By now, it’s safe to assume we’ve seen nearly every take on “bullet heaven” games, the hot new genre where you control an automatically-attacking hero trying to avoid and survive an ever-growing horde of enemies. From Vampire Survivors, the game that originally kicked off the trend, to last year’s meme-pilled Megabonk—and even an upcoming Diablo-inspired take on the formula that looks promising—these serotonin-inducing games demand precision and strategy as you weave through waves of enemies while crafting a build of randomized upgrades. It’s a fairly saturated market at this point, making it increasingly difficult for a new entry to stand out.
Blood Dungeon, the newest game from Nidhogg and Wheel World creator Messhof Games, not only stands out on the strength of its satisfying and sticky platforming, but also its absurd and raunchy sense of humor that evokes adult animated classics like The Ren and Stimpy Show and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It won’t be the bullet heaven game for everyone, but it’s one I’ve had a blast playing.
Blood Dungeon
$9.99 
$9.99 Blood Dungeon wastes no time letting you know what you’re in for. The game’s opening cinematic introduces you to the unusual cast of characters you’ll be unlocking and playing as and it’s unlike anything I’ve seen in one of these kinds of games. The starting character, Gun Man, looks like a character out of an old Newgrounds Flash game and is inoffensive on his own, but he’s quickly joined by a cavalcade of degenerates: a blood-sucking mosquito, a revolver-toting baby, and a fully-nude Barbarian dual-wielding SMGs, among others. My current favorite character, the Skinja, is a naked woman that moves by doing cartwheels and wields a shotgun as her primary weapon.
The game very clearly earns its Mature rating (completing the rare feat of featuring full male and female nudity) despite its relatively modest art design, but does so in order to evoke the same sense of humor from the raunchy animated TV shows I grew up watching (and at times hiding from my parents). Nudity aside, Blood Dungeon’s art style and overall presentation are actually things I would consider a strength. Everything looks hilariously low-budget, and the added CRT TV filter adds a satisfying level of grunginess to the characters, enemies and levels. Even the soundtrack (which is amazing) feels inspired by the drum and bass tracks programs like Toonami popularized at the turn of the century. It’s Blood Dungeon’s animation, however, that really makes the experience memorable.
Despite how off-putting each playable character looks, how each one moves around and behaves gives the game a certain charm. Barbarian’s pixelated dick swings around as you jump and climb a stage’s walls and platforms. Baby coos adorably while you move around, but lets out a painful cry whenever you take damage. Skinja’s pixelated breasts swing around as she cartwheels through packs of enemies and her climbing animation is almost Gollum-esque. It’s crass, but I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling as the game kept revealing more of its personality.
And behind that personality is a genuinely compelling twist on the bullet heaven formula: the addition of demanding yet satisfying platforming that also has a stickiness I haven’t even seen in other platforming games. Characters in Blood Dungeon stick to every surface they come into contact with, allowing them to traverse up walls and across ceilings with ease. While your attacks still fire automatically, as is customary in these types of games, this isn’t a game you can shut your brain off and simply avoid enemies. Navigating dungeons feels weighty—each jump feels more like a sack of rocks falling instead of floating in air—and instead of a health bar, each character can only be hit by an enemy or trap a set number of times before dying.
If you’ve ever played the classic roguelike platformer Spelunky, you’ll feel right at home moving around in Blood Dungeon. Otherwise, it takes a little getting used to. Luckily, Blood Dungeon also does a great job of constantly feeding you upgrades: whether they’re new weapons, perks and items you can find during a run or permanent upgrades that carry over between runs. Compared to its counterparts, the upgrade economy here is incredibly generous, enabling you to power your characters up pretty quickly as you learn the different stages and their unique enemies and hazards.
That isn’t to say the game isn’t without its frustrations. Some of the environmental RNG can lead to frustratingly short runs. For example, air bubbles that extend your underwater breathing time can be sparse in a level that predominantly requires swimming, and the auto aim can lead to frustrating moments in levels that require you to use your attacks to clear out debris. Despite those minor stumbles, though, Blood Dungeon does its best to keep you moving and unlocking more wacky characters and items at a fast clip.
It’s all adding up to make Blood Dungeon one of my favorite bullet heaven games of 2026. I know the attempts at humor won’t land with everybody, but they remind me of classic Adult Swim in the best way and gives the game its unique personality. And even if you’re not a fan of the humor, there’s an exciting and unique combination of platforming and traditional bullet heaven systems to enjoy if you’re willing to stomach it. It’s easy to pick up, hard to put down, and the leaderboards and daily runs will keep me checking back in on this charming cast of degenerates many more times before the end of the year.
