WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS ON A GAME THAT FETURES DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE AND BAD LANGAUGE.
Mini note from the writer: I’ll be avoiding talking about certain things shown in the game, due to the fact that it is tagged as ‘mature’ for it’s large amounts of gore.
Who knew that one singular cop would be sent into a mall where a prehistoric creature is lurking? Oh, you’re that cop!
‘Blood Mall: Retaped’ by Ollie Hall is actually a remake of the original ‘Blood Mall’ (you can get the original on itch.io). In this game you play as a cop getting sent into a mall where a massacre has just taken place, but by what you may be asking? Well, it wasn’t human, I can assure you that.
The game starts with a lovely cutscene where you can get immersed in the lively atmosphere of the mall… until you hear screaming and the title of the game becomes what you see. It’s not called ‘Blood Mall’ for nothing!
Next you get thrown into the game itself, you get told by you captain that you are to go in and figure out what that ‘thing’ is. Oh! And he gives you a gun too! How nice! As you get locked inside, you turn around to see a lovely entrance, until you look past the escalators and see that the walls, the floors, and the roof too, are drenched in blood.
As I traversed through the derelict mall, each step I made through the areas, I found myself getting more and more anxious about whether or not the creature would be waiting for me just around the corner.
GAMEPLAY
Turns out I played this game for long enough that I was able to remember some of the most key moments in my opinion… So let me tell you about them!
So, you remember when I said you were given a gun? Well what if I told you that said gun had INFINITE ammo? Obviously it had to have infinite ammo, because you have to be able to shoot all of the bins inside the mall. Yep, there is actually an achievement for shooting every single bin, now that’s dedication. But seriously, the gun works extremely well, it’s real in the way that it moves as the player breathes, it’s those small details that make it feel even more immersive. It also takes a little bit for it to reload, if you’re using the gun just randomly, like shooting bins, you probably won’t notice, but when you have a dinosaur hot on your tail, that realistic reload time can just increase your anxiety. Overall, this gun feature gets a 10/10 for being true to life!
Another thing I noticed was the screen shake when Miss Dino (I’m kidding, that’s not their name, It’s just what I called it as I was running for my life) decided to pay a visit. Whenever it got close, or was running full pelt at you, the static on the screen would get more noticeable, red would slowly take over your vision, and as it’s feet stomped on the ground as it drew near, the screen would shake, and depending on how close it was, the screen shake amount would change to match that. And I love that! It just gives off that feeling of impending doom, and that perfectly fits this game!
And onto the last point, the humor. Yes, this game has several moments were it got a tiny chuckle out of me admits my fear. One of these moments was way at the start of the game, right as I went into the first shop I saw a person sat at a wall, one of the few people still alive. They looked at me, and told me it was near… then they were instantly dragged into the wall. I couldn’t help but laugh at this moment, they were right, it was near! And another moment is this one:
This guy is still in the mall, unharmed and everything, and he’s acting like nothing is wrong! I wish I had this guy’s mindset!
Personally, I would say that this game is amazing. From its terrifying gameplay to its realistic aspects, it is the most immersive horror game I have played to this date. I would highly recommend checking it out if you enjoy short horror games or you want to check out a dinosaur horror game. For whatever reason you have, you should definitely check it out!
Other Information (from Steam Page):
Cost: £1.69/$1.99
Play length: 30 mins~
Tags: Dinosaurs, Horror, Stealth, Dark Humor, Hunting, FPS.
Release Date: 22 April 2026
Platform Availability:
- PC (STEAM EXCLUSIVE AS OF WRITING THIS)
| Criteria | Scores | Our Scores |
| Artistic Achievement | 1-5 | 5 |
| Gameplay | 1-5 | 5 |
| Value/Cost | 1-5 | 5 |
| Controls | 1-5 | 4 |
| Length | 1-5 | 5 |
Written By: LouArtStuff
About: Hiya! I’m Lou! I love to play different types of games, read any genre of book, and delve a little too deep into the meaning of anything I see!
Donate: https://ko-fi.com/louartstuff
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