Bloodwood Reload

Dark forests are undeniably creepy at night, regardless of whether they are rumored to be haunted or not. It’s not difficult to scare people by featuring such environments in movies or video games, which is why Blair Witch Project left such deep marks on the audience. However, games need to follow a slightly different approach, because there are other things that can go wrong with them.

Bloodwood Reload is an adventure game with horror elements in which you have to investigate a small village in central Europe. For some reason, you have to do this at night, even if the said village is in the middle of a forest. The game was developed by an indie studio, so it’s only natural that it has its flaws, but there are just too many of them to stay positive and recommend the experience.

To begin with, the story talks about a forest where the wood of the trees is red, which attracts the attention of a logging company. You play the role of an investigator sent to analyze the forest and find out more about its history from the locals. The plot gets rather interesting along the way, but it’s difficult to remain excited about it, mostly because everything seems to be working against you, gameplay-wise.

Other than a short introduction telling you about the story and the controls, you get no clue regarding what you should be doing. You start near the village entrance at night, with a business card and a sample container in your inventory. There are houses and buildings, but each door is inaccessible, and the level design in general is very confusing. You can meet some people, but they are all busy for some reason, including the priest that just stands there motionless in the middle of the night.

You get to pick up a few items along the way, some of which can also be combined at the right time. However, the controls are unbearable most of the time, especially if you decide to jump or sprint. There are many glitches and bugs as well, since you can easily get stuck by jumping around near objects. Thankfully, at least the graphics are decent, although you still have to deal with weird artifacts.

While Bloodwood Reload is indeed an indie production at no cost to the players, that’s not enough to turn a blind eye to its many mistakes. It’s very annoying to play and pay attention to the story, especially when the controls work against you and there is no guidance whatsoever to get you started.