Developed and published by Kruger and Flint Productions, Bloodhound is what is born from a clear love for old-school first-person shooters. Upon seeing the trailer for Bloodhound, I immediately picked up nostalgic vibes of the original Doom. Bloodhound did not disappoint, it not only brought back memories of Doom, but other first-person shooters from the decade.

There is no plot given in the game, and the only information I was able to find about the story was on the internet. The Cult of Astaroth are making moves to use the portals and bring hell spawn with them to Earth. You are a member of an order called Keepers of the Gates, and your job is the stop the cult from invading Earth, and what better way than to take up arms and blast them into meaty chunks?

Bloodhound is a first-person shooter through and through, and if you’ve ever played an FPS, you won’t find anything different here. This may be a bad thing for some people because Bloodhound is a classic FPS, and if you are looking for a more sophisticated FPS, you will have to look elsewhere.

You control movement through WASD and look around with the mouse, as well as jumping, sprinting, and dashing to assist with navigating the environment and outsmarting the enemy. You fire your weapon with the left mouse button and use the right mouse button to activate the alternate or special weapon condition.

It’s a control system that’s very basic and super easy to learn. This makes it a great game to switch your brain off and just relax, blasting those cultists and their hellspawn back to the depths from which they came.

With a very short three hours of play, you will discover 10 individual weapons, 16 different enemy types, and five bosses. As the game is very linear, each boss signifies the end of an act, meaning there are only five acts to play, but you can extend your playtime by replaying on a higher difficulty.

Doing so will not only increase the enemy’s health and reduce your damage, but it will also limit the use of special items you can use. These special items can help turn the tide in battle when things get hectic, so without them, it creates a slightly higher skill ceiling.

The graphics have a very retro aesthetic, matching that from the 2000 era. Serious Sam, another nostalgic FPS from my memories, came to mind when seeing them. The sound effects were serviceable and didn’t really stand out.

The music, however, was an instrumental heavy rock. A perfect fit for the genre. Unfortunately, the music only ever kicked in when enemies were attacking, and it stopped as soon as the fight was over. With the music being tied to the action, I never really got to enjoy it. Wanting to hear more, I found the music was composed by Sons of Amon, and I was able to listen to the entire tracks.

Bloodhound is a great nostalgic hit that ended far too quickly. If a sequel comes out, I will certainly be interested in giving it a look, but for now, if you are looking for an FPS that doesn’t ask much from you or your time, Bloodhound may be just the game to temporarily fill that need.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove