Reviews of the best indie games and horror games

Bloodwash Story Explained – Escape the Laundromat Killer

Bloodwash is a PS1 style horror game about the “Womb Ripper”, a serial killer who targets pregnant women and gruesomely cuts open their stomach. The story is about Sara, who lives with her drunken boyfriend in a run down apartment. He doesn’t do any of the laundry, and the machine in the building is broken.

Your neighbor tells you about a nearby laundromat, and you take the last bus there. The extra buildings, comic books, and NPCs add a lot of creativity to the game. It’s not all about horror at first, but it adds a lot to the game. Exploring the shopping center really gives you a feel of loneliness and wonder of what you’ll find around here. It also provides a good build up and story to the real horror that comes later.

There’s a lot to check out around Peepaw’s store. There’s fun unique game covers, movies, magazine’s, and soda’s too! You can even find something that seems to resemble the Japanese soda Oronamin C! The pizza shop is nicely designed too, with the bored lonely worker and arcade game included.

A Beautiful 80’s Horror Game World

Bloodwash Shopping Plaza
Shopping Plaza

The optional graphics are a nice addition, the game it looks good in any of them. You can toggle the VHS and CRT filter so it looks like more of a PS1 style game. Bloodwash really gives you the feel of an 80’s movie with an infamous serial killer.

There’s also a chapter select that splits up the game evenly, so you can go back to your favorite parts. The only complaint I have about the game is the inventory. When you pick up comics it can take up a lot of space, and every time you need an item you have to scroll around a lot.

My playthrough below is a bit longer than most, I like to explore and show off as much of the game as I can. For those who like the small details, and extra effort put into these games, this is for you! I did not get the “speak to all NPC’s” achievement somehow, I have no idea where another would have been.

Bloodwash Explained – Story, Clues, and Evidence Revealed

Once you reach the Plaza, you’ll quickly learn about the burnt down older laundromat and he Womb Ripper. Sara doesn’t think much of the Womb Ripper at first, and just goes about her business with no worry. If you use the phone after checking out the bathroom and use the top secret number “867-5309” you’ll reach a uhhh… hotline. The caller will tell you more about the ripper and why your in so much danger. Shortly after, it’s too late.

There’s a lot of evidence you can collect along the way too, like the newspaper about the fire, the missing person poster, and criminal records of Louis Kennedy. He’s the man you saw in a photo you find with his girlfriend Samantha Rhodes.

You can ask around about them to learn more about the fire, the missing people, and the killer. Some people like Peepaw believe the killings are related to the fire. They started happening around that time, and it doesn’t seem like a coincidence.

Bloodwash In Game Horror Movie Prop
Bloodwash Horror Movie Prop

After asking around and passing the time, your laundry should be done in the dryer. Except it didn’t dry them at all, and you need to give the manager a hard time. You can’t find him though, and barge into his office. It seems while you were away, the ripper got to him. He falls from the vents, and you call 911.

In the next chapter you play as officer Burton and explore the tax office which is now lit up. He quickly solves the mystery of the stolen lunch, and also encounters the second killing of the Womb Ripper. Then suffers the same fate.

With nobody answering Sara’s call she tries to make her way out on her own. The other lone visitor gets killed by the ripper right in front of her. The only way out from here is through smashing up the false wall.

Next, she makes her way through the ripper’s secret lair. It’s a pretty gruesome sight. There’s baby faces that were cut off and spread all over the place, bodies with their stomachs ripped open. To move on, you even have to cut open a hanging body’s stomach to get a hidden key.

Mystery Revealed! Closing Thoughts

It’s a brutal game but I still enjoyed it, especially the exploration. Towards the end of the lair, you’ll find the body of Louis. That’s very strange considering we thought he was the only one who could be the killer, you’ll see though.

You find a gun which was probably the policeman’s, and have a final showdown with the Womb Ripper. I’m surprised Sara survived. That’s not usually how these games go, but she did. Then the prologue plays and you discover the true identity of the killer. It turns out the killer was actually Samantha Rhodes.

She survived when Louis burnt down the old Laundromat. Her baby was killed in the fire, and she snapped. She killed Louis and became the Womb Ripper, killing those who had what she didn’t.

In the epilogue, “Doug” is tasked with the autopsy. Strangely the power goes out, and we have to take a trip to the breaker. When you return, she’s gone as expected. In a panic, we rush out but become yet another victim of the Womb Ripper. The killer in this game really reminds me of others like Michael Myers or Jason. She’s seemingly immortal, surviving with possibly no food, being burned alive, and even gunshots to add to that.

If you liked Bloodwash you would probably like games created by Puppet Combo, like Night Shift!

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