It is time once more to crush the Cult of Astaroth, blow her hellspawn into glorious gibs, and return them from whence they came. Bloodhound, developed and published by Kruger and Flint Productions, has made its way to PS5, and needless to say, it’s a total blast. This retro-styled boomer shooter will get the blood pumping, so let’s not waste any time and get stuck in.

If you are familiar with the original Doom and Wolfenstein games then you’ll understand that not every game needs a complex story to be fun. Bloodhound is certainly kicking it old-school, keeping the story light and the level of fun high.

The Cult of Astaroth is hell-bent on unleashing unspeakable evil upon the world. It is your job as a valiant member of the Order of Keepers of the Gates to safeguard the portals to Hell, so you must put a stop to the cultist’s plans and eliminate all that stand in your way.

Mastering the simple control system will take you next to no time at all, and before you know it, you’ll be running, jumping, dashing and blasting your enemies into glorious bloody gibs. The hardest part will be choosing the right weapon for the job, and there are 10 for you to discover throughout your travels, from pistols and shotguns to devastating plasma launchers.

For the most part, you’ll find yourself quite easily blasting enemies to bits with the standard pull of the right trigger, but some situations will have you looking for that extra bit of kick, and thankfully, most weapons have an alternative fire mode that is activated with the left trigger, and that can give you a serious edge.

As you blast your way through the linear levels you will come across some handy items to aid you in battle. These special items can do a variety of things such as slowing time or increasing your damage output. While these items are plentiful throughout an easy playthrough, they are much more scarce on the hardest difficulty, so you may want to hang onto them for those extra hectic fights. I found these items to be most useful at making short work of any of the five bosses as these fights are the most intense.

I found a few things that differed between my experience and that of MKAU’s Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove and his original review, which you can find here.

In the original review, it was mentioned that it was a very short 3-hours of playtime through the campaign. I found this to be even shorter on my first playthrough, even though I’d spent what I thought was ages looking for secret rooms. I was able to finish the easy run in just under 2-hours.

Cranking the difficulty up for the increased challenge will give you a lot more playtime. I was also surprised that the console build was just as bare-bones as the Steam version, and aside from the rumble of the controller, which felt nice, it was disappointing not to have the haptic features of the adaptive triggers. This would have made the PS5 version stand out instead of feeling like a lazy port.

Level design, enemy models and bosses are well-suited to the ’90s and ’00s aesthetic, and I enjoyed that I could make it feel even more retro by reducing the resolution. It was a nice touch. Also making it feel as if pulled straight out of the ’90s were the purposely censored portions of certain enemy types.

I find myself in total agreement with Ashley in regards to the sound effects being serviceable and not really standing out. The soundtrack’s instrumental heavy rock is a great fit, though only hearing this incredible composition during fights is almost a disservice, so I found myself essentially speed-running just to keep the music flowing.

Bloodhound is a wonderful love letter to the FPS GOATs of the ‘90s and ‘00s, although it is very short. Fast, fun and gory in all the right places, it’s easy to switch off and just enjoy the carnage, making this an easy recommendation for players looking to experience this style of FPS for the first time or those who are chasing a quick platinum trophy.

Written by: Gary Nielsen