Blightbound

61%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,015 reviews
  • gameplay
  • story
  • graphics
Blightbound Game Cover
Blightbound has a lot of good to offer, but with dodgy matchmaking and a repetitive feel to the gameplay, it won't be for everyone.
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"Blightbound" is a fantasy hack and slash game with spectacular game mechanics and delightful graphics. In this multiplayer dungeon crawler, up to three players cooperatively battle monstrous enemies in handcrafted dungeons, switching between warrior, assassin, and mage roles to conquer colossal bosses and solve puzzles. However, beware the grinding and bugs that may hinder your progress in ridding the world of the corrupting Blight.

  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Steam Deck
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

61%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,015 reviews
gameplay92 positive mentions
stability43 negative mentions
  • Engaging combat mechanics that encourage teamwork and strategy.
  • Beautiful art style and atmospheric visuals that enhance the gaming experience.
  • Diverse character classes with unique abilities, providing a variety of playstyles.
  • Frequent desync issues and crashes that disrupt gameplay and progress.
  • Limited content with repetitive levels and quests, leading to a lack of long-term engagement.
  • Mandatory online multiplayer with no option for solo play, making it difficult to find matches.
  • gameplay226 mentions

    Blightbound features challenging and strategic gameplay that emphasizes cooperative mechanics, requiring players to form well-balanced teams to tackle diverse dungeons and encounters. While the game offers an engaging experience with its dark fantasy setting and character variety, many players find the gameplay can become repetitive and grindy, particularly when playing solo due to ineffective AI. Overall, the core mechanics are enjoyable, but the game suffers from balance issues, limited content, and a lack of clarity in its systems, which may hinder long-term engagement.

    • “With its dark and atmospheric setting, challenging gameplay, and strategic teamwork mechanics, Blightbound sets itself apart from other games in the genre.”
    • “Blightbound offers a captivating co-op dungeon crawling experience with its dark fantasy setting, strategic gameplay, and engaging cooperative mechanics.”
    • “The immersive world design, diverse character classes, and challenging encounters create a compelling gameplay loop that keeps players hooked.”
    • “Really grindy progression and nothing new in terms of world, gameplay, or anything.”
    • “I bought this game day 1 and was horrified how bad the gameplay was.”
    • “The story is threadbare, the gameplay loop is far too slow, the random missions make it so only a few missions are viable each loop, progression is wonky.”
  • story195 mentions

    The game's story is largely considered minimal and underwhelming, with character arcs feeling generic and often requiring excessive grinding to unlock. While each character has personal quests that provide some lore, many players find these quests to be repetitive and lacking in meaningful rewards, leading to a sense of frustration rather than engagement. Overall, the narrative elements seem to serve more as filler than a compelling driving force, leaving players wanting a more robust and rewarding storytelling experience.

    • “The story itself is told through the personal quests of each of the heroes you acquire.”
    • “At the same time, completing those personal quests opens up the lore which keeps me interested in what's happening next.”
    • “In the beginning, you get a set cast of three heroes, each with a backstory and a personal goal.”
    • “The story is threadbare, the gameplay loop is far too slow, the random missions make it so only a few missions are viable each loop, progression is wonky.”
    • “Completing the full story of a character just rewards you with all 6 dialog scripts which are voice acted... but very very underwhelming.”
    • “They tried to put some story in but it's basically non-existent.”
  • graphics106 mentions

    The graphics of Blightbound are widely praised for their unique and beautifully crafted dark fantasy art style, which enhances the game's immersive experience. Players appreciate the atmospheric visuals and detailed environments, although some note that the backgrounds can become repetitive. Overall, the game's aesthetic is considered a strong point, contributing to its engaging gameplay and cooperative elements.

    • “Blightbound takes place in a beautifully crafted dark fantasy world, brimming with atmospheric visuals and hauntingly detailed environments.”
    • “The art style and attention to detail in the world design contribute to the game's immersive experience, drawing players into its rich lore.”
    • “The game is really engaging, with a very beautiful art style and polished controls.”
    • “Unclear visuals.”
    • “The art style is too bland.”
    • “The story is pretty bleh and the maps all suffer from the same aesthetic causing them to look very similar.”
  • stability47 mentions

    The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous reports of severe bugs, crashes, and glitches that significantly hinder gameplay. Many players experience game-breaking issues, particularly during missions and tutorials, leading to frustration and a lack of progress. While some users note that the game can be enjoyable when functioning properly, the overall consensus is that it remains excessively buggy, impacting the overall experience.

    • “Once we got started, this game was a completely bug-free experience.”
    • “The tutorial is a bit buggy at the start; all 3 of us had at least 1 crash to desktop during the tutorial sequence.”
    • “Sadly, many missions still end in fatal glitches, invulnerable bosses, or just impassable areas due to poor companion AI.”
    • “The bad: the game is extremely glitchy and some of the worst glitches I have ever encountered in a video game.”
  • grinding39 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game is heavily criticized for being tedious and repetitive, with players noting a lack of variety in levels, enemies, and loot. Many feel that the low drop rates and high requirements for item upgrades make the grinding experience unnecessarily frustrating, leading to a sense of boredom and stagnation. While some players appreciate the mindless nature of grinding for gear, the overall sentiment suggests that the game could benefit from more engaging content and a more rewarding progression system.

    • “With only just 9 levels and no variation coming along with increasing difficulty, Blightbound becomes grindy, repetitive, and boring very fast.”
    • “I can understand the concept of grinding for items, but this specific low drop rate, shop randomness, and super high prosperity level blacksmith unlocks make it feel unnecessarily tedious and not fun to grind for.”
    • “7 hours in and I feel I've seen everything; it gets repetitive fast. There are a lot of heroes, but the ones from the same classes are pretty much skins since only the passive is unique. It's super grindy with a low quantity of maps, low enemy variety, and the loot also isn't interesting.”
  • replayability16 mentions

    The game offers a mix of replayability through farming missions for loot and engaging side quests, which can provide hours of entertainment, especially in multiplayer settings. However, many players express disappointment in the limited content and feel that the game lacks the depth needed for long-term replayability, likening it to an early access title. Overall, while there are enjoyable elements, the game's replay value may not be sufficient to sustain interest over time.

    • “However, there's a lot of replay value in doing the camp side quests as well as figuring out what to do next in each hero's personal quests.”
    • “Good game, addictive gameplay, a lot of replayability.”
    • “Tldr; this game shows promise, and will entertain you and 2 friends for several hours before some replayability issues arise.”
    • “Really disappointed in the amount of content, replayability, gameplay, progression and how badly programmed this game is as this game looks like a 2012 flash game and costs 20€.”
    • “There are a good amount, albeit still limited, of replayable missions that drop random loot, so if you like farming missions to get progressively better loot, then this is the game for you.”
  • optimization14 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players experiencing performance issues and glitches, particularly during combat, leading to frame rates dropping to around 30 fps. While some users with lower-end specs report smoother gameplay on medium settings, others with high-performance PCs, like the RTX 3080, still encounter persistent optimization problems. Developers are reportedly addressing these issues, but significant improvements are still needed.

    • “The game can feel sluggish as the performance crawls to 30 fps often in combat (I'm running the game on: CPU: i7 7700k, GPU: GTX 1080 Ti).”
    • “Some performance issues, some minor glitches.”
    • “Performance issues.”
    • “These issues persist despite using a high performance PC with an NVIDIA RTX 3080.”
    • “The game can feel sluggish as the performance crawls to 30 FPS often in combat (I'm running the game on: CPU: i7 7700K, GPU: GTX 1080 Ti).”
    • “At an early stage, there are depressing bugs and poor optimization.”
  • music14 mentions

    The music and sound design in the game are widely praised for their quality and contribution to the overall experience, with many reviewers noting the good soundtrack and immersive sound effects. However, some players feel that while the music enhances the game's aesthetic, it is overshadowed by various gameplay glitches and issues that detract from the enjoyment. Overall, the music is considered a strong point, but it is not enough to fully compensate for the game's technical problems.

    • “Gameplay is tight and twitchy, graphics are gorgeous, sound design and music are immaculate.”
    • “I like the art style and the music chosen.”
    • “Beautifully made, good soundtrack, nice heroes, 9 of them for now... 3 main roles: tank, healer/mage, and rogue.”
    • “Overall: I recommend this game if you are not easily annoyed because the glitches are super annoying, but I look past them as all my characters die from blight from people disconnecting as they chant Spanish hymns or French musicals while they unplug their PCs. I lose out on all the hard work I did and wonder why I am so addicted to this game. Please help, I'm being cursed in another language.”
    • “Glitches such as not being able to progress through the story because the game either doesn't register that you have picked something up or you are doing something too quickly, such as picking up a skull in one of the most glitchy missions in the game called 'To Whom the Bell Tolls.' Unlike the Metallica song, the bell in this mission never tolls, I guess because it won't allow you to progress through it.”
    • “The lack of items will drive you mad without notoriety.”
  • atmosphere10 mentions

    Blightbound is praised for its immersive dark fantasy atmosphere, featuring beautifully crafted visuals and haunting environments that enhance the gameplay experience. The combination of challenging mechanics, strategic teamwork, and atmospheric sound effects contributes to a uniquely engaging ambiance reminiscent of classic titles like Castle Crashers and Diablo. Overall, the game's aesthetic and atmosphere are consistently highlighted as standout elements.

    • “Blightbound takes place in a beautifully crafted dark fantasy world, brimming with atmospheric visuals and hauntingly detailed environments.”
    • “With its dark and atmospheric setting, challenging gameplay, and strategic teamwork mechanics, Blightbound sets itself apart from other games in the genre.”
    • “[oozes dark/dreary atmosphere, fun combat].”
    • “As mentioned elsewhere, what caught me was the Castle Crashers feel and Diablo atmosphere.”
    • “As mentioned elsewhere, what caught me was the Castle Crashers feel and Diablo atmosphere.”
  • monetization8 mentions

    The monetization aspect of the game currently features no microtransactions, but players express skepticism about the developers' intentions, perceiving the game as a potential cash grab. Many reviewers criticize the lack of content and variety, suggesting that the game may not evolve beyond its early access state, which raises concerns about its long-term viability and value.

    • “As of writing, there are no microtransactions.”
    • “This feels like a cheap cash grab from the devs. Not recommended, even if it was free.”
    • “Very buggy game, desync... I know it's still an early access game (that might stay like that, like most of those kinds of games, because most of the time, they're cash grabs) but if that isn't the case, and this game goes on, they need to add mechanisms like a reset for stats, more leveling experience, new skills, new classes (other than the 3 main classes that change skills), randomly generated stages, more items (yeah, seriously, right now, item choices are garbage), perks maybe, I don't know, something, add something to this game... and fix all the damn bugs because playing a co-op game with all those bugs is hell!”
  • humor8 mentions

    The humor in the game is highlighted by its ability to create funny moments, especially when playing with friends, as players encounter both absurdly weak and impressively strong abilities. Many reviewers emphasize that the game's comedic elements lead to entertaining experiences, particularly during cooperative play, where overpowered gear can result in hilariously unexpected outcomes. Overall, the game fosters a lighthearted atmosphere that encourages laughter and camaraderie among players.

    • “You have to try it, get some friends and have a lot of funny nights together; you can play on the same console or PC.”
    • “Some abilities will have you laughing at how pathetic they are, while marveling at the strength of others.”
    • “This means you can just run pretty easy missions with a decent team and get some hilariously overpowered gear.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

60% average critic score

Buy Blightbound

Play time

10hMedian play time
12hAverage play time
7-22hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 12 analyzed playthroughs

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