Painkiller Evaluate

Should you’re out of the loop, Painkiller was a Boomer Shooter initially launched in 2004 that noticed a number of expansions to the sport up till 2012. Every growth bounced round to a brand new developer, however initially, this was a Folks Can Fly title, the identical crew that went on to make the OG Gears Of Conflict.

Whereas Painkiller by no means fairly caught on like Gears, or another franchises that it is clearly closely impressed by, it is nonetheless a fairly iconic, beloved franchise with plenty of diehard followers. It was cool, then, to see that after mendacity dormant for therefore a few years, the collection was getting relaunched/rebooted in 2025 by the hands of Anshar Studios, who principally notably labored with Bloober Group on Layers Of Concern.

Let me get this out of the way in which early; I am not completely concerned about reviewing this 2025 reboot by the lens of the 2004 title in any respect. To me, this can be a reboot from a brand new crew, and I’ll deal with it as such. I do not assume it is truthful to carry the sport to a earlier 20+ 12 months customary that is now flooded with tons of nostalgia-influenced factors of view. Let’s deal with this one as a brand new entry to the FPS scene in 2025, we could?

All of that mentioned… Painkiller 2025 left so much to be desired, a reboot of a beloved franchise or not. Whereas I do not assume it is a unhealthy expertise to embark on, I additionally do not feel like there’s sufficient right here to push it to the highest of your must-play record with different, extra viable direct opponents on the market as of late. Let’s dig in.

Gorgeous, However Uneven Presentation With A Useless Finish Story

The place I’ll give Painkiller some main props is on the planet design. There are 9 raids/ranges to work your manner by, equally spaced between three totally different biomes. These locations look superb, and have a premium-feeling sheen with each design and artwork route alternative clearly extraordinarily well-thought-out. You are caught in Purgatory, lodged in an try to stave off Azazel the fallen angel’s demonic forces and Nephilim, who’re in the midst of a hostile takeover.

One biome is a Hellish, industrial manufacturing facility, then an eery, darkish cave system, adopted by a trek that finally results in the Tree Of Information in a fallen model of the Backyard Of Eden itself. Every little thing seems to be superb, and is completely disturbing sufficient to make the previous youth group child in my previous surprise if he actually needs to be experiencing such demonic visions (if my mother asks, killing demons makes me the nice man, so it is okay).

From there, the story itself is satisfactory, however by no means truly feels that fascinating. This can be a co-op shooter (even when taking part in offline/solo, you will be required to take two bot teammates with you), that includes 4 inventory characters every with a distinct, distinctive background. There is a man that fought a demon in a pharmacy, a former employed gun of The Creator, a half demon/half human reverend, and one other girl who was once a queen, or one thing. I do not actually know.

Principally, everyone seems to be in Purgatory for some random motive, and the angel Metatron (not a Transformer) has roped you into preventing off Azazel’s forces as a solution to expedite your sentence. However is every little thing really because it appears? Effectively, after all not. Nonetheless, nothing ever actually pays off in a satisfying manner, and the sport sort of simply finally ends, as if it is ready for a future content material drop to wrap issues up extra succinctly.

There is a prevalent comedic tone all through Painkiller too, and that can work for some, however not others. It is little, bizarre, Marvel-style quips out of your characters, or Metatron telling you that Azazel cheats at poker. My least favourite line in the entire sport was, “I am Azazel, however you possibly can name me daddy.” Tempting, however I am not tremendous .

The sound design is nice, however I had a number of points with clipping, overlap, and random quantity spikes fairly usually. The soundtrack is DOOM-style steel, which is satisfactory, however by no means appears like greater than a worse knockoff.

Even offline, I would additionally expertise my teammates and enemies alike zipping round arenas like their connection was dropping, which made a number of fight encounters really feel unhealthy. Some enemies would additionally sometimes begin individually shifting as if solely they had been particularly, individually dropping frames. The web expertise labored about the identical, so it was simply fascinating to me that offline shared so many little hiccups.

Completely Superior Weaponry

With none forthcoming caveats to drop after this subsequent assertion, Painkiller’s weapons are freaking superior. From the get-go, you’ve gotten a rapid-fire Shuriken-launching gun known as the Electrodriver. I believed nothing else would prime this beginning weapon, however then I acquired the ridiculously heavy-hitting shotgun. This was my new favourite for some time, however then I acquired the SMG. Let me inform you, it is also sick.

There are six weapons in whole, and so they all really feel and carry out fantastically. It is one of many coolest, strongest, satisfying arsenals I’ve utilized in any shooter ever. That is all amplified by the truth that Anshar Studios went the additional mile on PS5 to amazingly implement each distinctive haptic rumble suggestions for every gun, in addition to totally different set off pulling sensations because of the adaptive triggers.

Not many groups exit of their manner for these little particulars anymore, and I am going to go to my grave saying that they are a few of the coolest issues that may be featured on this present console technology. There is a real lack of adoption and utilization of the haptics and adaptive triggers throughout third-party PS5 devs, so hats off for this additional effort.

Each firearm additionally has customizable alt-fire and proficiency upgrades you possibly can unlock when you hit sure efficiency thresholds. These absolutely deck out every gun in tremendous rad methods, particularly for those who take a ability tree path to make a weapon inflict elemental injury like ice, hearth, or electrical energy. The animations for all of those extra powers look superb.

Painkiller’s weapons are freaking superior.

And do not even get me began on the designs of the weapons themselves. All of them look unimaginable, with some bizarre melding of steampunk, Gothic, and sci-fi all one way or the other working collectively on the similar time. This leads to a few of my favourite trying firearms in all of gaming, really. I’ve no notes nor complaints concerning the weaponry out there right here.

Effectively… besides that it is a bit of a grind to unlock all six choices, and it feels completely pointless. I actually cannot wrap my head round the necessity to lock 4 weapons behind in-game forex paywalls (all earned in sport, not with actual cash), apart from making an attempt to maintain gamers within the sport longer to maintain unlocking extra choices. The issue is, all of it simply takes too lengthy (particularly for those who’re spending the forex on anything inside the sport), and there is not sufficient precise content material to make the grind value it.

Not Sufficient Selection

Whether or not you are taking part in with two actual people, two bots, or a mixture, Painkiller would not have a ton of precise content material. For a franchise recognized for enormous, hulking, imposing bosses, there are simply three right here in whole, every serving because the finale of a set of three raids inside the three totally different biomes.

All of it simply sort of blends collectively at a sure level.

This implies there are 9 ranges in whole, and whereas the theming adjustments, the vibe of the gameplay is nearly at all times the identical. You may filter waves of enemies in arenas, highlighted by a few elite/mini-boss enemies alongside the way in which. You may fill blood canisters to open gates by killing enemies inside the radius of the canister itself. You may throw lanterns into an even bigger lantern to open extra gates. You may have a far too lengthy and boring escort mission to information an vital ark to its vacation spot.

That is about it. In equity, the fight does really feel enjoyable for some time, however for me, it additionally rapidly devolved into “spray and pray” territory as I simply ran, slid, jumped, and grappled round one more area with the identical hordes of enemies time and again. Enemy selection wears out, so all of it simply sort of blends collectively at a sure level.

Nothing else is ever actually thrown into the combo. There are some secret rooms you possibly can open in your teammates by standing on stress panels, however it’s simply to seize some additional forex or possibly some therapeutic or ammo drops. There are small facet paths you are able to do some fundamental platforming on to earn some extra forex, however it by no means feels nice.

The three bosses are cool trying, however both have unclear gimmicks to defeat or simply find yourself feeling like injury sponges with assault patterns that do not really feel nice to dodge ever. And since all these ranges are literally raids, for those who occur to fail on the boss encounter, you will need to slog again by your complete, repetitive degree once more to get one other try.

The variability wears out, so one playthrough of every little thing has been a lot for me.

There’s additionally a bit of Roguelike mode that is been added, which has a randomly generated seed of a listing of random goals in random arenas to finish earlier than concluding with one of many three similar bosses randomly chosen on the finish. It is a good addition, however would not truly add a lot that is worthwhile or fascinating to the system. It is simply an much more linear solution to expertise the identical motion and goals.

I acquired by completely every little thing supplied and examined each offline and on-line in a single single sitting. Whereas there are totally different difficulties to try, and character skins I suppose you possibly can agonize over grinding for, I personally do not assume there’s a lot of a must replay raids or attempt new Rogue runs. The variability wears out, so one playthrough of every little thing has been a lot for me.

We Have DOOM At Dwelling

I do not like making direct comparisons to different franchises, however it’s genuinely unattainable to play this 2025 model of Painkiller with out simply eager about the newer DOOM video games your complete time. From the demon slaying, to the insane weapons, to the steel music, the vibe is all there.

Painkiller does have the co-op/squad-based/raid-based system added into the combo, however it would not truly quantity to sufficient to set the sport aside in any worthwhile manner. The sport is simply as enjoyable with actual human counterparts or bots, and is actually worse with randos for those who’re the one one which is aware of what they’re doing. I discovered myself preferring to play with bot teammates, after which, what’s actually the purpose?

The system and moment-to-moment gameplay loop in DOOM is not leagues above Painkiller. I imply, you are still going to be doing plenty of area clearing and grappling round arenas as you blast something that will get too near you within the face.

The distinction is within the thoughtfulness (or lack thereof) of precise enemy placements. In DOOM, you are preventing plenty of demons without delay, however it appears like there’s considering behind the place they spawn on the map, their skills, and the quantity you are pitted towards without delay.

In Painkiller, it simply appears like “Hey, this is an enormous, incomprehensible mass of our bodies on the display. Mow them down, it is gonna be superior.” Typically it’s, however as a rule, the display is only a big cluster of bullets, detonations, and combo counters ticking up and up whilst you actually do not even know what is going on on half the time.

Except for the really stellar weapons and a few of the awesome-looking areas, Painkiller goes to be a whole sufferer of comparability. It isn’t doing sufficient to face out by itself, and it finally ends up feeling like “Now we have DOOM at house,” simply with just a few folks alongside for the experience this time.

Painkiller has some really unimaginable weapons and powers, however not so much to do with them. I noticed every little thing the sport needed to provide in a single sitting, and whereas there may be replayability, the repetitive and boring goals forestall me from wanting to maintain going. The sport seems to be superior, however falls into generic territory in a number of methods, whereas additionally adopting plenty of that Marvel-esque vibe we’re all bored with. It is reductive to say, however we have already got DOOM at house.