Blood: Refreshed Supply Review (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch & PC)

If you’ve spent any time in the retro-FPS trenches, you already know that Blood fans are a special breed. They’re stubborn, passionate, extremely online, and fully prepared to argue for hours about cultist AI, explosion radius values, and whether a sprite’s shading matches the original DOS release. And honestly? Good for them. Because Nightdive Studios has returned once again, armed this time with the actual Blood source code, to deliver Blood: Refreshed Supply, a remaster that aims to fix what Fresh Supply never could. 

This review breaks down what Refreshed Supply gets right and where it stumbles. Let’s find out how it feels to revisit one of the most chaotic, personality-filled shooters of the ’90s in what may finally be its definitive modern form. Let’s jump right into it.

The return of the Gun Slinger

Nightdive’s first attempt at modernizing Blood, Fresh Supply, was ambitious but flawed. Without the source code, they had to reverse-engineer the game, resulting in a version that looked the part but never felt quite right. Movement was floaty. Enemy behavior didn’t match fan expectations. And although it was technically stable, it didn’t deliver that crunchy, high-pressure experience that defined DOS Blood.

Refreshed Supply is essentially Nightdive’s do-over, and the difference is noticeable immediately. Movement feels tighter and more responsive. Weapons behave more accurately. The pacing returns to the frantic stop-go-sidestep intensity that defined the original game. It genuinely feels like Blood again, fast and full of the violent charm that made it a cult classic.

And right at the center of that experience is Caleb himself. His return feels sharper than ever, with more of that sardonic energy and confident swagger that turned him into one of the most memorable antiheroes of the ’90s. His one-liners hit harder thanks to cleaner audio. Refreshed Supply doesn’t reinvent Caleb; it preserves him, polishes him, and lets him step back into the spotlight exactly the way he should.

Ultimately, this isn’t a reinvention or a modern reimagining. Refreshed Supply is a restoration, built with one clear goal: to recreate the original as faithfully as possible, without the limitations of running it through DOSBox or relying on unofficial fan ports like NBlood or BuildGDX. And for the most part, it succeeds.

Refreshed Gameplay

One thing Refreshed Supply doesn’t do is play it safe. The gameplay tweaks go deeper than you might expect, and while most of them benefit the experience, they also make Blood feel even more dangerous and occasionally unpredictable. The hellhounds, for example, hit significantly harder, closer to their original DOS behavior. In Fresh Supply, they felt like spicy annoyances. In Refreshed Supply, they’re lethal again, capable of melting your health bar before you can shout “Kaboom!”

Cultists also feel slightly different. They go down a bit easier, but they seem to hit harder and more frequently. It’s a strange combination, but it actually matches the spirit of Blood’s design: the cultists are the real final boss. Their pinpoint reactions and sadistic accuracy define the tension of nearly every encounter.

Vertical aiming is also dramatically improved. Build-engine games have always had awkward-looking up-and-down motions, but Refreshed Supply smooths this out in a way that feels modern while still being faithful. Ironically, this improvement broke the skyboxes, resulting in distorted and inaccurate skies until a promised hotfix arrives. Only in retro gaming can “aiming works better now” cause the sky itself to malfunction.

Enemy behavior has also been updated. Bloated butchers can now aim at you while you crouch, which removes one of the easiest cheeses in the entire game. Cheogh, one of the early bosses, can’t be cheesed either. These fixes can be toggled off if you want the janky old behaviors restored. However, the defaults lean toward accuracy and fairness, if you can call anything in Blood “fair.”

Additionally, some strange AI quirks still exist. Cultists occasionally lob dynamite in the wrong direction. Enemies still wander like confused mall walkers. But honestly? Some of that might just be the essence of the Build Engine itself.

Visual Upgrades

Surprisingly, Refreshed Supply doesn’t try to modernize Blood’s visual identity, nor should it. The game isn’t supposed to look like a remake; it’s supposed to look like Blood, just cleaner and more consistent. The cutscenes have been fully redone, similar to the updates Nightdive made for Hexen. The originals were muddy and choppy even by ’90s standards, so the refresh is welcome. 

In-game visuals benefit from improved pixel scaling, making sprites and textures appear sharper without adding artificial detail. Lighting is a bit cleaner, and weather effects are slightly enhanced. Additionally, some levels feature more voxel decorations that add life to the environment without changing the original layout.

Importantly, the levels themselves are untouched. No remixed geometry, no “HD texture packs,” no modern lighting overlays. Refreshed Supply keeps the visual identity intact. It’s still crunchy, darkly comedic Blood, just without the smearing, warping, and blurriness that came from the limitations of old hardware. 

The only major visual flaw is the broken skyboxes, which stretch like melted wallpaper in multiple outdoor levels. Nightdive has already confirmed a fix, so hopefully this will be temporary. Ultimately, the visual upgrade in Refreshed Supply is noticeable and adds charm to the gameplay.

All About The Performance and Bugs

Despite the complaints circulating online, Refreshed Supply is noticeably more stable than Fresh Supply ever was. But this wouldn’t be a modern re-release of a Build-engine game without a handful of bugs, quirks, and bizarre behaviors. Multiplayer is the most glaring issue. Bloodbath matches often disconnect within minutes, making the entire mode borderline unusable. This needs serious work before anyone can take the multiplayer seriously.

The aforementioned sky bug is another major visual problem, though it’s more annoying than game-breaking. Sound issues exist too, mostly with NPCs being unnervingly silent. In addition, some traps don’t function properly, such as the one in Episode 4, Mission 6. The Life Leech weapon can occasionally send enemies into wrong animation states. A few enemies wander aimlessly. Some dynamite throws look like slapstick comedy routines.

But overall, none of these problems compares to the deeper mechanical issues Fresh Supply had. Refreshed Supply feels solid. It feels right. And more importantly, it works most of the time, and when something breaks, it tends to be funny rather than frustrating.

The Vault

Nightdive added more than just a remaster this time. Refreshed Supply includes Marrow, one of the community’s standout mod campaigns, with Death Wish arriving soon as post-launch content. For veteran players, these are known quantities; many have already played them through NBlood or BuildGDX, but it’s nice to see them included officially.

The “Vault” feature is a massive bonus for fans of game history. You can browse early alpha maps, unused sprites, concept art, developer notes, and other archival goodies. It adds real value to the package and gives Blood fans more to explore beyond the main campaign.

Unfortunately, this brings us to the elephant in the room: the price. Refreshed Supply costs $30, with a time-limited $10 upgrade path for Fresh Supply owners. Compared to the original Fresh Supply’s low price, this feels steep. But the pricing follows a pattern: Dark Forces, Outlaws, and other retro restorations have launched at the same $30 mark.

Nightdive likely isn’t the one deciding these numbers. The publishers, Atari and Warner Bros., own the IP and have a well-established habit of overpricing their retro content. Considering Blood languished in licensing limbo for decades, it’s ironic to see its owners suddenly charging premium rates for minimal involvement. At least console players finally get an official version of Blood, though you’d have to be brave or reckless to play this game without a mouse.

Verdict

Blood: Refreshed Supply is the remaster longtime fans have been waiting for ever since Fresh Supply stumbled onto the scene. This time, it finally feels like the real thing, fast, vicious, responsive, and unapologetically chaotic in all the ways Blood was always meant to be. Nightdive’s access to the original source code shows immediately. Movement is tighter, guns hit harder, and the overall pacing feels far more authentic than the previous remaster’s interpretation. It’s the closest modern players can get to that true DOS magic without needing to wrangle an ancient PC or rely on community ports.

Of course, perfection was never in Blood’s DNA, and Refreshed Supply carries a few quirks of its own. The price tag is definitely higher than most people expected for a game from 1997. And yes, the odd bugs, funny AI quirks, and occasional jank still pop up, but honestly? That almost feels like part of the experience at this point.

What matters most is how it feels moment to moment, and that part is wonderful. When Caleb starts cackling, cultists shriek in panic, and the sawed-off shotgun practically deletes enemies from existence. The experience instantly reminds players why Blood became a legend in the first place. It’s intense, stylish, aggressive, and endlessly replayable.

For veterans, this is absolutely the definitive way to revisit a classic. For newcomers, it’s the perfect gateway into one of the most distinctive shooters of the ’90s. Caleb’s return is sharp, bloody, and more than worth celebrating.