Blood Dungeon (PS5) Review: Not Another Vampire Survivors Clone

We’ve seen a lot of Vampire Survivors clones since it became a breakout success. The latest autoshooter to put its own spin on the roguelike genre is Messhof’s Blood Dungeon. Rather than just avoiding bullets and enemies with movement, your platforming skills will be tested. It’s a wonderful blend of Spelunky and bullet heaven games that is one of the best PS5 roguelikes available.

Blood Dungeon is similar to Vampire Survivors in one major way, which is that you don’t control your shooting or aiming. Instead, your character fires on a cooldown and aims automatically in this autoshooter. However, there’s a much deeper focus on platforming rather than a lot of Vampire Survivors knock-offs, so you’ll have to carefully wall jump, climb chains, and dive in water to avoid foes. Not being able to choose where to aim is hard at first, but you quickly learn that it’s targeting the closest object, and your positioning allows you to aim. It all comes together to create a really enjoyable gameplay loop that is challenging at first, as there is so much going on at once on-screen, but you eventually get used to it and really thrive in the chaos.

However, the whole combat loop wouldn’t work if the weapons and upgrades weren’t a blast to unlock. Coming up with your own combinations each run is part of the fun, but I loved having rotating swords take out anything that got close while my armor-piercing guns tore through foes from afar. This mix-and-match approach, as you regularly unlock more options (there are over 100 weapons and upgrades), makes for a constantly fresh-feeling game as you take on new arenas and face more deadly enemies.

My favorite aspect of Blood Dungeon is how it handles progression. Not only are you constantly leveling up and gaining new buffs during a match itself, but you’re also gaining money that can be spent and finding bones that unlock permanent buffs. You really feel like you are making constant progress towards your end goal even when a run goes poorly, and you die embarrassingly early. It helps avoid any frustration as you are always getting more powerful and unlocking new skills that will aid you in future runs. It’s a brilliant way to reward those that keep playing, and there are multiple characters you unlock over time with different movement perks and starting weapons.

What is sure to be one of Blood Dungeon’s more divisive elements is its inherently gross art style. Fans of Messhof’s Nidhogg II will feel right at home, as it’s less detailed but still feels similarly slimy. It looks like an Adult Swim show mixed with a 2000s flash game, and I adore how it is able to quickly communicate info in a fun way. However, it’s definitely an acquired taste, and I get if people don’t want to look at crudish drawings for hours on end.

Blood Dungeon (PS5) Review: Final Verdict

What makes Blood Dungeon so special is how well it encapsulates that feeling of making you want to do just one more run. Suddenly, an hour has passed, and you’re still making your way forward, making progress and earning new buffs for your character. It’s the mark of any great roguelike, as it never feels unfair, even when a run goes sideways, and the progress is truly satisfying.