. Currency and power-ups are obtained from respawning lamps at preset locations throughout the levels.
- Weapons are upgradable and swappable (weight 0.03): The game features a selection of weapons and upgrades. Weapons handle differently and are good for different situations, swapping between weapons is easy. Weapons can be upgraded up to 8 levels, with a choice of skills upon leveling up.
- Maps have unlockable bonus missions (weight 0.03): Each map has objectives to complete, such as surviving for a set time, to unlock content. Collectibles on each map unlock bonus missions. The game features different playable characters, character progression, and mission objectives.
- Varied map design (weight 0.03): Maps have variety in size and shape, with rat runs for tactical retreats; a mini-map helps lead enemies into kill boxes. Level design incorporates open spaces, corridors, and multiple navigation options for escaping unfavorable situations.
- Varied enemy types and AI (weight 0.02): Multiple enemy types add variety to encounters. Enemy AI is sprite-based, leading to varied movement patterns, attack styles, flanking maneuvers, and crowding tactics.

Performance notes:
- Crashes and long loading times (weight 0.1): Several users have reported game crashes, sometimes frequently, leading to lost progress. Additionally, long loading times between launch and gameplay were mentioned as a negative aspect of the game.
- Lacks Vsync setting (weight 0.09): Some users have reported the lack of a vsync setting, resulting in screen tearing.
- Runs smoothly on some systems (weight 0.06): Some players report that the game runs smoothly, even on older hardware or the Steam Deck. This suggests that the game is well-optimized for some systems.
- Optimization still in progress (weight 0.01): One user mentioned that the game needs further optimization as development progresses, while another stated that the game is optimized quite well for being in early access. This suggests that the game's optimization is still a work in progress.
- Loud GPU fan in menu (weight 0.01): One user reported that their GPU fans were running loudly even in the menu, suggesting potential optimization issues or excessive resource usage even when the game is not actively being played.
- Excessive recommended specs (weight 0.01): One review suggests that the game's recommended specifications are higher than expected for a retro-inspired shooter, implying potential optimization issues.
- FPS limiter available (weight 0.01): The game includes an FPS limiter, which can help prevent the graphics card from overworking. This feature can be useful for players experiencing performance issues or who want to reduce the load on their system.

Recommendations:
- Anticipation for future content (weight 0.43): Many reviewers express strong anticipation for future content updates, hoping for more levels, weapons, features, and overall expansion of the game. Some reviewers are holding off on recommending the game until more content is added, while others are eager to see the game's potential realized through continued development.
- Recommended for genre enthusiasts (weight 0.16): The game is frequently recommended to fans of specific genres, particularly boomer shooters, old-school FPS games like Doom and Blood, and survivor-like games such as Vampire Survivors. Reviewers highlight the game's blend of these genres as a key selling point.
- Disappointment with current state (weight 0.06): Some reviewers express disappointment with the game's current state, citing a lack of content, performance issues, or other problems that make it difficult to recommend. Some reviewers are considering or have already requested a refund.
- Great on Steam Deck (weight 0.02): The game is well-suited for the Steam Deck, making it a great choice for gaming on the go. The lack of a save-on-quit feature is less of an issue on the Steam Deck, enhancing its appeal for casual gaming sessions.
- Pixelated art style (weight 0.01): The game's retro, pixelated art style may not appeal to all players. This is a subjective point, but it's worth noting for potential buyers who prefer more modern graphics.
- Low audio quality (Sorceress) (weight 0.01): One reviewer notes an issue with low audio quality for a specific character (Sorceress), which the developer has not yet fixed. This is a specific technical issue that may affect some players' enjoyment.
- Enable auto-shooting (weight 0.01): One reviewer suggests that the game is more enjoyable with the auto-shooting option enabled, leading to a more relaxed gameplay experience. This is a matter of personal preference, but it could be helpful for players who find the game too challenging or hectic otherwise.

Other player notes:
- Early Access, more content coming (weight 0.1): The game is in Early Access, with limited content currently available. Reviewers anticipate future updates and content additions, including new characters, maps, and features, with a roadmap extending into 2025. Only the first episode is currently available.
- Generic or uninspired design (weight 0.02): Some reviewers question the game's core design, suggesting it feels like a generic or uninspired arena boomer shooter. It feels like a fake video game seen in movies or shows, with exaggerated button mashing.
- Most objectives are completable (weight 0.01): The reviewer completed almost all in-game objectives, except for two specific challenges. This shows that most of the content is accessible and completable.
- Strategic, aim for the head (weight 0.01): The game encourages strategic gameplay, emphasizing aiming for the head and caution around environmental hazards. This point highlights specific gameplay elements and strategies.
- Request for more waifus (weight 0.01): The reviewer wants more waifus in the game. This point is not constructive and doesn't provide specific details.
- Soundtrack changes game feel (weight 0.01): Listening to manga-style pop music and nightcore gives the game a completely different feel. This point is subjective and doesn't provide specific details.

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