Blood Dust

Blood Dust is a cancelled class-based third-person shooter set in a stylized 1930s America. The game features three factions: the Crushers, a group of former U.S. Army soldiers; the Black Chamber, a gentleman spy organization that predates the CIA; and the Monsters, grotesque creatures mutated by drug use. The factions fight for control of a powerful performance-enhancing substance known as "Blood Dust." The game was designed as an online-only multiplayer experience and was approximately 90% complete when development ceased and the Visceral Games (Melbourne) studio was shut down. Gameplay features asymmetric faction design across nine character classes and over 100 upgradable weapons. While the Crushers and Black Chamber function as conventional shooter classes, the Monster faction possesses supernatural abilities including wall-running, ceiling traversal, heat-signature vision that reveals enemies through walls, and devastating ground-pound attacks. An experience point system tracks player progression. Achieving kill streaks allows players to temporarily transform into the Ripper, a powerful character with enhanced speed, instant-kill throwing knives, and brutal melee attacks. Blood Dust originated as the multiplayer component of another cancelled project, The Ripper, a single-player game set in Victorian London. After that project's cancellation, the multiplayer mode was spun off into a standalone downloadable title with a new 1930s American setting. Leaked gameplay footage from November 2011 shows characters in period-appropriate attire battling across environments featuring marble architecture and rain-soaked rooftops.