Dieseldome: Oil & Blood Demo Review – RomanPunk Mayhem

OVERVIEW

Dieseldome: Oil & Blood is a RomanPunk first-person movement shooter with survivors-like mechanics. In every run, players will create absurdly powerful builds to battle against hundreds of enemies, while facing the crowd’s judgment.

Developer: GHST Studios
Release Date: To be announced
Price: TBD
Platforms: PC (Steam)

Gameplay in the DieselDome: Oil & Blood Demo

Screenshot of gameplay from the Dieseldome Oil and Blood Demo showing the character leveling up mid battle.

Dieseldome: Oil & Blood’s gameplay is frenetic and fast. Even more impressively, is the fact this game marks GHST Studios’ first entry. Despite what one might think of combat in a RomanPunk arena, enemies will assail the player from the ground, above, and sometimes even from underground. During the arena level, there are weaponized floating Gondolas and armored fighting vehicles.

Movement is the secret sauce to making combat so fluid in this game. There are diesel vents that can catapult the player character, plenty of conveniently angled walls to run across, and a double jump that helps to piece together montage-worthy traversal.

Shooting works flawlessly with all the weapon varieties of both players and enemies, and players may appreciate the damage as it strips tanks of armor or zeppelins exploding in the air with an audio cue and visual slow-down. There is a variety of weapons available during the demo; everything from a diesel-powered explosive crossbow to a shoulder-mounted Gatling cannon. They all handle and perform beautifully with properly chunky audio and visual feedback from the weapon report to the spray of digitized viscera as multiple enemies succumb to your gladiatorial performance.

There’s also a surprising depth to the level of intertwined mechanics in the game. Level progression is directly tied to “Crowd Hype” and awards both coins and new perks when the hype hits critical mass during epic plays. Hype itself is generated or stifled in a myriad of creative ways. Killing enemies generates hype but certain methods will prove more effective such as multi-kills or using character abilities. Similarly, ensuring enemies don’t capture various control points will make sure they don’t stifle the player’s hype generation, and one can level up faster. There are even mechanics for pre-game “bets” (optional objectives) for players to take on that impose greater challenges for more coin rewards if completed.

A Simple But Complex Experience

Screenshot of player character in Dieseldome Oil and Blood being launched into the air over a roman colleseum.

Dieseldome is simple to play yet complex in its underlying systems. The maximum time a match will take is 20 minutes. As such it’s quite easy to play the game around someone else’s schedule or even during lulls in work. It’s also incredibly easy and simple to understand the controls and has a tutorial for that purpose.

The only issue players may encounter with the demo occurs when playing on the SteamDeck. was while playing on the Steam Deck. The option to adjust key-binds is currently disabled, but marked as coming soon. This can result in players having difficulty advancing through the tutorial segment. However, since this review is covering the demo version of Dieseldome, SteamDeck players can still get a good preview of the game.

The art of Dieseldome is incredible, mixing punk motifs with classic Roman aesthetics. Great care has gone into how diesel technology would be implemented in a Roman arena. These range from underground vents to viscous lakes that slow movement. Even the various vehicles fit well from crude propeller zeppelins to patchwork tanks that roam the arena.

The music fits perfectly as well to the themes of the game. The blend of 8-bit with heavy guitar riffs and underlying bass captures the atmosphere very well. The music score is perfect with the clarion horns of enemy reinforcements, the crowd cheers as you level up, and the staccato rhythm of your weapon fire.

Final Thoughts on Dieseldome: Oil & Blood

Dieseldome: Oil & Blood is a fantastic game and a remarkable first entry for GHST studios. The gameplay is butter smooth and doesn’t require a lot of PC specs to run great. Everything works together and complements each other with incredible ease and is intuitive to understand. The rogue-like elements and randomized perk progression incentivize near-endless gameplay. If you enjoy games such as Serious Sam, Unreal Arena, and other retro shooters, you should give the DieselDome: Oil & Blood demo a try.