Bloodmatch

Another bite-sized brawler from DOSMan

Bloodmatch is DOSMan Games' latest boomer shooter, this time reskinned as a first-person gladiator arena: fight your way up from pit slave to champion across a series of one-on-one duels and gauntlet battles, picking a branching path between each. Regulars of the studio's catalogue recognized the house style immediately. "If it’s from Dosman Games, you already know what you’re signing up for. For $5 you get a simple, nostalgic FPS that feels like it crawled straight out of the 90's — in a good way. Jump in, stab stuff, move fast, repeat," wrote one reviewer. A longtime fan of the developer's other titles found this one still felt distinct: "It felt different enough to all the others that have come previously while still having a familiar melee combat style that I was accustomed to from previous titles." Another player who had followed the game since a pre-release build was glad to see it land: "Play tested during development, and seeing this finally release just puts a smile on my face. It's arcadey fun with multiple paths and small things to discover between matches."

Variety carries a short campaign

Reviewers consistently credit the branching structure and randomized weapon drops with making a short game worth replaying. "Each weapon having two attacks, interactable objects that have seemingly random loot, numerous challenges, combine all of that and Bloodmatch has an unprecedented amount of variety," wrote one reviewer, who added the caveat that "the game is a bit short when compared to other titles linearly, but the variety and quality far surpass most, if not all, other EasyFPS games I've played." A second reviewer described the same structure from a first-time player's perspective: "You're in the gladiator pits, you talk to NPCs, interact with items that may be beneficial at times then there's always a choice for the type of battle you want to do next... As you progress, the gladiator pits get better and better and the variety of weapons you can get increases." A third simply called out the branching paths as a reason to come back: "Cool little game! Has a great art style and pushes this engine to new heights! Has branching paths so has good replay ability!"

The presentation gets singled out almost as often as the structure. One reviewer admitted getting distracted by it mid-run: "Weirdly enough, I spent a good amount of time staring at the roof in the first hub because the lighting actually looks really nice." Another praised the music specifically: "Loved the atmosphere and the music. In a way, this is the first retro-fps Boss Rush game I've played." That soundtrack is credited on the store page to Bret Ware, guitarist and vocalist of the UK metal band ZILF, and one reviewer went out of their way to recommend the extra purchase: "Well worth the $4, go ahead and buy the soundtrack too its insane."

The melee doesn't always land

Not every account of the combat was as glowing. The most detailed negative review in the sample, from a reviewer who has played the developer's other games, singled out the melee specifically as a step backward: "I've tried all the DOSMan games now and sadly this is the first one I didn't enjoy. Melee really doesn't work too well in this engine. So I'm regularly just poking VERY tanky enemies and Michael Jackson moonwalking everywhere. There's no block, parry or dodge, just poke, retreat, poke, retreat." A separate, recommending reviewer flagged a balance issue with the game's ranged option that could undercut the melee-first design entirely: "I like the melee combat. The only thing I'd say is that the bow is kind of overpowered and that once you get it, you've basically already won." Between them, the two complaints point at the same underlying issue — a combat system built primarily around simple weapon swings that struggles to stay engaging once players find the tools to sidestep it.

Small rough edges

A handful of smaller complaints round out the picture. One reviewer, still recommending the game, asked for more control over the settings and content: "you can turn off shaking and bobbing now it just needs a brightness setting and maybe a endless mode or a mode to be able to choose your weapons instead of random each time." Achievement tracking also had a documented hiccup at launch: one reviewer reported "I got all but one of the achievements but I think the last one is bugged," before updating their review once it was resolved: "Dev pushed an update that addressed issues I and other's had with achievement or completion and it fixed the problem!"

Verdict

Bloodmatch is a small, cheap, and confidently stylish boomer shooter that trades its studio's usual setting for a gladiator arena without losing what fans come to DOSMan Games for — sharp art direction, a genuinely good soundtrack, and a branching structure that squeezes real replay value out of a short campaign. The melee combat is the one place reviewers pushed back hard, with a documented lack of block, parry, or dodge options making fights against tougher enemies devolve into repetitive poke-and-retreat exchanges, and an overpowered bow that can flatten the challenge entirely once unlocked. At under five dollars, with a handful of small missing settings and an already-patched achievement bug as the only other blemishes, it's an easy pickup for boomer-shooter regulars who don't mind a rough patch in the middle of an otherwise polished package.