Nunholy Review

Nunholy enters the indie gaming arena with the kind of offbeat identity that instantly captures curiosity. A blend of bullet hell mechanics, roguelike structure, and waifu-centric character design, this arena battler manages to carve out a niche for itself among the ocean of roguelikes currently flooding Steam.  

While the title may initially sound like a cheeky religious parody, what you get is an anime-inspired combat game steeped in vampire lore, chaotic magical spells, and a surprisingly layered system of item management and progression. 

This is not a game that sets out to redefine the genre, but it does bring enough heat, chaos, and quirky flavor to make its presence known. From the very beginning, Nunholy establishes a tone that is irreverent, dramatic, and weirdly charming, managing to balance its gothic edge with anime absurdity. It may not be for everyone, but for fans of strange, character-driven roguelikes, this one is definitely something to take a closer look at. 

While the story isn't the central hook here, Nunholy still sprinkles in enough character dialogue, small moments of worldbuilding, and unexpected interactions to keep the setting intriguing and a little mysterious. You begin the game by selecting one of three vampiric protagonists: Prya, Marie, or Sane.  

Each of them plays differently and has unique abilities, which adds a level of replayability right out of the gate. These aren't just aesthetic choices either, as each of these waifu-styled hunters carries different mechanical strengths and weaknesses. 

You'll find yourself navigating a bloody, dark, and gothic world filled with lurking enemies, cryptic guilds, and an assortment of strange but endearing side characters in Nunholy. The tone walks a fine line between serious lore and tongue-in-cheek character writing.  

Along the way, you meet characters like Sister Siif, a quiet nun who assists with healing and support, and a garlic-obsessed merchant who helps you with vampire-slaying gear. These interactions are more than just background noise. They often involve decision-making, small perks, and opportunities to build affinity by gifting items or donating blood. 

This light relationship mechanic ties neatly into the game's vampire themes. Increasing affinity may unlock new lines of dialogue, gameplay bonuses, or simply build a sense of progress that isn't tied strictly to combat. It adds a small but welcome layer of emotional connection in a game that otherwise focuses on high-stakes arenas and intense bullet hell scenarios. 

Nunholy is essentially a roguelike arena fighter. After selecting a character, you enter a network of connected battle zones and engage in progressively challenging enemy waves. You try to live long enough to battle one of the game's odd bosses while gathering equipment and gaining power-ups. Every time you run, you start from scratch, but an upgrading system gives you a little more strength each time. 

The map layout lets you choose between various branching paths, each marked with different symbols indicating the type of challenge or reward you'll face next. These could be elite fights, shops, gifts, or upgrade zones.  

This design gives the player some control over how the run progresses, allowing for a balance of risk and reward. You also collect blood stones, the main currency, which are used to buy gear or upgrades during the run. 

Because the save file connects you to a single character, you are unable to swap characters throughout a playthrough. You are forced by this structure to truly understand the chosen character's playstyle, strengths, and weaknesses. Although you must plan your course due to the branching paths, the process is kept engaging by balancing improvements, resource gathering, and healing with the approaching arrival of more powerful rivals. 

You control your character with a mouse and keyboard, and while the game can be played with a controller, ranged characters in particular feel better when played on PC with precision aiming. In this gameplay, Marie was selected, a ranged-focused character with an emphasis on heat buildup and dispersal.  

As you fire your weapon, you accumulate heat, which can then be released using a sub-weapon for a large burst of damage. You can build this heat up even without hitting enemies, allowing for interesting preemptive strategies while playing Nunholy. 

The system requires you to manage heat and time your attacks around it, especially when dealing with waves of enemies or preparing for boss encounters. The clunkiness of the aiming system does make things tricky.  

Nunholy doesn't use a true 360-degree aiming plane, so there are occasional awkward moments where your shots don't go quite where you want them to. This is more noticeable with ranged characters, while melee-focused ones are more forgiving of the system's limitations. 

Combat itself is fast-paced, chaotic, and often unforgiving. Each character brings different abilities into battle. Marie has access to a grenade and a bat-summoning ultimate, along with her heat-dispersal weapon.  

Other characters lean more into close-range combat or support-style abilities. You unlock new skills as you progress, and the game allows for various builds based on the artifacts and upgrades you collect. While the ability system is engaging, it isn't without flaws. Some skills, like the bat swarm ultimate, feel underpowered, even if they do have short cooldowns and decent crowd control utility.  

Others, like energy dispersal and bleed-based explosions, feel much more satisfying to use. The synergy between abilities is a strong suit. Applying bleed to enemies and then triggering secondary effects based on that status adds tactical depth to otherwise straightforward fights in Nunholy. 

Boss battles ramp up the tension with larger enemies, sealed-off arenas, and attack patterns that require some memorization. Enemies range from vampire knights to grotesque creatures with unpredictable move sets. While the core combat loop is engaging, it does take some time to grow on you.  

The aiming system, combined with the fact that you can't move while shooting, creates a stiffer gameplay rhythm compared to smoother action rogue-likes similar to Hades II or Dead Cells. But once you adjust to the tempo, the loop becomes more enjoyable, particularly when you start unlocking better gear and building a rhythm of attacking, dodging, and triggering abilities. 

Progression is handled through experience points, item collection, and affinity growth with side characters in Nunholy. You gain XP by defeating enemies, completing encounters, and interacting with characters. Certain abilities boost your XP gains or trigger healing effects based on your performance. Blood auras, enemy bleed effects, and defensive upgrades can all be used to modify your survivability mid-run. 

Item upgrades are a key part of the game's build system. You collect artifacts that grant passive bonuses, such as increased projectile counts, higher physical or blood damage, and better survivability. Upgrades can be found at anvils, but unfortunately, each item can only be upgraded once, which limits the customization depth within a single run. Still, finding synergies between gear and character abilities is part of the fun. 

In addition to blood stones, you also collect silver, a form of human currency. Silver can be used at guild-based shops. There are also special gift items that you can give to characters like Sister Siif or the garlic merchant.  

In addition to increasing conversation, gifting can raise your affinity level, which may unlock higher rewards, relationship-driven benefits, or healing advantages. It's interesting to note that blood donations don't appear to increase affinity in the same way, which makes gift-giving more strategic in terms of timing. 

Visually, Nunholy adopts a gothic anime aesthetic that fits its theme well. The characters are bold, colorful, and distinct, leaning heavily into waifu-inspired design with dramatic poses, flowing hair, and stylish costumes.  

Each ability has a visual flair that makes it easy to recognize what's happening during chaotic battles. Whether it's a pool of blood forming under your feet or a glowing slash slicing through the air, the game does a solid job of visually communicating its combat language. 

The environments are smaller in scale and somewhat repetitive early on, but they maintain a cohesive art direction that ties the world together. Bosses and elite enemies are visually distinct, and the UI is clean enough to track your items and abilities without being overwhelming. For a budget indie game, the presentation is polished and consistent. 

The sound design complements the visuals without overwhelming the senses. Nunholy doesn't go for an epic orchestral soundtrack, but the background music ramps up appropriately during boss fights and elite encounters.  

Ability sounds, enemy grunts, and weapon fire are all distinct and satisfying. Flavorful voice lines and character interactions add personality. The garlic merchant, in particular, stands out with her quirky lines about planting enhanced garlic cloves and referencing her late master. 

While dialogue is mostly text, the phrases are often humorous, bizarre, or strangely poignant.  These pieces of prose bring much charm to the game by slightly augmenting the world and its inhabitants.  The more violent themes of the game are somewhat cushioned by a humorous undercurrent running through the entire plot, notwithstanding the lethal adversaries and great dangers at stake. 

Although Nunholy is not a flawless game, it is charming and unexpectedly fun. It adds just enough eccentricities to a well-known genre to make it feel novel. If you give it a chance, there's a lot to explore, including the frantic bullet hell action, heat-based character mechanics, oddball NPCs, and gift-based relationship system. 

While the combat is undeniably clunky at times, particularly for those using ranged characters, the game offers enough mechanical creativity and progression to keep you playing. It's rough around the edges, and some mechanics could benefit from polish or clearer design, but for the price point—roughly six or seven dollars on Steam—it delivers a lot of content and personality. 

If you enjoy anime-inspired aesthetics, vampire-infused lore, and action roguelikes that reward experimentation, Nunholy might just surprise you. It's messy, chaotic, and weird in all the right ways, and for those willing to accept a bit of jank in exchange for fun, it's worth checking out.