Blood Dungeon [Preview]: A wiggly world of fun

What if we’re in a dungeon crawler but can crawl on everything in the dungeon?

That appears to be the question Blood Dungeon, developed by Messhof of Nidhogg fame, is answering.

This wiggly rouge-like keeps you moving to survive, and keeps you killing to thrive. Waves of increasingly stronger and weirder creatures force you to adapted to the environment around you, keeping you jumping from ledges, shimming down gates, and possibly flying around the labyrinths. Map layouts stay the same between runs, allowing map awareness to play a big part in strategy.

On my first run in the demo we tried I noticed a locked door asking for key I never located. In a later run, I found a section that had keys of a few different color locks, causing me to divert towards where I had seen the lock previously. Map knowledge and movement can only keep us alive for so long, so luckily a bunch of zany weapons and powers are there to help us take down the monsters. We have the traditional fare of outlandish guns and weapons on cool downs, but I spotted a few that will force players to change their movement loop. For example a harpoon can do a lot of damage, but it needs to be retrieved by a player, making them get out of a comfortable pattern of avoiding enemies or causing them to have to change course completely and forcing a choice between power and safety.

Each new wave of enemies brings larger numbers, harder difficulty, and stranger little guys to take down. Complemented with the occasional boss encounter to push players harder.

It really is pretty crazy, and almost difficult to describe, but that’s the point? Wiggle over to Steam where there is a demo of Blood Dungeon available now.