Undeniably Fun But Flawed Hybrid
It's a good time, genuinely. Took me about 28 hours to 100% everything with all achievements, but I also wasn't rushing. Very likely you'll at least get 18+ hours out of this if you're aiming to do everything, which is on the lower end of Survivor-likes, but just right for a boomer-shooter, which this leans more into.
This isn't a perfect experience.
*There's are six possible slots for weapons, yet not a single character is capable of equipping six.
*There are a few secrets on some maps, but not many, and not on every map.
*There is no independant character upgrading from the shop, only universal upgrades.
*There are no evolutions, a staple of Survivor-likes where you combine a perk/weapon combo for a powerful new item.
*Consumables cost WAY too much for the amount of gold you earn in any given level, and worse still, Item Lock, Reroll and Banish are all consumable only; they're not permanent upgrades. For a Survivor-like, that's a significant detriment to the longevity of the title.
*Finally, all characters are simply not viable for longer levels; some are very clearly better than others, leaving you to replay the same characters over and over because you'll die using, for instance, the Asian chick with the sword, the starting character or the crab guy.
That, however, is about it for the negatives. The pacing of the levels is wonderful, the shooting feels so great, the maps, secrets or not, are a joy to explore, the music is uniformly awesome, the enemies are varied, boss battles are wonderful and you're constantly encouraged to keep moving. The amount of variety in weapons, spells and perks is great.
Despite the negatives, Bloodshed is still a terrific time overall. I highly recommend it, just with those caveats. If you love Survivor-likes but you're not that crazy about Boomer Shooters, there's a chance this won't scratch the itch. But if you love the latter more and can enjoy the rogue-lite elements and RNG that comes with Survivors, it's worth it.
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