Built by lifelong fans of the round-based wave shooter genre, Blood Reaver takes the escalating tension and survival depth that made Call of Duty Zombies a phenomenon and pushes it further, with visceral gunplay, blood-fueled magic and deep build crafting, all set in a rich dark-fantasy world hiding secrets in every corner.

Harness forbidden magic and weaponry to shoot, blast and slice your way through endless hordes of demons. Upgrade your arsenal and survive long enough to discover the ancient secrets of the gods of hell.

Reignite an ancient conflict between earth and hell as one of the Blood Reavers - cursed warriors wielding guns, magic and more. Rediscover the forgotten history of your order, delving into secrets that will help you end the demonic invasion.

Face the demon hordes alone or with up to three friends. Either way, every run will test how well you adapt, build and survive. Each wave adds more enemies, faster and tougher. The game doesn’t slow down until you’re dead.

Between waves, the Deck of Fates lets players draw upgrade cards for their character, while the Blood Infuser adds special properties to weapons. The combinations found across a run are what keep things different each time. Each map also contains environmental lore, clues about who the Blood Reavers were, how the demons can be stopped and what’s really driving the invasion.

Hell Byte Studios announced that Blood Reaver will be available through Steam Early Access on April 15, 2026 at $14.99, and will remain so for about 1-2 years.

Alongside the date announcement, there is a new trailer showing more in-game action.

“Blood Reaver's current gameplay is reflective of the full version's intended core experience, which we aim to extend with additional content and features. The game is playable in either solo or multiplayer. Players can customise their loadouts, aim for high rounds, and collect in-round upgrades. Content-wise, we have a range of different weapons (with upgraded variants) and several unique abilities. There is one medium-large map, two regular enemies and a boss-type enemy. Certain issues with bugs and optimisation may be present. The game is still in development and new fixes are being worked on regularly.”

“We grew up with round-based survival shooters. Blood Reaver is our love letter to that genre, but with a darker world, smarter systems and magic that actually feels powerful. We can’t wait for players to discover what’s hiding in the walls,” said Hell Byte Studios' Jackson Hole.

In addition to having generally more content (guns, abilities, maps), and better performance (optimisation, bugfixes), the full version of Blood Reaver will feature some new systems designed to add depth and replayability. Some of these planned features include:

• Narrative Easter Eggs, where players can complete hidden objectives to unlock secrets on each map
• Meta-progression and upgrades, players being able to modify their abilities outside of a match
• New enemy types, as well as more challenging variants of existing enemies

The Blood Reaver demo is live on Steam right now.

Key Features:

• Blood-fueled abilities: Kill demons to charge powerful spells across three schools of magic, Blood Magic, Ethereal Arts, and Forbidden powers.
• In-run upgrades: Use the Deck of Fates and Blood Infuser to upgrade your character and weapons between waves.
• 1–4 player co-op: Play solo or with friends on Steam.
• Hidden lore: Each map contains story content that slowly pieces together the world of Blood Reaver.
• Round-based escalation: Every wave hits harder. Survive as long as you can.
• Dark-fantasy setting: Inspired by Doom, Bloodborne and Dishonored, built for players who want atmosphere with their gunplay.

 Blood Reaver is in development for PC (Steam), scheduled for 2027/2028.