The New Blood Charity Bundle Contains Some of the PC's Coolest Action Games

ULTRAKILL PC

A perfect fusion of retro FPS, modern movement shooter and combo-driven character action game, ala Devil May Cry. Ultrakill is still in early access but already one of the coolest games around now. You are a blood-fueled robot, plundering hell for gore because mankind is dead. Cue a fantastic modern take on Dante's Inferno with a dash of House Of Leaves. Every gun and every permanent upgrade has utility here, begging to be woven into your personal move-set. Everyone plays Ultrakill a little bit differently, but everyone has to do one thing: Be aggressive. Damage comes fast, but you can heal back to full simply by drenching yourself in blood, which usually means charging an enemy and blasting them point-blank with a shotgun. So satisfying.

All this accompanied by an amazing soundtrack, including guest tracks from (as heard above) King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, HEALTH and Vylet Pony. This game will expand your taste in music as much as it'll teach you about the (nonexistent) limits of the FPS genre. Plus, the game doesn't even have official mod tools yet, but already has TONS of community-made levels, featuring new environments, gameplay gimmicks and enemies. Grab the AngryLevelLoader and you can download a library of them without ever leaving the game.

Gloomwood PC

What happens when you fuse PC stealth classic Thief with Resident Evil 4, plus a dash of Bloodborne for flavor? Gloomwood, that's what. Another one in early access, but already extremely compelling and highly replayable. You're a doctor, investigating a plague-ridden gothic city overrun by mad monster-hunters, pig-masked guardsmen and the occasional horrible creature from the depths. There's a bit more to that, but I don't want to spoil the slowly-expanding story.

Each new region is an open-plan warren of interconnecting roadways, tunnels and alternate paths. Ideally, you'll be sneaking through it, silently picking off enemies when you can with your cane-sword (always cool) when you can. But things will inevitably turn spicier at some point, and that's when you bust out your revolver and folding shotgun (also cool) from your steampunk folding doctor's case (even cooler) to thin the herd. Plus, recent updates have added an assortment of alchemical brews you can make from the various wandering monsters, allowing you to temporarily mutate into fun and extremely violent new forms. While stealth is encouraged, pacifism is not, and ripping and tearing is always satisfying.

Fallen Aces PC

The last Early Access title here - Fallen Aces recently dropped the second of its three planned episodes. Another immersive sim here, offering freeform solutions to messy, complex problems, but with a very fun pulp mobster comic style. Sure, you can stealth your way through things and play it smart, or you can go in fists swinging and tommy-gun blazing, because that was just the style at the time. Beating up old-timey mobster goons never gets old, either. They're just so punchable.

While the first episode was mostly focused on smaller urban environments, the second really opens up the game, with some areas inspired by Half-Life 2's classic Highway 17 segment, letting you drive freely between areas, hopping out of your car to solve problems and get in gunfights before speeding off to the next destination. If the wait for Episode 3 gets too much, this one has a level editor and Steam Workshop support, too.

Blood West PC

It's hard to quite pin down Blood West's genre. It's not really a retro FPS, despite the low-fi stylings. It's a little bit Souls-like, it's a little bit immersive sim, it's a bit stealthy, and it's a whole lot of Weird Western coolness. Split into three acts - each one effectively a 7-8 hour miniature open world game - you're an undead cowboy trying to break the curse on the land. This involves sneaking and shooting your way into monster-infested locations, completing rituals and getting out in one piece to cash in your loot for upgrades and items. There's some light RPG mechanics here, and an interesting take on Souls-like death. Get killed, and you've got a chance of a curse sticking to you that can only be cleared by completing bonus objectives, like scoring a number of headshots before your next death.

While this bundle does include the excellent Dead Man's Promise DLC (adding a swampy new act to the game, and a new voodoo mage character), it doesn't include the latest addition, Scavengers, which transforms the game into a non-linear solo extraction shooter, letting you build up a roster of characters (each with their own perks) to raid remixed versions of the original game's maps for treasure against the clock. Very underrated, in my opinion, and a smart way to remix an open-world game.

As an aside, the lead developer of Blood West has formed his own independent studio and is currently working on Bloodwoven, a game about tribes of inuit-inspired people living on (and in) the body of a frozen, dead god. I cannot wait for it.

DUSK PC

Dusk was one of the first big hits to kick off the retro FPS revival we're still celebrating today. A little bit Quake, a little bit Doom, a little bit Heretic, this one's a rich stew of old-school inspirations. Fast-paced movement, twitchy shooting, big swarms of enemies and a great industrial gothic style that goes some surreal and impressive places.

Just when you think it's all going to be crumbling sewers and cities, you're sent through several different kinds of hell, a flying steampunk research station and some Escher-inspired gravity-warping weirdness. Not much story to speak of (there's an evil cult doing evil things, kill they asses), but the grimy environments and chuggy guitar-heavy soundtrack sell it.

Also, nice as the original crunchy low-fi visuals were,the official Dusk HD update (released as free DLC) brings the game a bit more in line with the current crop of retro FPS games. Grab it.

AMID EVIL PC

Amid Evil is a game that knows exactly what it wants to be, and that is a spiritual successor to Heretic and Hexen. You are a magical warrior, hacking, slashing and shooting some great magical pseudo-guns (I especially like the shotgun-like staff that flings massive crystal spikes) at a vast array of enemies. While your arsenal stays the same between worlds, each of the seven episodes has a completely different aesthetic and set of enemies to deal with, making it very hard to get bored.

The secret sauce of Amid Evil's combat is Soul Mode. You've got an almost Final Fantasy-ish Limit Break gauge that fills up through killing enemies and grabbing soul pickups. Once charged, you can activate Soul Mode for a short burst of absurd power, giving all of your weapons borderline-apocalyptic new attacks. Clearly inspired by the excellent Tome Of Power items from Heretic, but if you're going to steal any idea, that's a real good one.

This bundle includes the Black Labyrinth expansion, as seen in the trailer above, which adds another two great extended-length episodes to the original game's seven. What it doesn't include is the excellent VR port. Sadly only featuring the original game's seven episodes, but it is shocking how good this one works in VR.

FAITH: The Unholy Trinity PC

And lastly, the only non-FPS game in this bundle, but still influential. Faith is a tense, ultra-low-fi horror game inspired by Satanic Panic media like The Exorcist, split into three episodes, each with multiple endings to find. Faith's 'haunted Atari 2600' aesthetics have been cribbed by so many games. Especially the uncanny cutscenes, which retain the resolution and color palette of the main game, but apply them to eerily smooth and detailed rotoscoped animations; pixels drawn over real human actors. It's a hell of a look, and makes it really feel like there's something menacing wriggling around under the chunky pixels and retro machine voice-synth.

As an example of Faith's influence, look no further than Besmirch, cribbing many of its aesthetics (including that unmistakable robo-voiced cutscene style) from Faith, but wrapping them around a fascinating piece of gothic survival horror and... farming sim?