I've been playing a lot of shooters recently. Grabbed the deal Humble Bundle had up, the Best of Boomer Shooters one? Good ****. A way to get some great retro-style shooters. I already had the New Blood trilogy of shooters (Dusk, Amid Evil, and Ultrakill) and Hedon, so I gave those to my sister, but Hrot, Ion Fury, Dread Templar, Hellbound, Project Warlock, and Prodeus (though money is a little tight rn, and since Prodeus was just a coupon in the bundle, I've not picked it up yet) are all new to me. So far, I've played all but Hellbound and Prodeus, Hellbound because I just haven't gotten to it for reasons I'll mention in a moment, and Prodeus for the mentioned reasons of money being a little tight. They're all good, and since I haven't spoken on any here before, to my knowledge, I'll just kinda give each one I've played so far a brief run down. Keep in mind these are all retro-styled shooters, so I am going to give some mentions to their influences and try to keep my remarks brief with that context of them being faster than standard modern shooters, and some are in early access so any issues I may mention could be patched out or they could have more content added and existing content changed / rebalanced. Each game in the bundle is in its own expansion to avoid a massive post.
Dusk
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Dusk is amazing. Biggest influences are Quake and Blood, but it definitely has its own identity, especially with how it subverts your expectations and turns a few things on their head in Episode 2 and Episode 3. Wonderful game, really can't recommend it enough if you want to try this style of game, or like this style of game and somehow haven't played it yet. Everything slots together perfectly, especially the gunplay and movement. Quick tip, you go fast in this game, and strafe jumping (essentially b-hopping) will take you straight to plaid. Big recommendation from me.
Amid Evil
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Amid Evil is another great game. Medieval fantasy theme this time, so it's like if Heretic and Hexen were made on a modern engine, looked gorgeous, and got rid of the horrendous switch hunting Hexen had. Very interesting array of weapons, with stuff like staves, magic maces and swords, and the best fantasy BFG I've ever used. Even the basic melee weapon is useful well into the later episodes, as one or two hits will take down the weakest enemy in each episode and does enough damage to be a great go-to when saving your mana resources. Add in the soul meter, which basically acts like the Tome of Power from the aforementioned Heretic and Hexen games, and each weapon has double the functionality. The BFG will shoot black holes, the magic sword shoots giant bouncing projectiles, etc. Another solid recommendation.
Ultrakill
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Ultrakill has the graphical style of a PS1 game (you can mess with the graphical settings to turn down the intensity of that, though, if it bothers you. Especially stuff like the vertex warping) and plays like FPS Devil May Cry with infinite ammo, a style meter, and intense combat. Don't let the detail of "infinite ammo" fool you into thinking this game is a cakewalk, though, as it definitely will test your skill at its mechanics. The bosses will make you reset a few times until you figure out their patterns. Some of the combat rooms will do the same. Yet another recommendation from me.
Hedon Duology
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Hedon started as a mod for GZDoom. It is now a full game built off of that version of the Doom engine. It's another fantasy romp, but with a bit of a crystalpunk aesthetic with interesting magical machinery and guns made using fantastical means. You have the boring but practical assault-rifle stand in, that has a burst fire mode when you ADS with right-click. The amazing shotgun, with an alt-fire flamethrower that works very well and is an great crowd control tool. There's more, but I don't want to bloat this. It's a massive game, too, especially for the Doom engine, with expansive maps filled with tons of sub-locations, and in the second game (as both are included in the single release! Really a great deal) those sprawling maps start being connected to big hub areas with side quests. If you want an experience that truly feels like an FPS with some RPG stuff going on, and no extra bloat or issues that comes from a fully open world while still giving you choices to make, I can't recommend Hedon enough.
Hrot
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Hrot is an interesting game. Most obvious influence is Quake, especially with the proprietary engine made by the devs that purposefully emulates the appearance of early 3D games that used software rendering (such as the aforementioned Quake) without nearly as many technical limits, but definitely has some general Build engine influences with the level of interactivity in the environment. It also has atmosphere in spades, with great sound design and it really makes the bleak, brown aesthetic work to its advantage in the setting. You truly feel alone in an abandoned Czechoslovakian region while being hunted by the enemies you face, being difficult but rewarding you for good play. Similar to Quake, your grenades are also your rockets, once you get the weapon for it, and the guns are pretty solid in general. Another recommendation from me, but be prepared for a challenge. Especially at the higher difficulties. This is the first one that the early access status is VERY apparent, as Episode 2 is still actively being slowly added to and things are being changed / rebalanced fairly often, such as the case of the rockets being different from the grenades in earlier patches but having been consolidated in recent ones, so keep that in mind when playing if you pick it up.
Ion Fury
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Ion Fury is... Frustrating, for me. It's the best game you should never buy, and this bundle is the only way I would've ever gotten it because much less money went to the devs. This is because of their homophobic and transphobic comments and conduct, and while 3D Realms have said they've taken corrective measures with the people in question, I'm not exactly confident that was anything more than a performative corrective action, especially as a non-binary person myself who has seen this sort of thing happen with companies in the past. And it frustrates me that the devs behind it are *******s and I can't in good conscience recommend getting the game with your own money, because not only is it a game released in modern day built off of the legendary Build engine using things that engine never could in its heyday due to hardware constraints, but it's a good Build game, of which we only really had 3 before (Blood, Duke Nukem 3D, and Shadow Warrior, which, while problematic, was still a fun shooter. Others really varied in quality and were overall not great.). The weapons are great, the gunplay is fun, the enemies are just the right amount of challenging, it checks all of the boxes... But, again, I cannot recommend buying it with your own money and be happy with myself. If someone gifts it to you or you otherwise get it in such a way that gives little to no money of the devs, sure, play it, but I don't want to support these particular devs and I hope you would not as well.
Dread Templar
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Dread Templar is a great game. Definitely a personal favorite from this bundle. You know a game is going to be fun as hell when you open it up, get to the tutorial, and the first thing it tells you is "These are your dual katanas. They are your primary melee weapons. Now, use alt-fire to put them together and throw them at your enemies," before giving you twin pistols as your first guns and teaching you about your bullet time powers. And it only gets better from there. An in-depth and interesting upgrade system, with upgrades hidden in the piles of secrets in each level. Speaking of secrets, it even has some that will get a chuckle out of you, like an area recreating the crypt you wake up in at the beginning of Blood! Side areas that are pretty apparent that give you more resources and upgrades behind enemies that you'll have to fight through if you want to get said upgrades. Even super secrets that can do things like letting you get weapons pretty early into your run, too! This is a wonderful game and I recommend you give it a shot.
Project Warlock
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A great game that feels tense even with it working like Wolfenstein 3D, in that it has literally 0 verticality in its level designs and movement. Don't let that fool you though, simplistic roots DO NOT mean this game is simple! It has a weapon upgrade system, multiple weapons in almost every slot, a magic system, literally over 100 levels, and even a level system that you can use to put points into specific stats and perks! Especially as a first game for the person who made it, Project Warlock is a great experience I highly recommend.
So, that's most of the variety I've been playing recently with one exception of a big time sink I was finally convinced to try by a friend of mine, and the reason I haven't gotten around to playing Hellbound yet. I have been sucked into Destiny 2 and
damn is that game good! Weapons feel good, so far has just the right amount of grinding for me, and I love the abilities of the class I've been using, the Warlock. Fun game and over the course of the... 2-ish? weeks I've been playing, I have already sunk
waaaaaaaaaay too much time into it. Granted, I was unemployed and waiting for my new job to start for a good portion of that so the total hours I sink into it will go down as I keep going with my new job, but goes to show how much my brain likes a new hyperfixation. I really recommend it if you like that style of game, though just keep in mind that the "free to play" aspect is closer to "free to try," but don't feel pressured to put money into it if you end up not enjoying it. But right now is a great time to get into it, because with the new expansion and everything right now, even long time players I know are saying this is the best the series has ever been. If you've been holding out Destiny 2, now's the time to give it a shot!