This game is metal as hell.

On paper this should be something you’ve already seen, but in execution it isn’t like anything you’ve seen. Blowing up zombies with dynamite, blasting cultists with a double-barrel shotgun, eating hearts to heal instead of medpacks, everything in this game feels equal parts edgy and extremely fun. The main character, Caleb, is betrayed by the god he worships and comes back to life to get his revenge and after killing him, the words spoken from his mouth are “Good, bad… I’m the guy with the gun” and in the cutscene that plays second after he blasts a poorly modeled dude (the cutscenes in this game are something) with the tommy gun one-handed and just leaves without saying a single word like he didn’t just kill a demonic god.

Even if it’s really tough, the enjoyment I get from this game is simply unmatched. The variety in the arsenal is quite interesting, instead of a pistol as a one of the first guns you get (the actual first gun you get is a pitchfork), they give you a flare gun, which is fine to take out enemies one by one, but has a secondary fire that can take out a bunch of enemies by setting them on fire at the cost of like 6 flare ammo, but the gun you’ll be using the most is the sawn-off shotgun. A really, really powerful shotgun. If there’s one word to describe the arsenal in this game, it is powerful. Not just the shotgun is powerful, but also the dynamite - blowing stuff up is powerful, and you’ll be doing that A LOT, it’s even necessary to progress in certain moments so get used to it -, and the rocket launcher sorry, the NAPALM launcher, which not only acts as a normal rocket launcher but can also put on fire nearby enemies due to splash damage, and even the tommy gun. If there’s one thing Blood has, it’s that it makes justice the word “power fantasy”.

It’s no secret that First Person Shooters have always been inspired by cinema. Duke Nukem is basically an Arnold Schwarzenegger knock-off. Blood is inspired by horror and gorefest movies. Every enemy has like two or three, probably more, different ways to die, but all of them can be blown up into pieces. Zombies’ heads fall off and you can kick them a soccer ball. While Caleb might not be the most memorable FPS character - although he's still a total badass -, Blood is a really memorable game. I would say that “it is great because it just wants you to have fun”, but basically every other game from that era just wanted you to have fun, ESPECIALLY First Person Shooters. What makes this game good is not what it wants but what it does, and what Blood does is putting a bunch of cultists and zombies gathered together in an enclosed space so you can use the alt fire of the spray can (did I mention there’s a makeshift flamethrower?) and watch all of them burn. At a time when videogames were at the center of discussion for allegedly promoting violence and satanism, Blood provides just that and goes full-on with it.

The levels look more like actual places and seem to be interconnected, at least in the first chapter, so there’s some kind of continuity to it, it feels like some kind of progress is being made. Unlike Duke Nukem 3D, in which levels consisted of a bunch of arenas that kind of resemble real life places but lack any continuity from one to another, here in the first chapter you wake up in a grave next to a chapel and the you blow up a hole in a wall that gets you to a train station in which you get on a train and the next level is in the Phantom Express and then you crash the train and now you’re at Dark Carnival, and there’s a secret level that takes you to the House of Horrors. It feels like you’re going somewhere, like progress is being made, even if the story isn't that important. This is what I like the most about the Cryptic Passage expansion, the continuity between levels. At the start of each level, most of the time, and not just on Cryptic Passage, you can turn around and see the place you just came from, and at the end of some levels you can even see the place you’re going. The level of detail in every level helps the sense of place. I mean, the devil is in the details, so…

Everything in this game screams personality. From the little nods to horror/slasher/B movies to the speed of the combat. Even if some of the later levels don’t live up to the greatness of the first episode, as well as some abrupt difficulty spikes - the balance is sometimes pretty weird, I had certain situations in which I’d round a corner to be greeted by a shotgun blast to the face I had no way of predicting. The alt fire of the dynamite makes it a timed explosive so it bounces on walls, you even have proximity and remote dynamite, but the correct way to use them is to throw them around a corner full of enemies you already know they’re there, but for that you have to see them before them see you so most of the time these options are useless and it’s best to roll with it, shotgun blast included. That is, unless the game expects me to quick-save quick-load every corner, in which scenario the tension and pace of the combat are gone -, it is still fun to blow up with dynamite everything that moves.

At the risk of sounding like an edgy teenager, I’ll say that gorefest movies or games are usually not my cup of tea when they're all about the gore and nothing else, but I can’t help it, Blood is just too goddamn fun.

Also, I forgot to mention that enemies like the zombie, the cultist, and probably some more are pixelated sprites of (or were modeled after) modified dolls/toys. Some other games did similar stuff; Human enemies in Rise of the Triad: Dark War were sprites of real people in costumes, you can find some recorded footage of the making of around the web. This kind of stuff is always super cool to see and brings an extra charm that games nowadays can't allow themselves to have.

way better than Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, Quake, and likely other alumni. also way better than many games aping it and its peers: Dusk, Prodeus, and so on. it's actually kind of surprising how good it is, actually, given details regarding its production. is way harder than any of the aforementioned games. that can largely be pinned on something of a signature and infamous feature: the Cultists (and Fanatics): a common mook, the second monster met, is a fairly long-range high-damage shotgun hitscanner, with an elite tommy gun counterpart. they can't really be dodged or outranged, and they kill faster than an enemy first met in the penultimate episode. their presence alters the first-person-shooting on a close-to-if-not fundamental level, requiring peeking and pre-firing given that every half-second spent around a corner could cost ~50 health. learning how to counter them is counterintuitive and excruciating but rewarding; it's something special and not a sort of experience that would be replicated in the genre for around two decades.

there are only two real issues. first, the use of bullet-sponge boss enemies as recurring enemies after their boss fights -- boss fights which aren't even good. second, some maps (more parts of maps) are relatively and needlessly labyrinthine, bordering on reminiscence to contemporaries, but this is basically a nitpick in the face of largely above-par level design.

is "boomer shooter" the only time boomer isn't used at least somewhat derogatorily? i mean, doom is bad, but this is very good and feels very differently than the somewhat boring combat of doom. Maybe its how manic the game can get with its unique encounters and bombastic weapons. but it does have its share of bull, with, yes, very fast hitscan cultists and moments every one will die to at least once at, but once you get through at most the first episode, you will be able to take care of stuff like that much better.
Pacing can be very fast with a lot of stuff and locations happening very quickly that makes it so i don't really remember a lot of it. It just jumps from horror trope to horror trope so fast that it's tone and artstyle loops back into more humor than stuff like doom which can take itself too seriously with the game it's trying to make. but the cutscenes are good, they make my eyes bleed, but the shots and imagery make them very impactful even when the gameplay relies more on camp.
Anyway, i played fresh supply, some episodes on lightly broiled, a couple on well done, very good and stands out despite its age, but it still got jank in its pockets.

This game is great, truly. The difficulty curve is insane compared to other classic FPS games, I do not recommend playing this on Extra Crispy at all since it just becomes so hard it isn't fun. I played it on Well Done, and it's really an experience. Episodes 1, 2, and 4 were amazing, creative maps that fit and play very well. Episode 3 I'm personally mixed on, it felt way too long though I still very much enjoyed it. The weapons and enemies forced me to play differently compared to other usual FPS games, and I love the way it was done. This is a staple, and a must play for boomer shooter fans.

The first episode is brutal on well done difficulty for a first play, but the other episodes were perfect. I tried out lightly broiled too on a replay, though it's a lot fewer enemies and you can almost ignore cultists. I think the game is just one of those that becomes even better on replay, so you know what to expect with cultists (and knowing that crouch helps a lot). Lots of these levels were so great that I reloaded the save to play through them again since most of them can also be completed in different ways or with funny jump boots. I didn't really dislike any of them, but there were a couple of spots that tried to change my mind.

Like every other build engine game, there are tons of explosions on the level and with your weapons. Here every weapon has an alt-fire, and they even added another element of fire for half of your weapons, with a lot of enemies weak to it as well. It was nice to still use the flare gun to 2 shot butchers who normally resist your shotgun, snipe cultists, or just alt-fire a cluster of them. I think this might be the best set of weapons I've used in a shooter, and the multi-use weapons help with that. They even added a lot of death animations depending on what type of weapon you used to kill each enemy. It really seems like they put in a lot of effort to make the weapons stand out. 

Acho q esse é o melhor FPS 2.5D q já joguei.

O maior ponto positivo desse jogo é que me prendeu até o final, Porque geralmente nesses fps 2.5D o episódio 1 é sempre o mais bem feito e o restante tem uma qualidade inferior (Doom 1). Porém em Blood TODOS os episódios tem uma qualidade altíssima, ideias de fases geniais, level design muito bem bolado e intrincado que não cansa em nenhum momento, e além disso diversas referências de filmes de terror (fase em Crystal Lake e no Overlook Hotel).

Na questão das armas esse jogo sai um pouco do padrão que faziam em outros jogos. Flares, Dinamites e até lança chamas com isqueiro e spray. Inclusive a dinamite é uma arma GENIAL desse jogo, permitindo mais estratégia (lembrando muito Half-Life 1) jogando nos cantos e pelas portas, e vc vai precisar ser estratégico pq esse jogo tem hitscans insanos.

Muito foda recomendo.

(Played on “Lightly Broiled” which is this games equivalent to normal difficulty.)
A Must play for a any fan of the genre.
Great level design with interactivity, engaging exploration, fun combat encounters and memorable locations. something i especially like about Blood's levels is there are a lot of alternate paths withing them. making them feel very open and elaborate, but without making them into labyrinths like so many other shooters of its age. I can’t really think of any level I disliked.
Enemies are all pretty fun to fight too. Not really any I would call annoying. Though, I think the shotgunners could do for a reaction time nerf.
Weapons are great. Not much overlap and they are all fun to use. There are obvious FPS mainstays including a shotgun, machine gun and a rocket launcher. But there are many other more unique weapons that make Blood’s arsenal as interesting as it is. Such as a flare gun that ignites enemies, a voodoo doll and a staff that can run off of your own health.
Though by far my favorite of the bunch is the dynamite. An explosive that (dependent on the type you use) can be detonated via remote, proximity, time or just on impact. You can also adjust how far you throw it and (for non-impact types) bounce it off walls which is great for taking enemies out from around corners. I don’t think I have ever used a grenade type of weapon this much in a boomer-shooter. Let alone had so much fun with one. Seriously one of the most satisfying weapons in a shooter. In the same realm as the DooM II SSG, Quake Rocket launcher, the Quake II railgun and the Marathon 2 Dual shotguns.
One criticism I do have is that the final boss was probably the easiest and most anti-climactic boss I have ever fought. It took only, what? Maybe seven rockets to kill? Just like that. Within literally ten seconds it was dead. I guess that’s better than a frustrating final boss but it being so easy made it feel like the game didn't really end, it just kinda stopped.
In my opinion this game deserves just as much if not more attention than Duke Nukem 3D gets.

Part of Spooky Season 2023.

What you see is what you get with Blood: a late 90s DOOM-inspired boomer shooter with a cheesy comedic horror tone that’s reminiscent of films like Sam Riami’s Army of Darkness. There’s even an enemy type that is literally just Ash’s possessed hand from Evil Dead 2. Blood wears its inspirations on its sleeves and manages to be a pretty decent time… depending on what difficulty you set the game to.

Blood can be brutal and not in a way that feels like an actual test of your skills. The game has an abundance of hit scanning enemies that can melt your health like butter from a rather far distance, before you can get a chance to register that they’re even there. I initially started off with the game’s second hardest difficulty “Well Done” and was struggling to get past the second level, so I decided to play the game on “Lightly Broiled” instead and I don’t regret my decision. Even on this difficulty there were some aspects of the game that just felt cheap, particularly the placements of enemies behind the corners of entryways. I got into the habit of quicksaving frequently just because the game loves to ambush you with dickish enemy placements quite often.

Despite this though, I had a pretty decent time with it. It has a solid arsenal of weapons that feel pretty fun to use. The enemies were alright, I feel like they were kind of lacking in terms of variety and design compared to something like DOOM or Quake. I wish more enemies had specific methods to effectively take them down, like using a combination of the Flare Gun and the Shotgun to dispatch Axe Zombies as quickly as possible. Most enemies are just weaker to specific weapons and that’s about it. The Gargoyles were extremely annoying. I hate how they fly higher than you can actually aim so you can’t really do anything about them until they land close enough to where you can shoot them. There’s also an enemy type here that shares my username - Phantasms. I was… never really clear on what these enemies are supposed to do besides annoy the hell out of you. It just charges at you and gets in your face while this really loud screaming sound effect plays over and over again. I couldn’t even tell if it was ever actually damaging me, I would just shoot it with the Shotgun whenever it stopped being intangible and never gave it a second thought.

I actually really enjoyed this game’s level design. I had a really great time making my way through the haunted mansions and various mazes in the game, it was really satisfying. I will say that some of the levels in Episode 3 were a little longer than I would’ve liked, especially E3M5: Spare Parts and E3M6: Monster Bait. I actually had to look up a walkthrough for these levels because I had no idea where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do at times.

The story is… there. It’s told over the course of very short cutscenes that usually play at the end of an episode. There’s not really a whole lot to it, and it ends extremely suddenly, making it very underwhelming. I was disappointed with the protagonist, Caleb too. He doesn’t talk nearly as much as I expected him to. I like him when he does talk, and I dig his personality being essentially Duke Nukem if he was a freaky black magic guy. But he’s pretty much silent unless you’re blowing stuff up with TNT, which is when he laughs maniacally.

Blood is a solid time as long as you’re not playing on the higher difficulties. I have to admit, I don’t really have a whole lot to say about it because I don’t think it really stands out all that much from other boomer shooters of its time. I love the horror aesthetic, I love all of the little pop culture references, the weapons and level designs are neat, and that’s about it, really. It’s a really standard title for the genre. I think if its horror aesthetic appeals to you, or if you’re just hungry for more classic DOOM-inspired FPS games from this point in time, then I think you’ll enjoy it. Otherwise, it’s definitely fun, but I don’t really know if I can say that it’s a must-play. Still, it’s a neat cult classic game, and the perfect October game if you’re ever looking for something horror-themed to play around this time of the year.

Excellent arsenal where everything feels more-or-less consistently useful (if sometimes situational), a pretty fantastic aesthetic (love the colour scheme in particular, something Bitmap Brothers about all the bronze-browns and muted greens and reds) and a really endearing attention to detail are the strongest parts of this game. I'm really torn on the level design (and partially the enemy design, in tandem) though, so I didn't enjoy the whole game as much as I wanted to.

The bullet-sponge axe zombies are there to keep you moving, and the cultists, with their ability to chunk you for like a quarter+ of your health, are there to get you to stop, which is a really solid push-and-pull to base the game around. Both of these enemies also behave in a surprisingly dynamic way, sometimes choosing to wander around and surprise you from unexpected angles instead of running in a direct line into your face. Unfortunately, partway into Episode 2 they start forgetting the pull part of the push-and-pull, replacing a lot of the cultists with either easy-to-kite projectile guys or other enemies that are generally way more up the "bullet sponge" ladder and way down the "actual threat worth spending bullets on" ladder.

With the risk of instantly dying the moment you round a corner gone, a lot of the levels just boil down to sprinting around and using the completely busted Jump Boots to skip entire sections of levels, which isn't a bad thing but it's also not the thing you expect after Episode 1, so it's kind of a let-down. The other levels tend towards pretzeling back and forth through an area to find like 3-5 different keys or switches, which was more hit than miss for me, though there are a couple of really roundabout maps out there.

The expansion packs both have really circuitous maps that frequently depend on really goofy pixel hunting, but they're good examples of two potential approaches to combat (Cryptic Passage largely focuses on the zombie-and-cultist combo, while Post Mortem mixes more than three enemy types into most fights, which is weirdly something that barely happens in the base game).

As just a raw toolset for custom maps, I'd bump Blood up by a full star, and I'm excited to dig in to some of those map packs in the future. The base campaigns don't really live up to that potential consistently enough for it to feel like an unequivocally 'good' experience for me, though.

Dios mio que juegazo...
Me cuesta decidirme si BLOOD o DOOM 2 cual es mi juego de la MS-DOS Favorito..

Porque el caleb se parece a dross???????

Cara, é muito complicado falar de Blood.
Pensa em um jogo composto apenas de partes ótima e partes horríveis, sem meio termo, e com uma gameplay que pende constantemente entre ambos esses pontos numa espécie de dança caótica e selvagem incansável.

Isso é a experiência de jogar Blood.

Antes de aprofundar, eu aviso que vou basear essa análise no ponto de vista de alguém jogando a primeira vez (que foi o meu caso). Blood é um jogo que se torna muuuuuuito mais confortável e divertido de jogar ao entender como tudo funciona (e acredite, há MUITOS pormenores e detalhes no jogo a serem entendidos), então a primeira vez vai ser a pior experiência justamente por você ser largado em um jogo brutal e contraintuitivo, lutando pra pegar o mínimo do jeito da coisa enquanto praticamente tudo consegue lavar fácil o chão com a sua cara.

E já que estamos falando de "Jogar a primeira vez", permitam-me começar falando do que é o começo menos convidativo que eu já vi em um jogo - isso é, a primeira campanha (The Way of all Flesh).
Normalmente a primeira campanha de jogos 2.5D é construída de duas maneiras: ou é feita em uma qualidade bem superior ao resto (como em Shadow Warrior) ou é feita de forma a ser uma apresentação ao jogo, num ritmo de tutorial acelerado, para o jogador pegar o jeito rápido (como em Heretic). O começo de Blood foge desses padrões e constrói uma introdução repudiável, tacando uma dificuldade ridícula que escala muito rápido em um cenário com pouca vida, pouca munição e algumas armas bem exóticas que levam um tempo pra entender como usar efetivamente.
Junto a isso o jogador é introduzido aos inimigos iniciais, que são zumbis e cultistas. Os zumbis (como esperado, parando pra pensar agora) teimam muito pra morrer. Há formas eficazes e ineficazes de lidar com eles, mas isso você descobre só testando armas (e no começo você tem bem poucas - e com pouca munição). Já os cultistas são um bando de arrombados. TODOS ELES são regados a Hitscan, eles te perseguem, eles deitam no chão pra desviar dos seus tiros (o que funciona e dificulta o trabalho de matar eles) enquanto continuam atirando, eles usam metralhadoras, escopetas, jogam dinamite, etc. Pensa num ser DESGRAÇADO! Esses são os cultistas.
E agora a adição mais importante da primeira campanha: Junto a falta de vida e munição, adicione o fato que o jogo SPAMMA SEM MEDO os inimigos em vários lugares das fases. Um quarto fechado e apertado que a parede quebra e saem 8 zumbis em cima de ti ou um salão regado por uns 12 cultistas, todos mirando e atirando em você de todos os lados.
Como eu disse: "É o começo menos convidativo que eu já vi em um jogo".

Mas depois desse começo, o que vem? Essa que é a parte divertida. Depois desse maldito batismo de fogo que te força a aprender na marra alguns elementos do jogo, você entra nas duas melhores campanhas do jogo - e que são boas MESMO!
Lembra que eu falei que Blood é composto por partes ótimas e horríveis? Então, isso se reflete também nas campanhas. O jogo tem 6 campanhas (contando a expansão Cryptic Passage) e elas estão divididas meio a meio, com 3 campanhas ótimas e 3 campanhas horríveis - no caso, as melhores são a 2°, 3° e 6°campanhas (a 6° sendo a expansão).

O resumo das piores campanhas é justamente o spam de inimigos. São fases inteiras só com bicho aparecendo um atrás do outro, até mesmo bosses de campanhas anteriores - que tem vida e dano absurdos - sendo colocados como se fossem meros inimigos mais fortes. E somado a isso, pra vocês verem como esse spam é só uma tentativa porca de adicionar mais dificuldade nas fases, é possível só tocar o foda-se para a muca de inimigos e sair correndo e pulando por cima deles, progredindo a fase até completar ela matando o mínimo possível.

MAS, fora essa questão dos inimigos, eu gostaria de deixar algo BEM CLARO aqui: Não importa a campanha, o level design das fases do Blood é FENOMENAL! Se teve algo que os caras souberam fazer nesse jogo foi o design das fases! Eles ousaram e abusaram de diversos cenários, efeitos e construções de fase que faz com que, mesmo nas piores campanhas, você queira continuar jogando só pra ver como vão ser as próximas fases.
Além das fases, todas as armas do jogo são únicas e efetivas e os gráficos são extremamente bem feitos - de longe Blood, honrando seu título, tem os gráfico mais brutais e sanguinolentos dos jogos 2.5D, e isso nem pela forma como os inimigos morrem, mas sim pelo clima pesado, grotesco e infernal dos cenários e fases.
E já que estou na sessão de elogios, não tem como eu deixar de dizer o quão FODA é a quantidade de referências à filmes de terror que tem no jogo. Pra vocês terem ideia, tem fases inteiras feitas com base em O Iluminado e Sexta-Feira 13, além de diversas referencias perdidas aqui e alí pelos cenários ou em áreas secretas. Cara, pra quem é fã de terror, é um deleite gigantesco topar nessas referencias, vocês não fazem ideia.

Com tudo isso, sim, é um jogo que vale muito a pena jogar se você curte FPS's 2.5D, mas estejam avisados que ele tem partes exageradamente difíceis (e ruins) também. Então vai envolver um certo esforço pra querer continuar jogando, dependendo da campanha escolhida.

E antes de fechar, como de costume, pra quem quiser jogar esse jogo em sistemas mais novos, recomendo usar a versão original do jogo (que vem junto com a versão Fresh Supply) e rodar ela no Raze.
Raze é, praticamente, um GZDoom pra engine do Duke Nukem 3D, então ele também configura o jogo pra rodar em sistemas mais novos e resoluções mais altas de tela sem problemas.

There's a lot to like about Blood. It has excellent level design and aesthetics. I specifically remember one moment where I left ammo at the beginning of a level and wanted to go back then found a secret wall that left me exactly where I wanted to go. The weapons are also unique, how many games are there that give you dynamite and a flare gun as your starting weapons?

Unfortunately, Blood is a very flawed game. The enemies are either annoying or too easy to fight. There are flying gargoyles that cannot hit you if you just press the crouch button. Then you have the hit scanning cultists that will melt your health bar with guns and dynamite. The Thompson gun, a crappy firearm in your armory is a certified death dealer in their hands. Enemy placement is more akin to a tactical shooter than a boomer shooter. I hate how the enemies are placed in corners of the room which requires you to memorize enemy placements through trial and error.

This is a great Halloween game and I see why people love it so much but compared to a peer like powerslave, Blood is an inferior shooter.

(Takes 12–16 hours, depending on if you do the extra content)
One of the best boomer shooters of the 90s. At the time of its release, Blood didn't bring anything new to the shooter genre, however it did everything that was expected of a shooter perfectly. While the graphics are definitely outdated by today's standard, it's hard to say that they are ugly. Overall, this is a must-play if you are into boomer shooters.
Story
There is a story, told through the jankiest cutscenes you will have the pleasure of watching, but don't expect anything other than the most linear narrative from an FPS released before Half-Life. What you wouldn't expect is the best protagonist of the boomer shooter genre. Duke Nukem might be good, but no one can beat Stephan Weyte as Caleb.
Gameplay
This is the part of the game that holds up even today. It has a large and varied weapon selection that doesn't make certain weapons obsolete the moment you pick up a better one. Also, it has alt fire, something that you rarely see in older games. The level design is also good, they are large and interesting areas based on actual locations that only sometimes get confusing to navigate. The part where the game is lacking is the enemies. Most of them are fine, but the hitscan cultists are really annoying, especially if you are on low health.
Graphics and artstyle
As I said before, the graphics are outdated, but not ugly. Expect 2D enemies and not much detail on just about anything.
Atmosphere
It's very atmospheric, if you haven't played anything from the 21st century. If I was to describe the atmosphere it would be—stumbling through dark corridors and unholy temples, fighting your way through cultists, speaking in unknown languages, and monsters, the only thing that keeps you going is revenge and a double-barreled shotgun.
Soundtrack
It's a MIDI soundtrack that fits the theme, but it does repeat quite a lot. Favourite part is "Infuscomus".
Final Thoughts
I wonder how many of the one-liners in Blood are original.

As a huge fan of Duke3D and Shadow Warrior, I was initially stoked to move on to what is often regarded as the best Build Engine game.

That was 4 years ago. Every time I play Blood, I play a couple levels, get filtered and drop it. I can do the other build engine games on their higher difficulties no problem, but Blood on just about every difficulty setting feels Cheap with a capital C, mostly because the majority of the enemy roster consists of hitscanners that often shoot before you can even see them. Yes, I know the strat is to use dynamite, but I still found myself having to save and reload far more frequently because they mow you down anyway. Couple this with me just not being into horror movies (something I feel is far more niche than cheesy 90s hollywood action movies or over the top martial arts movies despite not being an explicit fan of either), and most of the references fly over my head. I'll probably sit down and finish it at some point, but I think this is the single instance of a popular or cult (no pun intended) 90s fps that I've just never found any desire to finish.

Memorization-heavy peekaboo shooting is fun when the level design lends itself to that playstyle; otherwise it's a slog. When people talk about Blood, they talk about the cultists but never about the other enemies. There's a reason for that: they might as well not exist at all since strafing and/or crouching completely nullifies their (extremely slow and telegraphed) attacks. When the only credible threat in your roster is an overtuned one then you rely on the level design to do all the heavy lifting to try and shake things up in the long run.
For episode 1 and most of episode 2, it works. Mainly because the levels are very well-designed, pretty short as well as self-contained and thankfully the weapons in your arsenal encourage that kind of peekaboo shooting playstyle I mentioned earlier, Episode 3 onward is where things start to crumble. What once was the source of exhilaration becomes the source of frustration and eventually boredom. The levels become bigger so the crazy hitscanners more annoying to deal with, the other walking non-threats become tankier and come in greater numbers making them a slog to dispatch (Cheogh and Shial take the whole damn cake). Some levels are entirely devoid of cultists, those only serve to exacerbate Blood's main flaw as they are very much "nothing" levels as they lack any kind of challenge.

It's a shame because I love everything else about Blood but, due to an obvious lack of playtesting, the enemy balancing is so bad it ends up souring the whole dish. I played on Well Done because anything lower than that and the cultists become non-threatening too so not much point to it in my opinion.