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Blood (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Blood is a PC
game developed by 3D Realms
and Monolith Productions
and distributed by GT Interactive. Development was underway at 3D Realms
in parallel with a number of other well-known titles. Following the success of Duke Nukem 3D
, development progress was made public starting in June 1996 with weekly updates on their website. It was originally scheduled for release in early 1997. On January 22, 1997, a press release announced that all rights had been sold to Monolith
so that 3D Realms
"could focus efforts on Shadow Warrior
," another Build engine
game slated for release the same year. Released on May 31, 1997, Blood utilized an enhanced version of the Build engine
from Ken Silverman
which featured the addition of voxel
s. The game falls in the first-person shooter
category, and has an arsenal of bizarre and nefarious weapons, numerous enemies and liberal amounts of gore
.
The Blood franchise was continued with two official expansion packs titled Plasma Pack (developed by Monolith) and Cryptic Passage (developed by Sunstorm Interactive). Later, the sequel titled Blood II: The Chosen
was released on October 31, 1998. In terms of copyrights and ownership, Monolith sold the rights for Blood to GT Interactive. GTI was later acquired by Infogrames
which has since been renamed to Atari
. In recent years it seems that Warner Bros. Entertainment owns the Blood trademark.
mode, the objective of the player is to lead Caleb in his quest of revenge against his former master: this is achieved by navigating the levels of each separate episode, looking for an exit, until the "boss
" level is reached and a showdown against a large opponent takes place. Each episode can be played separately, in no particular order, albeit these are organized to follow the game's storyline.
Blood' s gameplay is similar to other classic FPS games like Doom, in that the player is required to activate switches and/or seek keys to proceed through the levels; on larger maps, finding up to six different keys may be required. A classic FPS feature which is rarely employed in Blood is the teleporter
. The player's progress is further complicated by different types of traps, including the classic crushing blocks, explosive barrels, or lava pits, the occasional jumping puzzle, and combination lock
doors.
Blood was also one of the first FPS games (along with Marathon
, Heretic, Strife and Star Wars: Dark Forces
) to feature "alternate" or "secondary" attack modes for its weapons; most weapons in Blood have two different methods of dealing damage, in contrast to previous games in which each weapon had only a single type of attack. Another concept added in Blood are the "super secrets", very hard to find and hard to reach areas which merit large rewards.
, sawed-off shotgun
and a Tommy gun
, explosive weapons like dynamite and a napalm
launcher, a sci-fi shock rifle named after inventor Nikola Tesla
and several dark magic artifacts, including a Voodoo doll, and most uniquely, aerosal canisters that can be used as flamethrowers or bombs. Many of the weapons in Blood have a secondary attack mode. It also features a pick up known as "Guns Akimbo", that allowed the player to dual wield projectile weapons.
s and cultists. A lesser class of enemies (bats, rats, eels, possessed hands) often referred to as "nuisance enemies" that are not considered threats individually, but will try nonetheless to harm Caleb and can be deadly if encountered in large numbers.
(and prior) Europe and America. Caleb is a resurrected Wild West gunslinger or similar pulp fiction anti-hero
, but the various levels contain elements from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, in addition to futuristic and retro-futuristic technologies (reference to Tesla) and a faint occult weird West
theme. Many elements are deliberately anachronistic, including weapons, pop-culture references and other details. The game's sequel Blood II: The Chosen
, retroactively dates the game to the year 1928.
The game's protagonist is Caleb (voiced by Stephan Weyte
), once the supreme commander of a cult
called "The Cabal
", worshippers of the forgotten god Tchernobog (voiced by Monolith CEO Jason Hall). Although the back-story was not delineated in the game itself, the Monolith website and a readme
text document presented the few facts known about Caleb's early career.
Already known as a merciless gunfighter in the late 19th century American West, Caleb joined the Cabal in 1871 after meeting Ophelia Price, a woman whose husband and son may have been murdered by the members of the Cabal; it is implied that she later became Caleb's lover. Together they rose to the highest circle of the dark cult, "The Chosen", until all four members of The Chosen were betrayed and killed by Tchernobog for unspecified failures in the god's name. Many years later, Caleb mysteriously rises from his grave, declaring, "I live...AGAIN!", (one of many in-game quotes from Army of Darkness
) seeking both vengeance and answers. He must lay waste to many occult enemies as he explores worlds through various Cabal strongholds and hellish pits, to find and end the dark god Tchernobog.
Dressed in a black trenchcoat and broad-brimmed hat, his eyes glowing red, Caleb immediately begins his quest, riddling Blood's world with bullets and dark humor. Caleb is a cynical, sarcastic, somewhat sadistic man, taking pleasure in killing almost anything that may impede his quest. Caleb has a slight attitude change between Blood and its sequel Blood II where he begins to show more tolerance for innocent bystanders.
Blood is organized in four episodes, each consisting of eight or nine levels ("maps"), categorized into six or seven regular levels, one "boss" level and a secret level. Some locations are drawn to resemble Twentieth Century cities, with civil buildings, museums, pubs, shopping centers and so on; a few levels are centered upon a particular location, like a mortuary, train station, carnival
, sewer
, hospital
or lumber mill, and each is designed to include elements typical of these places (e.g. a crematorium in the mortuary, attractions at the carnival and so on). Maps built around moving vehicles are present as well; the third level is set aboard a moving train, for example. Several other levels have a typical Victorian
or Edwardian architectural style and this is used especially in some atmospheric "haunted house
" levels. Levels with a more "fantastic" setting abound in the last episode of Blood which takes place in several evil temples and even in a fully organic setting, whose walls, ceiling and floor are all composed of flesh and blood.
) stating, "I live...again," (a reference to the film, Army of Darkness). In search of the first of Tchernobog's minions, the gargoyle
Cheogh, the protagonist moves to the railyard and station known as "Miskatonic Station" (a reference to the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft
), where he boards the northbound "Phantom Express". Once aboard the train, Caleb fights his way from the locomotive
to the caboose
and back, finally stopping the train by blowing up the locomotive. Emerging from the wreckage of the "Phantom Express", he proceeds through a "Dark Carnival" with several Cabal controlled attractions, including a grotesque "House of Horrors" which is featured as the episode's secret level. A water pool in the carnival area is then used by Caleb as a shortcut to reach one of the Cabal strongholds (a deconsecrated
cathedral
) where a droning message in the Cabal's language echoes throughout the grounds. Cutting through swarms of Cabal loyalists and other creatures, Caleb gains entrance to the "Great Temple", a place protected by numerous underwater tunnels as well as several napalm traps and Cabal minions. A teleporter found in the Temple leads the protagonist to Cheogh's altar, where Caleb will fight the gargoyle to the death, finally slaying the creature. Caleb finishes by lighting up Ophelia's funeral pyre to cremate her body, then after he approaches the slain Cheogh, points his shotgun at the creature's head and blows away the gargoyle's brains with a well-placed shotgun blast.
. The player character boards a larger, icebound wooden sailing ship in the Arctic north (a reference to the novel, Frankenstein
) and uses it as a gateway to a nearby lumber mill the Cabal has transformed into a crude human remains processing area. Then a snow covered maze of hedges awaits Caleb, as he needs to find his way to the "Overlooked Hotel", a haunted building with several nods to The Shining
, including a frozen Jack Torrance
in the garden maze. Recovering a set of mysterious tomes, Caleb may also find time to visit a snow covered mountainous area (the episode's secret level), filled with Cabalists and other even less reassuring creatures, before proceeding to another haunted building, a large two-story mansion with many rooms, a kitchen, gardens, a library, a cellar and even an indoor pool. Blowing a hole in the pool itself, Caleb follows an underwater passage leading to a facility that probably served as a support station for the operations of a nearby mine
. The mine is the protagonist's true objective, since Shial's lair is hidden below the frozen surface, under the bowels of the earth; navigating the Cabal infested tunnels, Caleb finally finds a large spider decorated door leading to the hideout of Shial, a dark stony cavern where the spiders feast upon the rotting corpses of their victims. In a climactic battle, Caleb defeats Shial, crushing her with a powerful stomp of his boot, then proceeds to rip out and drink the heart blood from the nearly-dead, cocooned corpse of Gabriel, another of the betrayed Chosen, thus gaining the power of his fallen comrade.
, now Tchernobog's second in command, must be eliminated. The first section of the episode consists of a town that has fallen under heavy airborne bombing; few still live in the place, aside from the Cabal and its minions. Leaving behind the meat processing plant and the city hall, Caleb enters the sewers to reach the other side of the war battered city. Emerging to the surface, the entrance of a hospital lies ahead: the interior contains patient rooms, a chapel, a morgue, an "assisted suicide" room and a baby carriage with a demonic hand sticking out of it as a tribute to It's Alive!. From the chapel, access to the catacombs (secret level) can also be gained. Once out of the hospital, the protagonist moves across an industrial facility, entering a nearby dam
control installation located close to Cerberus' cavern. Caleb struggles his way through a difficult "combo lock" puzzle, then blows up the dam with explosives. The resulting flooding makes it possible to access the demon's fiery hideout. Several seals, guarded by Hellhounds, must be unlocked before Cerberus makes his furious appearance from behind the stone walls. The two-headed beast does not prove a match for Caleb, who then fills the creature's stomach with many remote-controlled bundles of TNT and blows up the corpse, causing it to rain red over Caleb.
, where Freddy Krueger's
hat and sweater can be found on the wall, serving as a disposal site for dead creatures. The place has a nearby passage leading to a forest-rimmed lake with wood cabins arrayed around "Crystal Lake". This section draws largely on references to the Friday the 13th series of films. As Caleb roams the area, he may even hear the infamous sounds of Jason Voorhees
himself, or perhaps even discover his goalie mask
and machete
hanging on one of the walls. The exit from the area is reached through a toilet: here the player can move immediately to a Cabal temple located well above the surface of a lava filled area or take a visit to the "Mall of the Dead", a shopping center acting as a homage to the film Dawn of the Dead, with similar looping "elevator music
" and zombies. Caleb then gains access to the inner temples defended by Stone Gargoyles and Mother Spiders (similar to the Cheogh and Shial bosses), until he finally uncovers an organic looking entryway to reach his former master; this passage leads to the level "In The Flesh", in which the walls, ceiling and floor are all made of living flesh. Caleb's stray bullets pound this wretched structure, causing the very walls themselves to bleed. Once out of this strange, horrible place, the protagonist ultimately reaches the "Hall of the Epiphany", an outworldly temple where he must once again face the previous bosses - Cheogh, Shial and Cerberus - before battling the terrifying dark god Tchernobog himself. There, before facing him, Caleb finally learns why "The Chosen" were cast down: the dark god knew Caleb would return to him, killing anyone he ran into to take his revenge and thus gaining immense power, something Tchernobog wants for himself. As Caleb approaches the final showdown, Tchernobog's voice echoes and reverberates around him, "I HAVE AWAITED YOU. KNEEL BEFORE ME," to which Caleb replies "I'm gonna have to put you down!" Caleb battles and destroys the dark god, ending his reign and temporarily stopping the Cabal. At the ending full motion video
, Caleb is so disgusted with the waste of many innocent lives that he even kills a monk with his Tommy Gun before leaving the Hall of Epiphany.
. The full retail version of Blood on CD-ROM features all four original episodes and contains all the elements that were missing in the shareware version. The extremely violent content of the game prompted the release of a censored version of Blood with toned-down violence. Two different expansions
for the game have been released: Cryptic Passage was produced by Sunstorm Interactive
and features a new 10 level episode; Monolith's official add-on for Blood is titled Plasma Pak and contains new levels, new creatures and weapons modes. A special edition collection titled One Unit: Whole Blood was later released, including fully patched versions of Blood, Cryptic Passage and the Plasma Pak in a single package. Also, strategy guides for the game have been published, namely Blood: The Official Strategy Guide and Blood: Unlock the Secrets.
(provided the appropriate power-up is collected), while the Napalm cannon and the life leech have new secondary attacks. The Plasma Pak also integrated a large number of bug fixes which had been previously addressed by several patches.
and is the only officially authorized commercially available ten-level add-on episode for Blood that was not made by Monolith. It should be noted that Cryptic Passage was released before Monolith's own Plasma Pak expansion.
(called "The Phantasm of the Opera" in the game) is being shown. Without losing any time with the opera, Caleb moves to the Gothic Library, located in the midst of surrounding forests: there he barely escapes the minions of the Cabal after recovering all the keys required to leave the place. However Caleb does not have time to rest, since strange rituals are taking place in and around the monastery: the protagonist must end them in the most violent and chaotic manner he can muster. A steamboat serves as an escape from the monastery, but it does not prove to be a gentle ride as the Cabal owns the ship. Finally reaching a quieter zone, Caleb finds himself at a graveyard whose relatively empty surface hides the crowded underground catacombs and tunnels. A passage may be taken by Caleb to reach a gloomy swamp (the secret level "Boggy Creek"), riding along the river on a boat where the Grim Reaper is the captain. Back on his path, the adventure takes the player character to the mountains this time, where both gorges and ghosts must be survived. The Cultists hide behind every stone as Caleb makes his way across the cliffs to the mine, a dark place infested with phantasm
s, which is the only access to the castle where the scroll is hidden. When Caleb climbs the stairs into the castle, he is greeted by "The Lord of All Nightmares", who proves to be nothing less than two guardian Cerberi. Between Caleb and the coveted scroll now lies a final battle between Beast and Man.
, LAN
or serial cable
connections for multiplayer. Modem and serial cable connections only allow two player games, while an IPX
network connection can support up to eight players. This can easily be achieved on a variety of platforms that support DosBox and its IPX modes, coupled with VPN software such as Hamachi or similar. Setup may take a short while; guides for doing so are available online.
The multiplayer modes consist of the classic deathmatch
, which is known in Blood as "Bloodbath", and cooperative play.
Bloodbath matches can be played on specifically designed multiplayer maps or on the levels of the various episodes; the "frag
limit" or "time limit" options are available to end matches, as well as the possibility to control respawn mode for weapons and powerups. A feature of Bloodbath is "The Voice", an audio comment heard upon each frag, that punctuates the death of an opponent often in gory and irreverent terms. "The Voice" is that of Jace Hall
, who was CEO
of Monolith Productions
at the time.
Cooperative gameplay follows the lines of the single player campaign, allowing several players to work together against the computer controlled opponents on the levels of the different episodes.
A little known, unofficial tribute project using the technology of quake, has been worked on for years by third party fans of blood. The project went through many delays and phases of development, and eventually was released under the name Blood: transfusion. It is a free, standalone game that was never finished. However, it offers working multiplayer, and most importantly comes with bots to simulate bloodbath in a higher res, three dimensional environment.
http://www.transfusion-game.com/files.php
created by Ken Silverman
for 3D Realms
. The Build engine renders its world on a two-dimensional
grid using closed 2D shapes called "sectors" and simple flat objects called "sprites" to populate the world geometry with objects. It is generally considered to be a 2.5D
engine, since the basic world geometry is two-dimensional with an added height component, as each sector may have a different ceiling and floor height, and the ceiling and floor may be angled along one line of the sector. However the final result is that the world looks three-dimensional due to the way the engine renders it. The version of the Build engine used in Blood also uses voxel
technology for weapon and ammo pickups, powerups and occasionally decorations, such as the tombstones in the first level of episode one, "Cradle to Grave".
, from which the game derives its name. Enemies can be blown to pieces, and the pieces often rain down on the player. Zombies' heads can be shot off and then kicked around like footballs, spewing fountains of blood. Enemies scream if set on fire or otherwise injured, making sound an integral part of the violent atmosphere of Blood. The levels themselves are designed with the same spirit, as corpses, torture victims, and several grotesque situations are witnessed in the game. Collectively, these features caused public concern about Blood, leading to the release of a censored version.
}
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
game developed by 3D Realms
3D Realms
3D Realms is a current video game publisher and former video game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States, established in 1987...
and Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions is a Kirkland, Washington-based computer game developer. Monolith is also known for the development of the graphical game engine Lithtech, which has been used for most of their games...
and distributed by GT Interactive. Development was underway at 3D Realms
3D Realms
3D Realms is a current video game publisher and former video game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States, established in 1987...
in parallel with a number of other well-known titles. Following the success of Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive Software. The full version was released for the PC . It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II published by Apogee...
, development progress was made public starting in June 1996 with weekly updates on their website. It was originally scheduled for release in early 1997. On January 22, 1997, a press release announced that all rights had been sold to Monolith
Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions is a Kirkland, Washington-based computer game developer. Monolith is also known for the development of the graphical game engine Lithtech, which has been used for most of their games...
so that 3D Realms
3D Realms
3D Realms is a current video game publisher and former video game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States, established in 1987...
"could focus efforts on Shadow Warrior
Shadow Warrior
Shadow Warrior, often known by its initials SW, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and released on May 13, 1997 by GT Interactive. Shadow Warrior was developed using Ken Silverman's Build engine and improved on 3D Realms' previous Build engine game, Duke Nukem 3D...
," another Build engine
Build engine
The Build engine is a first-person shooter engine created by Ken Silverman for 3D Realms. Like the Doom engine, the Build engine represents its world on a two-dimensional grid using closed 2D shapes called sectors, and uses simple flat objects called sprites to populate the world geometry with...
game slated for release the same year. Released on May 31, 1997, Blood utilized an enhanced version of the Build engine
Build engine
The Build engine is a first-person shooter engine created by Ken Silverman for 3D Realms. Like the Doom engine, the Build engine represents its world on a two-dimensional grid using closed 2D shapes called sectors, and uses simple flat objects called sprites to populate the world geometry with...
from Ken Silverman
Ken Silverman
Ken Silverman is a game programmer, best known for writing the Build engine used in Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Blood, and more than a dozen other games in the mid- to late-1990s...
which featured the addition of voxel
Voxel
A voxel is a volume element, representing a value on a regular grid in three dimensional space. This is analogous to a pixel, which represents 2D image data in a bitmap...
s. The game falls in the first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
category, and has an arsenal of bizarre and nefarious weapons, numerous enemies and liberal amounts of gore
Graphic violence
Graphic violence is the depiction of especially vivid, brutal and realistic acts of violence in visual media such as literature, film, television, and video games...
.
The Blood franchise was continued with two official expansion packs titled Plasma Pack (developed by Monolith) and Cryptic Passage (developed by Sunstorm Interactive). Later, the sequel titled Blood II: The Chosen
Blood II: The Chosen
Blood II: The Chosen is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Monolith Productions and distributed by GT Interactive, which was later purchased by Infogrames. Released on October 31, 1998, it featured Monolith's new fully 3D engine Lithtech, which was previously used in Shogo: Mobile...
was released on October 31, 1998. In terms of copyrights and ownership, Monolith sold the rights for Blood to GT Interactive. GTI was later acquired by Infogrames
Infogrames
Infogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory...
which has since been renamed to Atari
Atari, Inc (Infogrames)
The company that currently bears the Atari Inc. name was founded in 1993 under the name GT Interactive. In 1999, Infogrames Entertainment, SA acquired a 62% controlling interest in GT Interactive, and proceeded to rename it Infogrames, Inc. After IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive and its...
. In recent years it seems that Warner Bros. Entertainment owns the Blood trademark.
Gameplay
A first-person shooter in the spirit of schlock horror/slasher flicks, the gameplay of Blood is witnessed through the eyes of the player-controlled character, Caleb, and consists of fighting the hordes of various enemies as he traverses the levels of the game. In single playerSingle player
A Single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. "Single-player game" usually implies a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" usually refers to a game mode for a single player, where...
mode, the objective of the player is to lead Caleb in his quest of revenge against his former master: this is achieved by navigating the levels of each separate episode, looking for an exit, until the "boss
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
" level is reached and a showdown against a large opponent takes place. Each episode can be played separately, in no particular order, albeit these are organized to follow the game's storyline.
Blood
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
. The player's progress is further complicated by different types of traps, including the classic crushing blocks, explosive barrels, or lava pits, the occasional jumping puzzle, and combination lock
Combination lock
A combination lock is a type of lock in which a sequence of numbers or symbols is used to open the lock. The sequence may be entered using a single rotating dial which interacts with several discs or cams, by using a set of several rotating discs with inscribed numerals which directly interact with...
doors.
Blood was also one of the first FPS games (along with Marathon
Marathon (video game)
Marathon is a first-person shooter video game with a science fiction theme developed and published by Bungie released in December 1994 for the Apple Macintosh. The game was Bungie's second foray into the emerging genre of games with a first-person perspective, the first being Pathways into...
, Heretic, Strife and Star Wars: Dark Forces
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Star Wars: Dark Forces is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by LucasArts. It was released in 1995 for DOS and Apple Macintosh, and in 1996 for the PlayStation. The storyline within the Dark Forces is set in the Star Wars fictional universe and follows the character Kyle...
) to feature "alternate" or "secondary" attack modes for its weapons; most weapons in Blood have two different methods of dealing damage, in contrast to previous games in which each weapon had only a single type of attack. Another concept added in Blood are the "super secrets", very hard to find and hard to reach areas which merit large rewards.
Weapons and items
Weapons, artifacts and bonus items appear in Blood. Firearms include a flare gunFlare gun
A flare gun is a firearm that launches flares. It is typically used for signalling, as distress signalling, at sea or from the ground to aircraft...
, sawed-off shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
and a Tommy gun
Tommy Gun
Tommy Gun may refer to:*Thompson submachine gun or Tommy gun, a submachine gun*"Tommy Gun" , a song by The Clash...
, explosive weapons like dynamite and a napalm
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
launcher, a sci-fi shock rifle named after inventor Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
and several dark magic artifacts, including a Voodoo doll, and most uniquely, aerosal canisters that can be used as flamethrowers or bombs. Many of the weapons in Blood have a secondary attack mode. It also features a pick up known as "Guns Akimbo", that allowed the player to dual wield projectile weapons.
Characters and enemies
The game features a large quantity of creatures throughout its levels and most of them are absolutely hostile to Caleb, including human members of the Cabal and creatures fighting for the dark god Tchernobog. Most of these enemies are various classes of zombieZombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
s and cultists. A lesser class of enemies (bats, rats, eels, possessed hands) often referred to as "nuisance enemies" that are not considered threats individually, but will try nonetheless to harm Caleb and can be deadly if encountered in large numbers.
Background
Blood takes place in an unspecified time period that often resembles WWI-EraWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
(and prior) Europe and America. Caleb is a resurrected Wild West gunslinger or similar pulp fiction anti-hero
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
, but the various levels contain elements from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, in addition to futuristic and retro-futuristic technologies (reference to Tesla) and a faint occult weird West
Weird West
Weird West is used to describe a combination of the Western with another literary genre, usually horror, occult, or fantasy.DC's Weird Western Tales appeared in the early 1970s and the weird Western was further popularized by Joe R...
theme. Many elements are deliberately anachronistic, including weapons, pop-culture references and other details. The game's sequel Blood II: The Chosen
Blood II: The Chosen
Blood II: The Chosen is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Monolith Productions and distributed by GT Interactive, which was later purchased by Infogrames. Released on October 31, 1998, it featured Monolith's new fully 3D engine Lithtech, which was previously used in Shogo: Mobile...
, retroactively dates the game to the year 1928.
The game's protagonist is Caleb (voiced by Stephan Weyte
Stephan Weyte
Stephan Weyte, is a voice actor in computer games, one of his more well known roles was as the voice for the main character Caleb in the computer game Blood and its sequel Blood II: The Chosen. He is also known for starring in a variety of Humongous Entertainment's children's games, most notably...
), once the supreme commander of a cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
called "The Cabal
Cabal
A cabal is a group of people united in some close design together, usually to promote their private views and/or interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue...
", worshippers of the forgotten god Tchernobog (voiced by Monolith CEO Jason Hall). Although the back-story was not delineated in the game itself, the Monolith website and a readme
README
A readme file contains information about other files in a directory or archive and is commonly distributed with computer software. Such a file is usually a text file called README.TXT, README.1ST, READ.ME, or simply README, although some Microsoft Windows software may occasionally include a...
text document presented the few facts known about Caleb's early career.
Already known as a merciless gunfighter in the late 19th century American West, Caleb joined the Cabal in 1871 after meeting Ophelia Price, a woman whose husband and son may have been murdered by the members of the Cabal; it is implied that she later became Caleb's lover. Together they rose to the highest circle of the dark cult, "The Chosen", until all four members of The Chosen were betrayed and killed by Tchernobog for unspecified failures in the god's name. Many years later, Caleb mysteriously rises from his grave, declaring, "I live...AGAIN!", (one of many in-game quotes from Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness
Army of Darkness, also known as Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness or simply Evil Dead III, is a 1992 horror comedy fantasy action film directed by Sam Raimi. It is the third and final installment in The Evil Dead trilogy. The film was written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, produced by Robert Tapert,...
) seeking both vengeance and answers. He must lay waste to many occult enemies as he explores worlds through various Cabal strongholds and hellish pits, to find and end the dark god Tchernobog.
Dressed in a black trenchcoat and broad-brimmed hat, his eyes glowing red, Caleb immediately begins his quest, riddling Blood's world with bullets and dark humor. Caleb is a cynical, sarcastic, somewhat sadistic man, taking pleasure in killing almost anything that may impede his quest. Caleb has a slight attitude change between Blood and its sequel Blood II where he begins to show more tolerance for innocent bystanders.
Blood is organized in four episodes, each consisting of eight or nine levels ("maps"), categorized into six or seven regular levels, one "boss" level and a secret level. Some locations are drawn to resemble Twentieth Century cities, with civil buildings, museums, pubs, shopping centers and so on; a few levels are centered upon a particular location, like a mortuary, train station, carnival
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
, sewer
Sanitary sewer
A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...
, hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
or lumber mill, and each is designed to include elements typical of these places (e.g. a crematorium in the mortuary, attractions at the carnival and so on). Maps built around moving vehicles are present as well; the third level is set aboard a moving train, for example. Several other levels have a typical Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
or Edwardian architectural style and this is used especially in some atmospheric "haunted house
Haunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
" levels. Levels with a more "fantastic" setting abound in the last episode of Blood which takes place in several evil temples and even in a fully organic setting, whose walls, ceiling and floor are all composed of flesh and blood.
Episode 1: The Way of All Flesh
Caleb's adventure starts with him rising from his grave in a tomb located in a graveyard of the "Morningside Mortuary" funeral home (a reference to the film, PhantasmPhantasm (film)
Phantasm is a low-budget "cult classic" horror film produced in 1977 and released in 1979. The film was directed, written, photographed, co-produced and edited by Don Coscarelli...
) stating, "I live...again," (a reference to the film, Army of Darkness). In search of the first of Tchernobog's minions, the gargoyle
Gargoyle
In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
Cheogh, the protagonist moves to the railyard and station known as "Miskatonic Station" (a reference to the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
), where he boards the northbound "Phantom Express". Once aboard the train, Caleb fights his way from the locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
to the caboose
Caboose
A caboose is a manned North American rail transport vehicle coupled at the end of a freight train. Although cabooses were once used on nearly every freight train, their use has declined and they are seldom seen on trains, except on locals and smaller railroads.-Function:The caboose provided the...
and back, finally stopping the train by blowing up the locomotive. Emerging from the wreckage of the "Phantom Express", he proceeds through a "Dark Carnival" with several Cabal controlled attractions, including a grotesque "House of Horrors" which is featured as the episode's secret level. A water pool in the carnival area is then used by Caleb as a shortcut to reach one of the Cabal strongholds (a deconsecrated
Deconsecration
Deconsecration is the act of removing a religious blessing from something that had been previously consecrated by a minister or priest of that religion. The same act when performed by a member of a differing religion may be considered a curse by some religions and not a complete removal of the...
cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
) where a droning message in the Cabal's language echoes throughout the grounds. Cutting through swarms of Cabal loyalists and other creatures, Caleb gains entrance to the "Great Temple", a place protected by numerous underwater tunnels as well as several napalm traps and Cabal minions. A teleporter found in the Temple leads the protagonist to Cheogh's altar, where Caleb will fight the gargoyle to the death, finally slaying the creature. Caleb finishes by lighting up Ophelia's funeral pyre to cremate her body, then after he approaches the slain Cheogh, points his shotgun at the creature's head and blows away the gargoyle's brains with a well-placed shotgun blast.
Episode 2: Even Death May Die
Looking for Shial, the second minion of Tchernobog, Caleb moves to the north on a small boat, uttering a famous quote from the movie JawsJaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
. The player character boards a larger, icebound wooden sailing ship in the Arctic north (a reference to the novel, Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
) and uses it as a gateway to a nearby lumber mill the Cabal has transformed into a crude human remains processing area. Then a snow covered maze of hedges awaits Caleb, as he needs to find his way to the "Overlooked Hotel", a haunted building with several nods to The Shining
The Shining (film)
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
, including a frozen Jack Torrance
Jack Torrance
Jack Torrance is a fictional character, the antagonist in the 1977 novel The Shining by Stephen King. He was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 1980 movie adaptation of the novel, and by Steven Weber in the 1997 miniseries. The American Film Institute rated the character the 25th greatest film...
in the garden maze. Recovering a set of mysterious tomes, Caleb may also find time to visit a snow covered mountainous area (the episode's secret level), filled with Cabalists and other even less reassuring creatures, before proceeding to another haunted building, a large two-story mansion with many rooms, a kitchen, gardens, a library, a cellar and even an indoor pool. Blowing a hole in the pool itself, Caleb follows an underwater passage leading to a facility that probably served as a support station for the operations of a nearby mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
. The mine is the protagonist's true objective, since Shial's lair is hidden below the frozen surface, under the bowels of the earth; navigating the Cabal infested tunnels, Caleb finally finds a large spider decorated door leading to the hideout of Shial, a dark stony cavern where the spiders feast upon the rotting corpses of their victims. In a climactic battle, Caleb defeats Shial, crushing her with a powerful stomp of his boot, then proceeds to rip out and drink the heart blood from the nearly-dead, cocooned corpse of Gabriel, another of the betrayed Chosen, thus gaining the power of his fallen comrade.
Episode 3: Farewell to Arms
Back in a civilized area, Caleb has a new objective: CerberusCerberus
Cerberus , or Kerberos, in Greek and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed hound which guards the gates of the Underworld, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping...
, now Tchernobog's second in command, must be eliminated. The first section of the episode consists of a town that has fallen under heavy airborne bombing; few still live in the place, aside from the Cabal and its minions. Leaving behind the meat processing plant and the city hall, Caleb enters the sewers to reach the other side of the war battered city. Emerging to the surface, the entrance of a hospital lies ahead: the interior contains patient rooms, a chapel, a morgue, an "assisted suicide" room and a baby carriage with a demonic hand sticking out of it as a tribute to It's Alive!. From the chapel, access to the catacombs (secret level) can also be gained. Once out of the hospital, the protagonist moves across an industrial facility, entering a nearby dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
control installation located close to Cerberus' cavern. Caleb struggles his way through a difficult "combo lock" puzzle, then blows up the dam with explosives. The resulting flooding makes it possible to access the demon's fiery hideout. Several seals, guarded by Hellhounds, must be unlocked before Cerberus makes his furious appearance from behind the stone walls. The two-headed beast does not prove a match for Caleb, who then fills the creature's stomach with many remote-controlled bundles of TNT and blows up the corpse, causing it to rain red over Caleb.
Episode 4: Dead Reckoning
Once Tchernobog's lieutenants have been dealt with, Caleb heads for the "Hall of the Epiphany" where the dark god is waiting. The first step is to cross a strange land with a mad-scientist laboratory and Frankenstein-esque theme to it, subsequently diving into an aquatic breeding laboratory, presumably one of the main locations where the gill beasts are grown by the Cabal. Later, bursting out of a water cistern, Caleb finds a charnel houseCharnel house
A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves...
, where Freddy Krueger's
Freddy Krueger
Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a fictional, horrifying character from the Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. He first appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street as a disfigured dream stalker who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams,...
hat and sweater can be found on the wall, serving as a disposal site for dead creatures. The place has a nearby passage leading to a forest-rimmed lake with wood cabins arrayed around "Crystal Lake". This section draws largely on references to the Friday the 13th series of films. As Caleb roams the area, he may even hear the infamous sounds of Jason Voorhees
Jason Voorhees
Jason Voorhees is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. He first appeared in Friday the 13th , as the son of camp cook-turned-murderer, Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S...
himself, or perhaps even discover his goalie mask
Goalie mask
A goaltender mask, commonly referred to as a goalie mask or a hockey mask, is a mask worn by ice hockey, inline hockey, and field hockey goaltenders to protect the head from injury. Jacques Plante was the first goaltender to create and use a practical mask in 1959. Plante's mask was a piece of...
and machete
Machete
The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
hanging on one of the walls. The exit from the area is reached through a toilet: here the player can move immediately to a Cabal temple located well above the surface of a lava filled area or take a visit to the "Mall of the Dead", a shopping center acting as a homage to the film Dawn of the Dead, with similar looping "elevator music
Elevator music
Elevator music refers to instrumental arrangements of popular music designed for playing in shopping malls, grocery stores, department stores, telephone systems , cruise ships, airports, doctors' and dentists' offices, and elevators...
" and zombies. Caleb then gains access to the inner temples defended by Stone Gargoyles and Mother Spiders (similar to the Cheogh and Shial bosses), until he finally uncovers an organic looking entryway to reach his former master; this passage leads to the level "In The Flesh", in which the walls, ceiling and floor are all made of living flesh. Caleb's stray bullets pound this wretched structure, causing the very walls themselves to bleed. Once out of this strange, horrible place, the protagonist ultimately reaches the "Hall of the Epiphany", an outworldly temple where he must once again face the previous bosses - Cheogh, Shial and Cerberus - before battling the terrifying dark god Tchernobog himself. There, before facing him, Caleb finally learns why "The Chosen" were cast down: the dark god knew Caleb would return to him, killing anyone he ran into to take his revenge and thus gaining immense power, something Tchernobog wants for himself. As Caleb approaches the final showdown, Tchernobog's voice echoes and reverberates around him, "I HAVE AWAITED YOU. KNEEL BEFORE ME," to which Caleb replies "I'm gonna have to put you down!" Caleb battles and destroys the dark god, ending his reign and temporarily stopping the Cabal. At the ending full motion video
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
, Caleb is so disgusted with the waste of many innocent lives that he even kills a monk with his Tommy Gun before leaving the Hall of Epiphany.
Expansion packs
The first episode of Blood was released as sharewareShareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
. The full retail version of Blood on CD-ROM features all four original episodes and contains all the elements that were missing in the shareware version. The extremely violent content of the game prompted the release of a censored version of Blood with toned-down violence. Two different expansions
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
for the game have been released: Cryptic Passage was produced by Sunstorm Interactive
Sunstorm Interactive
Sunstorm Interactive is an Indianapolis-based video game developer founded in 1995 by Anthony Campiti, which specialized in hunting simulators and first-person shooters...
and features a new 10 level episode; Monolith's official add-on for Blood is titled Plasma Pak and contains new levels, new creatures and weapons modes. A special edition collection titled One Unit: Whole Blood was later released, including fully patched versions of Blood, Cryptic Passage and the Plasma Pak in a single package. Also, strategy guides for the game have been published, namely Blood: The Official Strategy Guide and Blood: Unlock the Secrets.
Plasma Pak
Released in 1997, the Plasma Pak expansion adds several new features to Blood; a new episode of nine levels titled "Post Mortem" is included, along with two new multiplayer Bloodbath levels, one of which was modelled after Monolith's corporate offices. New enemies are added by the Plasma Pak, and all are featured in the extra episode; the new creatures include two new Cabal loyalist types, Crysalid pods, the miniature Calebs and a new boss, the Priest/Beast. There are no additions to Caleb's arsenal, however several innovations are introduced; the Tesla cannon can now be wielded akimboAkimbo (gaming)
Dual wielding is to hold a weapon in each hand. In gaming a dual wield may also be called akimbo style, though it has little resemblance to the human position of that name...
(provided the appropriate power-up is collected), while the Napalm cannon and the life leech have new secondary attacks. The Plasma Pak also integrated a large number of bug fixes which had been previously addressed by several patches.
Episode 5: Post Mortem
After Caleb has learned the Cabal is training replacements for the fallen Chosen, he sets out to stop the cult's plans. The player character starts his new adventure beside a department store overtaken by several Cabal members; clearing a way through his enemies, Caleb enters another shopping center which is connected to a processing facility of sorts and keeps investigating in his own fashion the recent Cabal uprisings. Next, the protagonist is lured to an ambush in a warehouse fully under the control of the Cabal, however, using the aeration conduits, he is able to outflank his enemies and proceed to the aqueducts of the city. A Cabal ship is docked nearby, but Caleb does not waste time and sinks the vessel; he also has the chance to visit some forgotten Catacombs while at the aqueducts. Later, he moves into Cabal territory, wreaking havoc in a temple complex, then ruining the cult's plans once more by storming the inner temple, where the Cabalists are preparing some kind of unearthly ceremony to worship their dark god. Satisfied the temples have been dealt with, Caleb enters the dungeon, a dark, creepy structure built to stop anyone trying to reach the training ground for "The Chosen". A set of locked doors blocks the exit and Caleb is forced to wander across different areas to gather all the required keys, but in the end he reaches the grounds where the final threat awaits. In order to rest, Caleb must destroy each of the four "Chosen" in training and the Beasts within them.Cryptic Passage
Cryptic Passage was published by Sunstorm InteractiveSunstorm Interactive
Sunstorm Interactive is an Indianapolis-based video game developer founded in 1995 by Anthony Campiti, which specialized in hunting simulators and first-person shooters...
and is the only officially authorized commercially available ten-level add-on episode for Blood that was not made by Monolith. It should be noted that Cryptic Passage was released before Monolith's own Plasma Pak expansion.
Episode 6: Cryptic Passage
Having heard news of an ancient scroll, Caleb sets out to retrieve it for his own dark needs. He arrives on the Boat Docks, which later open onto a large cave, a cabin and a lighthouse, structures overrun by the Cabal. Ahead, a large opera house is found, built in the tradition of the late 1920s-early 1930s, where apparently The Phantom of the OperaThe Phantom of the Opera
Le Fantôme de l'Opéra is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialisation in "Le Gaulois" from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910...
(called "The Phantasm of the Opera" in the game) is being shown. Without losing any time with the opera, Caleb moves to the Gothic Library, located in the midst of surrounding forests: there he barely escapes the minions of the Cabal after recovering all the keys required to leave the place. However Caleb does not have time to rest, since strange rituals are taking place in and around the monastery: the protagonist must end them in the most violent and chaotic manner he can muster. A steamboat serves as an escape from the monastery, but it does not prove to be a gentle ride as the Cabal owns the ship. Finally reaching a quieter zone, Caleb finds himself at a graveyard whose relatively empty surface hides the crowded underground catacombs and tunnels. A passage may be taken by Caleb to reach a gloomy swamp (the secret level "Boggy Creek"), riding along the river on a boat where the Grim Reaper is the captain. Back on his path, the adventure takes the player character to the mountains this time, where both gorges and ghosts must be survived. The Cultists hide behind every stone as Caleb makes his way across the cliffs to the mine, a dark place infested with phantasm
Phantasm
Phantasm may refer to:In comics:* Phantasm , a short-lived member of the New Teen TitansIn film:* Don Coscarelli's Phantasm series** Phantasm , a 1979 horror film** Phantasm II...
s, which is the only access to the castle where the scroll is hidden. When Caleb climbs the stairs into the castle, he is greeted by "The Lord of All Nightmares", who proves to be nothing less than two guardian Cerberi. Between Caleb and the coveted scroll now lies a final battle between Beast and Man.
Multiplayer
Blood is essentially a single-player game, but features multiplayer options. When it was released, Internet play was not well established, therefore Blood relied upon the standard modemModem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
, LAN
Län
Län and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
or serial cable
Serial cable
A serial cable is a cable that can be used to transfer information between two devices using serial communication. The form of connectors depends on the particular PHY used...
connections for multiplayer. Modem and serial cable connections only allow two player games, while an IPX
IPX
Internetwork Packet Exchange is the OSI-model Network layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol stack.The IPX/SPXM protocol stack is supported by Novell's NetWare network operating system. Because of Netware's popularity through the late 1980s into the mid 1990s, IPX became a popular internetworking...
network connection can support up to eight players. This can easily be achieved on a variety of platforms that support DosBox and its IPX modes, coupled with VPN software such as Hamachi or similar. Setup may take a short while; guides for doing so are available online.
The multiplayer modes consist of the classic deathmatch
Deathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
, which is known in Blood as "Bloodbath", and cooperative play.
Bloodbath matches can be played on specifically designed multiplayer maps or on the levels of the various episodes; the "frag
Frag (video gaming)
Frag is a computer and video game term originating from the word fragging, a term indicating to kill an unpopular superior officer with a fragmentation grenade. A frag is roughly equivalent to "kill", with the typical main difference that the player being "fragged" can instantly respawn in most...
limit" or "time limit" options are available to end matches, as well as the possibility to control respawn mode for weapons and powerups. A feature of Bloodbath is "The Voice", an audio comment heard upon each frag, that punctuates the death of an opponent often in gory and irreverent terms. "The Voice" is that of Jace Hall
Jace Hall
Jason "Jace" Hall is an American film, television and video game producer, best known for being founder and Chief Executive Officer of Monolith Productions Inc and President of...
, who was CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions is a Kirkland, Washington-based computer game developer. Monolith is also known for the development of the graphical game engine Lithtech, which has been used for most of their games...
at the time.
Cooperative gameplay follows the lines of the single player campaign, allowing several players to work together against the computer controlled opponents on the levels of the different episodes.
A little known, unofficial tribute project using the technology of quake, has been worked on for years by third party fans of blood. The project went through many delays and phases of development, and eventually was released under the name Blood: transfusion. It is a free, standalone game that was never finished. However, it offers working multiplayer, and most importantly comes with bots to simulate bloodbath in a higher res, three dimensional environment.
http://www.transfusion-game.com/files.php
Technology
Blood is powered by a modified version of the Build engineBuild engine
The Build engine is a first-person shooter engine created by Ken Silverman for 3D Realms. Like the Doom engine, the Build engine represents its world on a two-dimensional grid using closed 2D shapes called sectors, and uses simple flat objects called sprites to populate the world geometry with...
created by Ken Silverman
Ken Silverman
Ken Silverman is a game programmer, best known for writing the Build engine used in Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Blood, and more than a dozen other games in the mid- to late-1990s...
for 3D Realms
3D Realms
3D Realms is a current video game publisher and former video game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States, established in 1987...
. The Build engine renders its world on a two-dimensional
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
grid using closed 2D shapes called "sectors" and simple flat objects called "sprites" to populate the world geometry with objects. It is generally considered to be a 2.5D
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
engine, since the basic world geometry is two-dimensional with an added height component, as each sector may have a different ceiling and floor height, and the ceiling and floor may be angled along one line of the sector. However the final result is that the world looks three-dimensional due to the way the engine renders it. The version of the Build engine used in Blood also uses voxel
Voxel
A voxel is a volume element, representing a value on a regular grid in three dimensional space. This is analogous to a pixel, which represents 2D image data in a bitmap...
technology for weapon and ammo pickups, powerups and occasionally decorations, such as the tombstones in the first level of episode one, "Cradle to Grave".
Violence
A central feature of Blood is an abundant (and often exaggerated) graphic violenceGraphic violence
Graphic violence is the depiction of especially vivid, brutal and realistic acts of violence in visual media such as literature, film, television, and video games...
, from which the game derives its name. Enemies can be blown to pieces, and the pieces often rain down on the player. Zombies' heads can be shot off and then kicked around like footballs, spewing fountains of blood. Enemies scream if set on fire or otherwise injured, making sound an integral part of the violent atmosphere of Blood. The levels themselves are designed with the same spirit, as corpses, torture victims, and several grotesque situations are witnessed in the game. Collectively, these features caused public concern about Blood, leading to the release of a censored version.
External links
- Official Blood Monolith page (limited content)
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