Painkiller Evaluation

In case 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. Each enlargement bounced round to a brand new developer, however initially, this was a Individuals Can Fly title, the identical group that went on to make the OG Gears Of Warfare.

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

Let me get this out of the way in which early; I am not completely fascinated with reviewing this 2025 reboot by means of the lens of the 2004 title in any respect. To me, this can be a reboot from a brand new group, and I will deal with it as such. I do not assume it is honest to carry the sport to a earlier 20+ 12 months normal 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, lets?

All of that mentioned… Painkiller 2025 left rather a lot to be desired, a reboot of a beloved franchise or not. Whereas I do not assume it is a dangerous 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 listing with different, extra viable direct rivals on the market lately. Let’s dig in.

Beautiful, However Uneven Presentation With A Lifeless Finish Story

The place I’ll give Painkiller some main props is on the planet design. There are 9 raids/ranges to work your means by means of, equally spaced between three completely 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 and 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. All the pieces seems to be superb, and is completely disturbing sufficient to make the previous youth group child in my previous surprise if he actually must be experiencing such demonic visions (if my mother asks, killing demons makes me the great man, so it is okay).

From there, the story itself is satisfactory, however by no means really feels that attention-grabbing. 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 a queen, or one thing. I do not actually know.

Principally, everyone seems to be in Purgatory for some random cause, and the angel Metatron (not a Transformer) has roped you into combating off Azazel’s forces as a solution to expedite your sentence. However is all the things actually because it appears? Nicely, in fact not. Nonetheless, nothing ever actually pays off in a satisfying means, and the sport form 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’ll be able to 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 might additionally expertise my teammates and enemies alike zipping round arenas like their connection was dropping, which made a number of fight encounters really feel dangerous. Some enemies would additionally often begin individually transferring as if solely they had been particularly, individually dropping frames. The web expertise labored about the identical, so it was simply attention-grabbing 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 will have a rapid-fire Shuriken-launching gun referred to as the Electrodriver. I assumed nothing else would high this beginning weapon, however then I bought the ridiculously heavy-hitting shotgun. This was my new favourite for some time, however then I bought the SMG. Let me let you know, it is also sick.

There are six weapons in complete, they usually 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 completely different set off pulling sensations because of the adaptive triggers.

Not many groups exit of their means for these little particulars anymore, and I am going to go to my grave saying that they are among the coolest issues that may be featured on this present console era. 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’ll be able to unlock when you hit sure efficiency thresholds. These absolutely deck out every gun in tremendous rad methods, particularly when you take a talent tree path to make a weapon inflict elemental injury like ice, fireplace, or electrical energy. The animations for all of those further powers look superb.

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

Nicely… 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 foreign money 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 when you’re spending the foreign money on the rest throughout 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 does not have a ton of precise content material. For a franchise recognized for large, hulking, imposing bosses, there are simply three right here in complete, every serving because the finale of a set of three raids throughout the three completely different biomes.

This implies there are 9 ranges in complete, and whereas the theming modifications, the vibe of the gameplay is nearly all the time the identical. You will filter out waves of enemies in arenas, highlighted by a few elite/mini-boss enemies alongside the way in which. You will fill blood canisters to open gates by killing enemies throughout the radius of the canister itself. You will throw lanterns into a much bigger lantern to open extra gates. You will have a far too lengthy and boring escort mission to information an necessary 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 shortly devolved into “spray and pray” territory as I simply ran, slid, jumped, and grappled round yet one more area with the identical hordes of enemies time and again. Enemy selection wears out, so all of it simply form of blends collectively at a sure level.

Nothing else is ever actually thrown into the combination. There are some secret rooms you’ll be able to open on your teammates by standing on stress panels, however it’s simply to seize some additional foreign money or perhaps some therapeutic or ammo drops. There are small facet paths you are able to do some fundamental platforming on to earn some extra foreign money, 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, when you occur to fail on the boss encounter, you will should slog again by means of all the, repetitive stage once more to get one other try.

There’s additionally just a little Roguelike mode that is been added, which has a randomly generated seed of a listing of random targets 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 does not really add a lot that is worthwhile or attention-grabbing to the formulation. It is simply an much more linear solution to expertise the identical motion and targets.

I bought by means of completely all the things supplied and examined each offline and on-line in a single single sitting. Whereas there are completely different difficulties to try, and character skins I suppose you’ll be able to agonize over grinding for, I personally do not assume there’s a lot of a must replay raids or attempt new Rogue runs. The range wears out, so one playthrough of all the things has been loads for me.

We Have DOOM At Residence

I do not like making direct comparisons to different franchises, however it’s genuinely not possible to play this 2025 model of Painkiller with out simply fascinated about the newer DOOM video games all the 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 formulation added into the combination, however it does not really quantity to sufficient to set the sport aside in any worthwhile means. The sport is simply as enjoyable with actual human counterparts or bots, and is the truth is worse with randos when you’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 formulation and moment-to-moment gameplay loop in DOOM is not leagues above Painkiller. I imply, you are still going to be doing a whole lot 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 combating a whole lot of demons directly, however it appears like there’s pondering behind the place they spawn on the map, their skills, and the quantity you are pitted in opposition to directly.

In Painkiller, it simply appears like “Hey, here is a large, 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 when you actually do not even know what is going on on half the time.

Other than the actually stellar weapons and among 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 “We have now DOOM at house,” simply with just a few individuals alongside for the trip this time.

Painkiller has some actually unbelievable weapons and powers, however not rather a lot to do with them. I noticed all the things the sport needed to provide in a single sitting, and whereas there may be replayability, the repetitive and boring targets stop 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 a whole lot of that Marvel-esque vibe we’re all bored with. It is reductive to say, however we have already got DOOM at house.