Blightbound

62%
Game Brain Score Based on 502 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.

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Reviews

62%
Audience ScoreBased on 502 reviews
gameplay46 positive mentions
stability21 negative mentions
  • The game features a captivating dark fantasy world with beautiful art and atmospheric visuals.
  • Engaging cooperative gameplay that emphasizes teamwork and strategy among different character classes.
  • The loot and progression system keeps players invested, with a variety of characters and abilities to unlock.
  • Frequent bugs and desync issues can disrupt gameplay, leading to frustrating experiences and loss of progress.
  • The notoriety system resets when party members leave, making it difficult to maintain progress and enjoy higher difficulty levels.
  • Limited content and repetitive gameplay can lead to a lack of long-term engagement, especially without a stable player base.
  • gameplay111 mentions

    The gameplay of Blightbound is characterized by its emphasis on cooperative mechanics, requiring strategic teamwork among up to three players to navigate challenging dungeons. While the game offers a captivating dark fantasy setting and diverse character classes, many players find the combat mechanics simplistic and the progression grindy, leading to a repetitive experience over time. Despite some criticisms regarding content limitations and bugs, the core gameplay loop remains engaging, particularly when played with friends, though solo play is often deemed frustrating due to AI limitations.

    • “With its dark and atmospheric setting, challenging gameplay, and strategic teamwork mechanics, Blightbound sets itself apart from other games in the genre.”
    • “The strategic aspect of forming a well-balanced team is crucial, as each class brings unique strengths and weaknesses to the table, encouraging cooperative gameplay and thoughtful decision-making.”
    • “The gameplay is solid, and it has a brilliant design that doesn't get boring regardless of how 'simple' it is; it is actually a difficult game when you enter harder levels, requiring precise timing and positioning.”
    • “Really grindy progression and nothing new in terms of world, gameplay, or anything.”
    • “If you decide that you want to play the game solo, you may as well refund now because you will not have a good time. The bots are absolutely brain dead and will wipe to boss mechanics.”
    • “Overall, the game is a mess of poorly chosen systems and decisions that could have been great, but are unlikely to ever be so due to balance and gameplay decisions.”
  • story97 mentions

    The game's story is largely criticized for being thin and underwhelming, with character quests feeling more like filler than meaningful narratives. While each character has a personal storyline, the lack of engaging content and the repetitive nature of missions detract from the overall experience, leaving players wanting more depth and variety. Additionally, technical issues and bugs further hinder the storytelling experience, making it difficult for players to progress through quests effectively.

    • “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.”
    • “I really like the backstory of the game, where you try to survive in a blighted land full of monsters.”
    • “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.”
    • “The quests are mediocre and feel like filler rather than actual personal stories.”
    • “They tried to put some story in but it's basically non-existent.”
  • graphics52 mentions

    The graphics of Blightbound are widely praised for their cool, dark fantasy art style and atmospheric visuals, which enhance the immersive experience of the game. Players appreciate the detailed environments and unique character designs, although some note issues with visual clarity and occasional glitches. 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 gameplay is a castle crashers/dota/diablo hybrid with almost 'darkest dungeon level' graphical fidelity.”
  • stability23 mentions

    The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous reports of severe bugs, glitches, and crashes, particularly during the tutorial and mission sequences. While some players find enjoyment when the game functions correctly, many experience game-breaking issues that hinder progress and overall gameplay. Overall, the game is deemed very buggy, leading to frustration and a lack of player engagement.

    • “Once we got started, this game was a completely bug-free experience.”
    • “Good, except for the bot bug.”
    • “The tutorial is a bit buggy at the start; all three of us had at least one 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.”
  • grinding19 mentions

    The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it excessively tedious and repetitive due to low drop rates, limited map variety, and a lack of engaging gameplay elements. While some appreciate the grind for gear and the potential for item farming, others feel that the overall experience becomes monotonous quickly, with little incentive to continue beyond the initial hours of play. Overall, the grinding mechanics may appeal to dedicated RPG fans, but they can also lead to frustration for those seeking a more dynamic and varied experience.

    • “Really grindy progression and nothing new in terms of world, gameplay, or anything.”
    • “With only just 9 levels and no variation coming along with increasing difficulty, Blightbound becomes grindy, repetitive, and boring very fast.”
    • “Tldr: low/high quality divided dev team on items/abilities, most heroes have bad ability setups, maps have poor layouts/many loading screens, grindy to get items and may take you 75 hours to unlock everything through a lot of grinding boring maps.”
  • replayability8 mentions

    The game offers a mix of replayability through limited missions with random loot and engaging side quests, appealing to players who enjoy farming for better gear. However, some users express disappointment in the overall content and progression, suggesting that while it can be entertaining for a few hours, it may not sustain long-term replay value. Overall, opinions are divided, with some finding it addictive and others feeling it lacks depth.

    • “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.”
    • “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€.”
  • optimization7 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant performance issues and glitches even on high-end hardware, while others report smoother gameplay at lower settings. Despite these challenges, developers are actively working on improvements.

    • “Some performance issues, some minor glitches.”
    • “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).”
    • “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.”
  • music7 mentions

    The music in the game is praised for its quality and integration with the overall sound design, enhancing the immersive experience. While the soundtrack is described as beautifully made and fitting for the game's aesthetic, some players feel that the enjoyment of the music is overshadowed by gameplay glitches and frustrations. Overall, the music contributes positively to the game's atmosphere, despite the technical issues players encounter.

    • “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.”
    • “The music in this game is frustratingly inconsistent, often overshadowed by glitches that disrupt the experience.”
    • “I find myself losing progress due to the game's inability to register actions, and the music does little to enhance the atmosphere during these frustrating moments.”
    • “While the gameplay can be engaging, the constant interruptions and disconnections, accompanied by random musical choices, make it hard to stay immersed.”
  • atmosphere4 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 and strategic teamwork further contributes to its unique and engaging atmosphere, reminiscent of classic titles like Castle Crashers and Diablo.

    • “With its dark and atmospheric setting, challenging gameplay, and strategic teamwork mechanics, Blightbound sets itself apart from other games in the genre.”
    • “Blightbound takes place in a beautifully crafted dark fantasy world, brimming with atmospheric visuals and hauntingly detailed environments.”
    • “Art, game flow, sound effects, and dungeons are very atmospheric.”
    • “The atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth needed to immerse players.”
    • “Despite the potential, the game fails to create a compelling atmosphere, leaving it feeling lifeless.”
    • “The environments are visually appealing, but the overall atmosphere is undermined by repetitive gameplay.”
  • monetization4 mentions

    The monetization aspect of the game currently features no microtransactions, but players express concerns that the game feels like a cash grab due to its repetitive content and numerous bugs. Many reviewers are skeptical about the game's long-term development, fearing it may remain in early access without significant improvements or additional content.

    • “As of now, there are no microtransactions.”
    • “The game offers a fair monetization model that doesn't pressure players to spend money.”
    • “I appreciate that the game is completely free of pay-to-win mechanics.”
    • “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 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!”
  • humor4 mentions

    The humor in the game is highlighted by its ability to create funny moments during gameplay, especially when playing with friends, as players encounter both absurdly weak and impressively strong abilities. Many users find that the game's comedic elements enhance the experience, leading to entertaining nights filled with laughter, despite some negative perceptions from critics.

    • “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.”
    • “This also goes for abilities; some 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 6 analyzed playthroughs

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