The world of Blood Engine - so far
- Feb 26
- 3 min read
The world of Blood Engine is filled with Gothic Sci-fi castles, an ocean of Vampire blood, and... the Blood Engine itself!? Let me explain.
Blood Engine is set in a post-apocalyptic world filled with mystery. As the player explores, audio recordings will follow them, revealing how the world became what it is today. The remaining vampires have revolted against the Blood Engine itself, and it's your job to keep it alive using them. (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
So... what exactly IS THE BLOOD ENGINE?
The Blood Engine is a massive machine — twice the size of the Eiffel Tower — built for one purpose: to recycle dead vampire blood and keep the remaining population alive after humans went extinct. It was never meant to be a weapon or a prison. It was survival. As you explore, through terminals and audio recordings scattered across its depths, you'll piece together why the vampires revolted against the very thing sustaining them and whether keeping it alive is actually worth it.
The idea of blood recycling was inspired by actual devices like the Cell Salvage Machine, which is used to reinfuse blood into a patient after it has been filtered and cleaned following surgery.
The Blood Engine
This machine was, at one time, viewed as a savior for the vampire race, their solution to a world without humans as a source of life. Of course, the idea of vampires cannibalising each other is dark, but... what else could they have done in a world with no sustenance?
Over time, the machine grew faulty, producing more blood than it needed to first in small amounts, then more and more. It didn't help that additional Blood Engines were built across the world, all interlinked.
Together, they produced so much blood that vampires drowned in it, the world becoming a literal ocean of vampire blood. The machines continued for decades, reanimating vampire corpses just to keep the recycling going.
Now only one Blood Engine remains. The last remnants of the vampire race are trapped inside it, and the player is one of them, augmented and reanimated, hunting their own kind to keep the machine alive due to its misguided bidding.
The Vampires
The vampires within the game are incredibly malnourished and weak, fighting each other desperately for blood — think of the Splicers from Bioshock and their addiction to Plasmids.
Vampires in this world do have supernatural abilities, but these are entirely dependent on their condition. A vampire that just fed might hurl an object with terrifying force, while one that last drank seven hours ago can barely stand. Blood is everything.
This creates a natural variety of enemies across the game, which will be explored in a later devlog dedicated to enemy design and combat.
The Player
The player may or may not have their lore changed or updated, or even have their design changed later in development. But for NOW, this is what I intend.
The player is, quite literally, a reanimated corpse, a tool built by the Blood Engine. Your memory was wiped when you were killed, and you were brought back with one purpose. You have been given augmentations to carry it out: claws and massive gauntlets designed to collect vampire blood, willingly or unwillingly.
There are no flashbacks. No buried identity waiting to be uncovered. I find that trope overdone, and frankly, the idea of the player simply being a vessel is far more interesting. This is made clear early on; you won't be an hour in questioning who you are. You already know. You're nobody. You're the machine's.
— Newtie
