Quick Links
Summary
Vampires, field hockey, and goth slackers: the new action-adventure game#BLUDis nostalgic ambrosia, a theoretical adaptation of a Cartoon Network series from decades past. Published by Humble Games, Exit 73 Studios’ video game debut is a love letter to late-90s/early-00s cable TV toons, packaged around lightZelda-styled gameplay and an irascible main character, clad in mauve and ready to rumble with bloodsuckers and bullies alike.#BLUDhas some good ideas and a great aesthetic hook, though it’s hampered by stiff controls and half-baked questing.
Becky Brewster just moved to town, but already missed the bus to school. Her patient, elbow-ribbing dad Dave knows his resourceful daughter will get where she needs to go, leaving her to recon the town and meet its inhabitants, a booming cast which becomes one of#BLUD’s best features. There’s a considerable length of time before the game’s action really takes off, but the various adults and schoolkids who mill about each scene are fun to meet, a group of basic but well-realized archetypes, like the stuck-up trendsetter, nerdy tinkerer, or sporty popular clique.
#BLUD has #BUGS
#BLUD’s Rougher Edges Get In The Way Of The Adventure
#BLUD’s title is a bit goofy, but intended to represent a social media typo. Becky posts this casually blundered hashtag on her Perch social media app, integrated into the game’s menu screen as a riff on X which keeps her linked to her pint-sized team. It’s an ingenious idea meant to keep track of side quests and flesh out conversations with the cast, adding more color to the game’s basic tasks.
Sadly, it’s part of a cumbersome menu system leading to pages for maps, upgrades, different collectibles, and the grimoire, a magical tome Becky inherited from her mother, something of a champion against the occult herself.The majority of the game’s elements could have been relegated to half as many screens, and it lacks a quick map-only button, leading to endless page-flipping any time the player has a question about what to do next.
The novelty of characters offering hints in replies to a mission via Perch becomes less charming once that quest is bluntly dead-ended forevermore.
Even the Perch app’s unique quest integration grows tedious with the realization that#BLUDhas bugs, and lots of them. Sometimes it’s as basic as a frozen screen; not a huge deal, because the game is quite attentive to autosaves, and usually doesn’t send a save state back too far. However, a fair amount of quests in the game are secretly timed to story chapters, at best, and outright bugged and impossible to complete at worst. The novelty of characters offering hints in replies to a mission via Perch becomes less charming once that quest is bluntly dead-ended forevermore.
Clunky Combat, Well-Animated Enemies
#BLUD’s Bestiary Looks Great, But They Aren’t Fun to Fight
Of course, some of this could be forgiven if the combat was entertaining and smooth, but#BLUDclearly focused its attention elsewhere - on its nostalgic animated interludes and delightful art style. Once Becky has her weapon, combat amounts to a simple combo system and single attack button, which usually leads toover-animated routines likeBattletoads. Upgrades present swappable attachments for the stick, like an umbrella which acts as a defensive shield or a chained hookshot, but the enemy roster never feels fun to take down.
Some of this is linked to their simplistic AI, or the fact that none of the mobs ever drop anything at all. They typically refresh when re-entering areas, so fighting them seems more like a clean-up chore, and players will soon dash past any and all threats while pursuing objectives. The majority of the game’s vampiric creatures game boils down to one gimmick, like a burrower which needs to be dug up out of the ground with a shovel. These techniques never change, and there’s never a reward for destroying them, so combat is often smartly ignored.
#BLUD’s fast-travel sewer system eventually helps alleviate the slow pace of the main character, and it’s unlocked in the first hours of the game.
#BLUDalso features one of the stiffest, clunkiest dodge rolls.Becky doesn’t move very fast on her own, and dodge-rolling brings her to an abrupt halt. Still, it beats walking, so expect to clumsily dodge-roll hundreds of times through the massive environments, often snagging on invisible walls or getting interrupted by the game’s poor hit detection. At least Becky has plenty of health to start, so game overs were admittedly rare in our time with#BLUD, and usually reserved for boss encounters.
#BLUDsucking Bosses
#BLUD’s Bosses Fare Better Than Its Mobs
#BLUD’s bosses are much more interesting, though they have their own issues. Most present the type of boss where a life or two needs to be wasted to figure out how to even inflict damage, before becoming dismissively easy. After the first few, expect some curveballs, like a beast which chases after the kids in a school bus down the road, or another which absorbs Becky into their maw, forcing her to fight within its body, dodging tentacles and tossing bombs.
Through the bosses and the rest of the game, it’s impossible to ignore#BLUD’s instantly appealing animated style. Sure, it’s never as smooth as something likeCuphead, but the animation is familiar, resonantly observed stuff, even while being slightly more violent than some of the cartoons we remember.Combined with the sarcastic writing and animated dialogue scenes, #BLUD’s cast and quirky narrative comes to life, arguably filling in the gaps of the game’s design.
Final Thoughts & Review Score
3/5 - “Good” by Screen Rant’s Review Metric
At the end of the day,#BLUDstands out from its action-adventure kin with a marked sense of style. Whether that’s enough to carry the sagging gameplay sections or many interrupting bugs will probably depend on its ability to impress on the visual front, and its odd systems and combat will undoubtedly try a lot of players’ patience. Anyone reared on Genndy Tartakovsky’s formative hit shows will feel well catered to, with plenty of visual hat tips and references to stuff likeDexter’s LaboratoryandSamurai Jack, or Craig McCracken’s ownPowerpuff Girls.
This feels like a game obviously made by fans of that era, spinning the style into a contemporary mode that stands on its own. Here’s hoping the very worst of#BLUD’s bugs get promptly squashed, because the more novel aspects of the game – the Perch app, a static map which slightly changes over time, or the clever fast-travel system – deserve a stable experience to best appreciate.#BLUDis a beautiful animated action-adventure with plenty of vampires to bash, but it needs more polish.
Screen Rantwas provided with a digital PC code for the purpose of this review.
