Blood Bar Tycoon Game Review

First things first—I love Blood Bar Tycoon. The moment I started playing, I knew I had to review it. The game blends aesthetics I adore with a fun, nuanced builder full of moving parts and dark humor. I picked it up a couple of days ago, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

But there’s a problem. And it’s a big one.

Looks like meat's back on the menu, bois.

THINGS OF NOTE

The vibes are spot on. I love the vampire aesthetic and the sharp humor woven into the dialogue and quest system. You start off as Vladimir’s minion, tasked with running the bar—though I imagine failure comes with unfortunate consequences. Success means carefully balancing human and vampire customers, managing drink selections, hiring the right staff, and cultivating the perfect "vibe"—all while keeping your "awareness" level in check.

Here's a small list of things I learned:

• Your bar’s décor determines its "Vibe," which I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, it’s a unique and sensible mechanic—after all, no one wants to hang out in a bar that looks uninviting. On the other hand, I want the freedom to decorate for my own enjoyment without worrying about how it affects my customer base. I wish there were alternative ways to attract the right clientele, but since the game is so deeply tied to this system, I don’t expect that to change. I will say, that a lot of the "attracts" types are repeated on other bar "vibes", so you can mix and match in some ways and that's kind of nice.

Different themes attract different types of customers.

• The game features different types of vampires, like "Loonies" and "Sirens," and some quests require adjusting your bar’s Vibe to attract them. However, this can be tricky, especially with time limits—customers don’t always trickle in naturally, making these quests feel more frustrating than strategic. And not to mention, the cost of re-decorating purely for a crowd is really high, especially given how often these quests come about.

• You can take out loans from the Banker, and he is hilarious. A real blood-sucker, if you would. I can see how it could become unmanageable, but it's not a super challenging mechanic. The loans actually help you get ahead.

• Minions can be assigned to specific rooms and tasks based on their abilities, adding a cool strategic layer to management. The ones that can turn invisible are best-suited to handle body removal, while memory-wipers are best-placed in human-occupied rooms. Naturally, hypnotists are the only ones a ble to capture "cattle" and eliminate enemies discreetly. I love the flexibility of assigning minions. It ensures every area is covered and helps keep my vampire patrons from turning my human customers into dinner.

• If you ever played Sims, and played it the evil way where you just murder your sims in increasingly concerning ways, you’re going to love the machines in Blood Bar Tycoon. The blood brewery is packed with hilariously twisted contraptions. You’ve got the essentials, like blood drainers and holding cells for your "cattle," but it gets even better. There are slushie machines, blood smokers (for that rich, smoky flavor), a morgue, and vats of acid for cleanup. Most machines even have customizable settings, letting you fine-tune the blood quality of your products.

• The decorating system is basic but enjoyable. It was even more enjoyable when I realized you could hold shift to place more of the same object. I would love to see more customizable options down the road, like different colored ping-pong machines, more rugs, more entertainment options, etc. But you do get a whole lot of items the further in you go, as you unlock more bar genres, which helps to mix things up.

• The building system could use some improvement. It feels rudimentary and lacks basic features—like the ability to easily change doors and windows on external walls. As far as I can tell, the only way to do it is by extending the room, then demolishing part of it, which is far from intuitive. On top of that, building can be a bit buggy—but I’ll get to that in a moment.

• If your "awareness" level gets too high, you run the risk of Vampire Hunter attacks, which can be very bad for business, obviously. But you can acquire the services of another vampire to help you out.

• If you fail a quest you lose prestige and goodies. If you turn it down, you lose nothing. Don't be afraid to turn down quests you're not sure you can manage.

• Sometimes I am able to set-aside certain products for quests, sometimes I am unable to do so. This becomes a problem when I have a timed-quest, especially, and I can't get enough product put together before it's sold to customers on the floor. Very rage-inducing.

• You get access to an ability where you can portal problem customers away. It's very funny and super satisfying. Eventually I stopped using it on the humans and used it on the vampires as they bit the human. If timed correctly, you can get rid of the body and the vampire causing trouble. If you time it late, you cannot get rid of the body in this way.

THE MAJOR BUGS

There's just one serious problem with this game, gamers. It's riddled with bugs and currently driving me insane. It didn't really start bugging for me until I got into the third level of the game where I unlocked the Cyberpunk style and had to change the bar for the quest. I ended up having to restart the level twice, and I'm still mad about it.

Here's my small list of things gone wrong:

• Minions will idle (which is cursed when holding a body out on the floor), and you can't get them to move until you go to main-menu and come back in.

• Sometimes you can't right-click the vampires to serve them their drinks, and you have to watch them until they're trying to eat your customers.

• You CAN delete the doors and windows on external walls. You have to use the right demolish button, which you can identify on mouse-over.

• If you delete a door/arch on an interior wall with wall demolish tool, some objects in that room that are on the wall will get deleted, too. Sometimes it's objects in other rooms. Definitely try to use the door/window demolish tool.

BRUH.

• When I tried to replace one door for another, it started building walls at random, and started deleting walls all over my building. It wouldn't let me demolish or build on top of it, so I had to start the level from scratch.

Ultimately, this game is a lot of fun and well-worth the money. It's merely in-need of a little patch. Did you get the game? Do you love it as much as I do? Comment below!

Until next time, gamers!