Boomer shooters: about the games
DOOM: The Dark Ages is a prequel to DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal. Players take on the role of the DOOM Slayer and fight through a dark medieval war against demon hordes, whose leader seeks to destroy the Slayer. This single-player action game blends dark fantasy and sci-fi elements with searing combat and bold visuals on the idTech engine, featuring favourites like the Super Shotgun alongside new weapons such as the Shield Saw. Its levels are the largest id has made to date.
DOOM Eternal is a first-person action game with a single-player campaign in which the player takes on the role of the Slayer to defeat demons across dimensions and prevent the final destruction of humanity. Combat stresses speed and power, and the Slayer has a shoulder-mounted flamethrower, a retractable wrist blade, and upgraded guns, mods, and abilities. Enemies can be finished with glory kills for health, incinerated for armor, or chainsawed for ammo. Battlemode is a 2-versus-1 multiplayer mode in which a fully armed Slayer faces two player-controlled demons in a best-of-five match.
Serious Sam 4 is a first-person shooter and a prequel in the series, in which humanity is besieged by the hordes of Mental. The last resistance is the Earth Defense Force led by Sam ‘Serious’ Stone and his squad of misfit commandos. Players face enormous crowds of enemies with a wide range of weapons and escape hopeless situations by circle-strafing and backpedaling while firing. The game includes online co-op for up to four players, and the Legion System brings battles with thousands of enemies.
Quake is a dark fantasy first-person shooter from id Software that inspired today’s retro-style FPS games. You play as Ranger, a warrior with a powerful arsenal, fighting corrupted knights, deformed ogres and twisted creatures across four dark dimensions. Your task is to collect four magic runes, which are needed before you can defeat an ancient evil. The game includes original and new expansion packs and offers co-op for four players as well as online matches for up to eight.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a fast retro first-person action shooter. You take the role of Malum Caedo, a fearless Space Marine searching the Forge World of Graia, on the brink of being overrun, for a shard of a mysterious power source. Fighting through bastions, cathedrals, corrupted canyons and war-torn environments, you gather devastating weapons and holy equipment, use your chainsword and face Cultists, Traitors, Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons. The visuals draw on 90’s shooters, and a free horde mode with endless enemy swarms is included.
Trepang2 is a gory, fast-paced first-person shooter set in the near future, built around hardcore and frenetic gunfights. The player controls an escaped soldier who has lost all memories of his past but has been endowed with superhuman abilities. Driven by a desire for revenge and the search for the truth, he faces enemies who are increasingly dangerous. The single-player campaign mixes rapid firefights, brutal close-quarters melee with punches, kicks and slides, and powers such as slowing time or turning invisible.
Forgive Me Father 2 is a first-person shooter sequel that returns to a world inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s myths, where madness waits around every corner. You pick up the story of the Priest from the first game and set out on a path toward salvation while balancing on the edge of sanity. The game is built on a dark hand-drawn comic-book look and on battles against hordes of possessed foes that keep evolving into ever more twisted forms. A range of weapons with more powerful variants, along with abilities fuelled by madness, round out the fight.
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is a first-person shooter drawn by hand in black and white rubber hose animation inspired by 1930s cartoons. You take on the role of private investigator Jack Pepper, a former war hero working a missing persons case that turns into a tangled web of corruption, kidnapping and murder. The seedy underbelly of Mouseburg offers armed gangs, crooked cops, more than twenty noir-flavoured levels, over ten cartoon-twisted weapons and potent power-ups, all backed by an original big band jazz soundtrack.
Serious Sam 3: BFE is a prequel to the original indie fast-action FPS Serious Sam: The First Encounter. It is a first-person shooter in the spirit of the golden age of the genre, with no cover and no camping, just the player against overwhelming numbers. The story unfolds during Earth’s final stand against Mental’s invading legions of beasts and mercenaries, set in near-future Egypt among ruined cities and crumbling temples. Players carry the whole arsenal at once, can pull off brutal melee kills, and can join online co-op for up to 16 players as well as Survival and versus modes.
Shadow Warrior is a reimagining of the classic 3D Realms shooter by independent studio Flying Wild Hog, starring the legendary, quick-witted warrior Lo Wang. Players combine brute firepower with the elegant precision of a katana to wipe out the merciless armies of the shadow realm. Lo Wang, Zilla Enterprise's corporate shogun, is ordered by his deceitful employer to obtain a legendary blade of limitless power; betrayed and left for dead, he learns the blade is tied to ancient gods from another realm who are pushing our world to the brink of destruction. The reluctant hero must become legend through gun, blade, magic and wit.
POSTAL: Brain Damaged is a first-person action shooter by HYPERSTRANGE, the studio behind ELDERBORN and Blood West, and a spin-off of the Running With Scissors series. It pairs throwback visuals with fast, skill-based gameplay and quake-like movement across outrageous level design. The story unfolds inside the twisted psyche of the POSTAL DUDE himself, in a hand-crafted world with an all-original plot, varied enemies and insane guns. The series keeps its trademark dark, crude humour and celebration of fantasy violence; Corey Cruise returns as the POSTAL DUDE, joined by guest appearances from other beloved voices.
‘Rise of the Triad’ is a rebirth of the cult first-person shooter, this time in its 2013 version. Players take on one of five characters from the H.U.N.T. (High-Risk United Nations Taskforce), each with a different play style. The single-player campaign offers over 20 levels of explosive action, the multiplayer features unique maps, and the over-the-top weapons include the Excalibat. Gorier play adds limb dismemberment, the soundtrack is re-forged in heavy metal with the original music available as an option, and custom levels and mods can be built with the Ludicrous Development Kit and shared via Steam Workshop.