Bloodwash

Bloodwash is a “nighttime laundry investigate sim” and survival horror game developed by Black Eyed Priest, which includes developers Jordan King and Henry Hoare. Considered one of the first games pushed out on Puppet Combo’s Torture Star Label, a game production company which handles old school retro horror games (especially the giallo styled-greasy ones), I’m not totally sure about how the developer came to be but before this they’ve released tons of smaller projects like Shotgun, Ski Freak (referenced in game via TV ad), Tonight It Follows and more. I personally encountered this game through going down the Puppet Combo rabbit hole. I’ve been subscribed to his patreon for a long time and as such, these types of games are some of my bread and butter in terms of short form video gaming which is why I picked it up back around the last quarter of 2021. I had originally played it on Christmas Eve of 2021 before deciding to replay it to stream for a buddy of mine, the Big G, after having previously played Deus Ex as a bit of a breather before playing SIGNALIS as well as to wrap the arcade game achievements.
(For Plot/Spoilers and gameplay, go here:)
The sound design is excellent and provides a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to fulfilling the grimy vibe that I love these games for. The main menu theme (composed by MXXN) provides this intense VHS-era slasher trailer vibe that goes so hard (And loud) I almost expect a narrator to go over it. Other tracks like Stinger also provide that sort of jump scare vibe, while some like Murmur or Dark Disturbing Atmosphere (original name lol) provide that sort of “I don’t want to go outside because it’s creepy look. The score pretty much goes between the heavy synths and the ominous echoes of bone chilling tension for when you’re getting stalked. There’s a couple of other themes like the Pizza Place music and the Arcade music but they all sound appropriate and make you feel safe. MXXN did a great job at making the score feel like an actual movie score in video game format and I can’t commend them enough for making it fit so well. As for voice acting, I don’t know any of the voice actors really but I think everyone embodies the character performance pretty well, semi serious/strange dialogue and all from Sara to Stan to the Call Girl and Peepaw. The actual sound effects are decent too, nothing I really remember popping out except the revolver which kind of sounds like a pea shooter to creeking bus doors and such but everything goes well. There’s nothing super crazy or noticeable, but everything kind of fits together really well and creates a solid sound performance that enhances the game atmosphere pretty well.
What about the visual presentation/general feeling? This creepy atmosphere is very reminiscent of the old eighties slasher giallo grindhouse flicks, excelling at shocking content while providing a creepy atmosphere build up. My love of the Playstation 1-style graphics aside (with the character models looking like they’re wearing face masks of actual faces, my favorite model being the other guy in the main laundromat who looks like 80s star Joe Spinell), the environment itself is a bit of a character in itself. Starting out in the city, the apartment is a run down pisshole with a crackhead vibe and run down walls. The outside is one long conveyor belt of washed out buildings that give this uncomfortable sameness that doesn’t have much detail but provides a lot of discomfort nonetheless. The strip mall itself is a normal place that would normally provide an ease, but the obvious late night fogs mixed in with the blood-curdling screams. The four locations in the area you can enter provide a general sense of safety and comfort but also feel shady and dirty. The final area is located in the ruins of the old Laundromat but feels like a path to hell, a labyrinth of steam pipes that could come straight out of a Freddy Krueger movie that the further you go down, the further in the nine circles you go ‘til you fight The Womb Ripper themselves. It’s an excellent short collage display of the lowbrow horror it’s trying to represent and I feel it immaculately represents what it’s trying to do. The only other thing I can think of is that when examining certain objects, I found it hilarious that a PNG is displayed of say for example Popcorn or a black and white film of some lady spanking a guy.
Bloodwash is a pretty solid title in the Torture Star pantheon, providing a pretty visceral grindhouse slasher game with an hour and a half or so worth of gameplay time for a 7.99 base price range. The score is pretty freaky and intimidating and adds to the old school 80s style slasher vibe, which is only enhanced with nasty dialogue and a plot that’s probably one of the darkest in the Torture Star Universe (which is especially something considering Puppet Combo’s entire backlog). The gameplay wasn’t a bad thing for me, though I can understand why some people wouldn’t care for it. I think the main thing that frustrated me was the game crashing three times, two of them being on the optional arcade games which made me have to replay that entire chapter which takes up a lot of time considering the real time wait for laundry. Technical stuff aside, if you’re looking for a quick fix on sleazy short form horror content that could literally be made into a motion picture, you won’t regret your time with Bloodwash. As for the stuff that Jordan King and Henry Hoare are working on in the future, I had already played Night at the Gates of Hell (spoiler alert: play that game too, it's really good!) so I’m really looking forward to playing Jordan’s upcoming game Sniper Killer. However, I’m also REALLY interested in seeing some of his future projects like Inferno City Massacre, Ms. Vengeance, a sequel to Ski Freak and a lot more projects that I want him to double down on and pump out really badly because I simp hardcore for this stuff. As for the current games, he’s ported Bloodwash and Night at the Gates of Hell to modern consoles which is awesome as well! Overall, play Bloodwash because other than like three crashes it’s a really solid experience and it’s cheap.
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Bloodwash is a short but fun little horror title that I really enjoyed. Nails the 80's movie aesthetic and feels like you're playing through a fun 80's B movie horror. It's very Puppet Combo like (Which makes sense when Torture Star Video's is owned by Puppet Combo. Don't think think Bloodwash is actually made by them though, just published) but holds less of the jarring noises present in puppet combo games
While not really scary, it is a little disturbing with the lore of the villain and has a couple of suspenseful moments that got my heart racing. Voice acting and music fit perfectly into the game.
Found it to be pretty cool they also added comic books you could collect and actually really read through. Showed a lot of thought and effort went into a game, even when created to be a short experience.
If you're a fan of horror games, horror movies and/or Puppet Combo games, I think you'd really enjoy this.

Bloodwash is a pretty short and straightforward horror game. It thrives on some nice retro aesthetics and creepy atmosphere, but admittedly there isn't a lot here in terms of gameplay. I was able to 100% complete the game in a little over an hour. I'd say this is worth picking up on sale if you're intrigued by the premise, otherwise you'd probably be fine watching a quick walkthrough on YouTube.

A really well made, bite-sized indie horror game inspired by 80's slasher flicks. Beautifully crunchy VHS visuals accompanied by gloomy synths. Fun gameplay with creepy atmosphere, detailed environments, tons of stuff to explore and a murder mystery to uncover. Well worth the asking price!

A very good lil experience! It is super short, though. Just like everyone else says, the atmosphere established & built throughout the first half of this game is -fantastic-. I think I will agree that it kind of falls apart once you get to the actual "action" sequences, but even still, it's a great horror game nearly unmatched in its execution. Bloodwash is pretty much a perfect example of what I'm looking for when it comes to this modern wave of retro-PSX style indie horror. Huge recommend.

there's a bit of a floor that Puppet Combo/Torture Star Video and associated released games will sit at quality wise. there will be examples that go above and beyond of course but nothing will go below fine short of some of their more off kilter or arcade gameplay based works. in the case of Bloodwash, things started off really well but wasn't able to hold it together in the end.
i once again got a lot of mileage out of these nearly empty late night settings. whether it was the quiet apartment building with the dilapidated basement or the laundromat and surrounding shops in the shopping center the bulk of the game takes place in, there's a great sense of terror in the mundane. there's a bigger variety of characters to interact with than other games of this type that i've played and the scattered items and clues were a nice bonus as well.
i guess my complaints with this were generally the structure and the impact (or lack thereof) of things as they unravel more in the climax. in short, Bloodwash sees you heading across town to a 24 hour laundry facility so you can wash clothes for a job interview after your apartment's utilities fell through. (of course being a horror game there's more to it than that and this takes place within context of a series of disappearances and murders around the game's broader settings.) the progression in the earlier parts quite literally follow you on your quest to do your laundry. the problem for me came with the movement of time in game. waiting for your laundry to wash so it can be moved to the dryer or for it to finish drying is put on a real time based timer which is all well and good for slight immersion or whatever but it left me with quite a bit of down time just waiting to be able to progress. i wasn't rushing through the game by any means (i did all achievements, talked to and showed evidence to everyone, explored the different shops at multiple points to check for changes) but i still found myself needing to wait around 8 minutes for the clothes to be done in the dryer. not a massive amount of time or a big deal in the end but it definitely hampered the pacing.
which leaves me with the climax. the twist here wasn't much of a surprise, it was clearly telegraphed both in some of the investigations you can do but also in some of the wider mechanisms of the game's narrative. this is fine and wasn't my issue, what i did struggle with was the way the sense of tension completely deflated the more things unraveled. this isn't a flaw that's unique to this game when it comes to the genre but it's a bummer to watch yet another one squander its fear factor the more it shows. they were onto something a bit with the Silence of the Lambs fumbling through the dark with the gun as your assailant closes in but the up close reveal was comical and it repeats itself a handful of times. it was so close.
probably my least favorite of the Puppet Combo (and associated) games that i like so far. it's solid enough and i'm glad to have played it but it could've been so much more.

This is a gritty, low-poly horror experience that nails the retro VHS aesthetic. Its mix of psychological horror and slasher elements keeps you on edge as you explore the eerie laundromat and the seedy streets around it. The game’s campy dialogue and weird characters add a fun charm that balances the tension, while the creepy atmosphere and disturbing storyline keep you hooked. I highly recommend it!