Blightbound is a multiplayer dungeon crawler, brought to you by the ever infamous Devolver Digital, and developers Ronimo Games, creators of popular titles such as ‘Awesomenauts’ and ‘Swords and Soldiers’. Your mission is to overcome enemies of the Blight, a mysterious and devastating fog that engulfs the lands.

Starting with your 3 classic hero styles, being a Barbarian, your tank-type character, a Wizard that is your healer and long-distance attacker, or an Assassin that is a fast attack specialty character. You can also gather up to 20 unique characters as you continue your adventure, with each character having its own unique special ability.

With a straight-to-the-point tutorial, the game’s controls and mechanics run smoothly. This is mixed with the in-game hints and HUD, so you will never be at a loss when it comes to turning the tides of combat.

A huge part of Blightbound is not just the gameplay but the art style. The 3D environments melding with the 2D animation of the game characters just makes the whole experience pop with character and charisma. You will take notice straight away from the game-opening animations to the huge melee events when you and your team battle the Blight. You can’t help but admire the details and workmanship of the environments and enemies.

The cooperative aspect can be annoying if playing with the AI, as many puzzles will having you racing to place a block on a pressure pad, only to have your companions get stuck when moving to their own.

I have come across at least one level where progressing with a team of AI is not possible due to them not triggering pressure pads when I want them to. Playing in a team with friends is a must to get the full experience, as you may struggle to progress with the harder puzzles given the lack of communication available with the AI.

On the topic of potential bugs, while doing the tutorial, both Stace and I had the same issue with the game crashing while playing as the Assassin using the ultimate attack, but during the main game, it wasn’t encountered again.

While on a dungeon crawl, the heroes will talk with each other, but it isn’t really back and forth banter. You’ll find that certain characters will say things about their home location, or that they’re looking for certain items, which is more of a way to expand on the development of that character as opposed to making the game feel more immersive.

I would recommend Blightbound for fans of dungeon crawlers like Diablo and anything from the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. It is an easy RPG that will keep players hooked if they have a good team setup, but playing with bots can hold you back and prevent a lot of progression. With other players, it is a solid experience, but you’ll want to make sure you have a balance of character types, and a healer is a must.

Written by: Shane Walsh