Blood II: The Chosen + Expansion

Victims. Aren't we all?

A perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances couldn't end in a happy ending.

       If you squint hard enough, between the tetanus-inducing sharp edges and exposed rebars, you can see some potential and talent from Monolith Productions' previous and future projects. However, the whole thing doesn't come together right, and looking back after 27 years, it's certainly a case of being less than the sum of its parts and an endearing mess in many crucial aspects in a very volatile, transitional time in the industry of the late '90s - a bad mix to show in front of the people one week after the release of more than genre-defining Half-Life.

   Fathers of the failing are numerous. Coming off the shoulders of future cult classic Blood, a transition to the uncharted waters of full 3D game development and the natural lack of proper experience in navigating them, and an in-house LithTech game engine in its very infancy presenting many challenges and time sinks.
All that spiced with creative challenges and usual production & publisher issues being present during almost every project, and delivered in a time of great technological advancement and changes within the industry- a time of great turbulence that took the lives of countless developers and publishers, even genres.
Monolith survived, but it's easy to see how critical and commercial underperformance of Blood 2 could've been fatal for more than the IP. Thankfully it wasn't, but this project to this day remains one of the rougher games made by this developer.
That being said, it's far from really terrible or unplayable- with modest modding effort, in my experience it does run pretty well with only a minimal amount of crashes or graphical glitches.
In fact, I'd pick playing in over Deus Ex Invisible War or Red Faction II any day, not to mention things like Soldier of Fortune: Payback. And unlike Daikatana, there's a marvelous predecessor and decades of glorious studio history in the back of your head, lifting up the spirits throughout the entire playthrough.

          I'm here to donate some blood. Someone else's...

   It's hard to envision *A* future for Blood, even without taking into consideration the talent drain and the closure of Monolith. Remaster is almost guaranteed money waste, a remake (without heavy interference into the writing and design) a perspective almost as grim.
The Chosen, as it is, doesn't need to be put back into the oven, but back on the chopping board, which is a considerable issue when talking about a potential sequel or even a spinoff. With Monolith gone, besides the purchase of the IP by other passionate developers, an eternal limbo seems to be Blood's most likely damnation.

   So that's that. Blood II. Thumb up for what you ask? For you and every other Blood fan out there, of course! Keep being awesome. And developers who created the best Build Engine era FPS game back in 1997. Sorry, Duke.
It's unfortunate that there was no redemption arc, but marvels from the new waves of FPS games like Cultic, Blood West or Dusk, at least massage the right spots.

Certainly not among the Monolith's fine works, still far from being devoid of entertaining factor. In practice, it's a relic of the time and curiosity mainly for studio/IP fans, game historians and collectors.

Nevermore.

Tip: use d3d 1280x800x16 resolution or lower to avoid freezing/crashing.

System information
- OS: Arch (Kernel 6.14)
- Proton: 9.0
- GPU: AMD Vega 64 (Mesa 24.3.4)

I really want to like this game especially because it's a sequel to one of the first FPS games ever. Game have issues with running on higher resolution modes and it's very buggy so you have to find workaround to make it work, also configure your mouse and such. Still worth checking if you like classic FPS titles but buggy nature might turn you against this game.

8/10

Worked for a few hours stopped working still haven’t fixed it but even though it received bad backlash foreve ago now that we now the history of production I feel like they gave all they could the best the could it’s a decent game but lord help me make it work lol

To run this game on newer systems, make sure you follow the steps online. Otherwise you won't be able to play it. This is a good 90's shooter otherwise. It really has the 90s feeling to it and had fun with it. 7/10

TLDR: "The Room of videogames", "get some mods like Extra Crispy or Second Cut and play with them", "buggy, inconsistent mess of a game due to rushed development", "doesn't understand what makes the first Blood so good".
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The original Blood is one of my all-time favorite games and, in my opinion, the best first-person shooter ever made.

For years, I tried to play the sequel. I even came close to finishing it a few times, but it’s incredibly hard to enjoy, even without comparing it to the first game. Blood 2 just feels incomplete. You can tell something is off as you play it—it’s as if “something just isn’t right.” This feeling is confirmed by statements from the developers themselves, who were forced into a “release now or never” situation.

Admittedly, the game does have a certain charm of its own, but it’s plagued by technical and design issues that make it frustrating to play.

Let’s start with the most basic problem: launching the game. On some days, it starts up without any issues, and on others, it refuses to work entirely. I have no idea why this happens. This problem isn’t exclusive to the Steam version—it also affects the GOG release, retail copies, and even fan-made repacks, which were supposedly fixed by enthusiasts (and yes, to my surprise, this game does have some fans).

If you’ve ever tried running the first Deadly Premonition, you have a general idea of what to expect here—though at least that game offered some hope of things going right.

Downloading fixes, tinkering with DgVoodoo, and spending endless attempts trying to customize the game have all become part of the “fun” this game offers. Unfortunately, the experience is lackluster and, spoiler alert, absolutely not worth it.

You’ll encounter nearly all of the game’s problems right in the first level on the subway train: ugly graphics, poorly directed in-engine cutscenes, awkward and unsatisfying gunplay, laughably dumb AI for both neutral and enemy NPCs, and, worst of all, a random damage system that affects both you and your enemies.

You might not immediately pinpoint exactly what’s wrong, but it will nag at you throughout the entire game. This leads to absurd situations where NPCs might get stuck mid-air (and they will), and enemies deal wildly inconsistent damage, though always with lightning-fast reactions. That’s assuming their AI doesn’t just shut down entirely, leaving them standing around aimlessly—or worse, jumping on your head and spinning in circles.

The game’s setting has shifted to a more industrial, urban, and modern aesthetic. Honestly, I quite like the concept—it feels like an early prototype of The Darkness.

However, the developers fail to fully capitalize on this potential, delivering utterly uninspired level design. The environments often feel less like real urban spaces and more like artificial backdrops, even more so than the streets in the original game’s E3M1: Ghost Town.

To reach the few atmospheric and interesting locations that evoke the moody vibes of The Crow or Candyman, you’ll need to slog through over an hour of gameplay until you finally arrive at The Cathedral level.

Sadly, such memorable areas are few and far between. Instead, the game drags you through a series of dull and uninspired settings: endless sewers, generic subway trains, bland museums, sterile laboratories, uninspired skyscrapers, and even flying ships—none of which leave a lasting impression.

The game’s plot doesn’t help matters either. Unlike the first Blood, which delivered working narrative with memorable Caleb as main character, Blood 2: The Chosen feels disjointed and half-baked. The story takes place a century after the original, and while that could have been an opportunity for fresh ideas, it instead introduces poorly explained lore, retcons established characters, and fundamentally changes their personalities. For example, the return of the Chosen—Gabriella, Ishmael, and Ophelia—should have been a highlight, but their roles and relationships feel underdeveloped and awkward. Caleb himself is still the wisecracking antihero, but even he seems out of place in the clumsy narrative.

On release, Blood 2 was met with mixed to negative reviews from both players and critics. While some appreciated its attempt to modernize the franchise with a new engine (Monolith's LithTech), most agreed that it lacked the polish, atmosphere, and heart of its predecessor. The game was riddled with bugs, had inconsistent pacing, and failed to capture the charm of the original. Fans of the first game were particularly critical of how it abandoned the gothic horror-western aesthetic.

Then there’s the Nightmares expansion pack, which was meant to address some of the game’s shortcomings. Unfortunately, it fixed almost nothing. While it added elements from the original game—such as familiar weapons, enemies, and a few callbacks—they felt like a parody rather than a genuine revival. Instead of evoking nostalgia, these additions highlighted how far the sequel had strayed from the tone and quality of Blood. Rather than improving the experience, Nightmares served as a reminder of what fans loved about the first game and what the sequel utterly failed to deliver.

Today, Blood 2 is seen as a curiosity by players. Some view it as a “so-bad-it’s-good” guilty pleasure, while others approach it as a frustrating but occasionally charming relic of late-90s gaming. Its messy design and chaotic plot have turned it into something of a cult oddity, discussed more for its unrealized potential than for its actual merits. While the first Blood remains a classic in the FPS genre, Blood 2 is remembered as a cautionary tale about rushed development and the pitfalls of trying to modernize a beloved franchise without fully understanding what made it special.

I wanted to play the game really badly again for nostalgia but sadly doesn't function anymore

Game is not working
Error 0xc0000022

Why are you selling product that doesn't even work?

This game was released in 1998 I never played it back then, I just got it around 2025 the art style is classic from that era which is simple yet fascinating, it has issues on Windows 11 however with help from community there are patches, still the game has clunky animations and capped at 60fps, it has a nice story, it expands the first blood game to the next generation of graphics at that time.

This game does not work out of the box at all. and i'm not even going through all the downloading patches, and getting viruses. I would refund it, if i had paid more than 80c for it. its not even worth that trouble

Does not fucking work no matter how you mod it.

absolute masterpiece best video game ever created i should have payed the devs money to play it

The Game Needs A Remaster
It aged badly

absolute fucking garbage
a barely functioning game with crushing issues
AVOID!

Bad bad bad

The game is a chore to get to run on modern hardware and even if you manage to succesfully launch the damn thing, it doesn't mean the engine is going to behave itself, it was a bug nest back in the day and hasn't exactly improved since then.
As for the game itself, well it's more like a bunch of stiched together beta content GT interactive rushed through the door too early to make a quick buck on Blood and Monolith's name (typical 1990's videogame industry - that never happens nowadays WINK WINK)

I don't think it's fair to expect a remaster that would bring it all together à la Nightdive Studio since now Atari owns the IP

I'd be mad at it and all if the game itself was worth it but in this end it's not worth your time and money....

Blood II: The Chosen? It's RAW. It's completely broken, unfinished, lacks polish, and doesn't even resemble the first game in any way except for the plot and characters, also poorly utilized.

It starts out terribly: it doesn't work in modern PCs without unofficial fixes. Modern hardware incompatibilities shouldn't be a reason to negatively review games, but it's important to mention in this case, since even after reaching a playable state, this piece of junk is still not a good experience. Blood 2 is the way it is because of rushed development due to corporate demands though.

Some levels are recycled, despite there being no reason to go back to the same locations. Levels are way too dark, which makes for awful exploration and some asinine enemy placement by having hitscanners spawn in pitch black areas. The art direction isn't terrible, but it still doesn't do this otherwise trainwreck of a game any favors.

Weapon damage is RNG based it seems, which is ridiculous by itself, if not for the fact that enemies seem to tank too many hits, and should have died a couple shots ago more often than not. The exact same enemy could die in two shotguns shells, or only after five napalm launcher rockets. Since ammo pickups are limited throughout the level, this RNG damage system could theoretically softlock the game: if one runs out of ammo in certain locations because enemies were soaking up too much of it, you're toast. This could very well be an unfortunate glitch, if not for the fact that usage of weapons that used to be fun and devastating in the masterpiece that is the first Blood is now the equivalent of snowballing enemies with a wet towel, like the tesla cannon and the napalm launcher especially, while getting absolutely wrecked by the hitscanners in the mean time, which makes gun usage suck regardless of said damage system.

At least the menus look and sound cool, with background songs that go harder than they should! Honestly, the OST is absolute fire, probably the best aspect of this game. Blood 2, with a proper remake, maybe could've been something worth anyone's time, since there's small bits here and there that make up a fun game. As a whole and as it is however, it's a waste of time.

badass game, looks AWESOME with the 3d models and badass characters unlike the original Blood with lame pixel graphics

I loved the game back in the day, but it just continuously crashes on a modern system.

Can't launch all of a sudden :/

I love Playing retro old video games, it brings me nostalgia even though i didn't grew up in the 2000s but i love the style of gameplay and map designs 10/10

doesn't run.
I tried but it crashes after the menu screen.
not worth trying again.

BEST GAME EVER.

This game is awesome. I haven't had this much fun in so long. If you have issues getting this game to run that's a shame. You likely just need to upgrade your computer. luckily I got a pretty good computer so I can handle this game. Yeah it runs smooth as butter on my computer. It likely is just a you problem, which is a shame because this game is so fun.

Go home, Blood, you are drunk!

What happened here? The first entry was such a masterpiece. The sequel is a mess in comparassion. There is still fun to be had, but it's a experience that lacks ryme on reason in it's overall desgin. We get a very wide range of weapons, we might get most of them early on in the game. And while they are mostly fun to use, they make little difference from each other. Levels are so open they feel aimless, and in not in a good way, since there aren't many secrets to find around. Enemies are just the same over and over. All the gothic horror is lost in here. It's almost like this was meant to me a completely different fps game and they asset flipped it in the last minute to fit it in the Blood franchise.

It's still playable as a fps and serviciable at some degree, but it feels like a chore to finish.

Raw and a bit unfinished due to the studio being in a hurry but its a good game and i like it for its different style of boomer shooter.