Mountaintop Studios and popular creator and former Counter-Strike and Valorant pro, Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek have brought a contender to the F2P multiplayer tactical FPS genre. Mountaintop hopes to make a big break with Spectre Divide, as they are an independent studio composed of veterans from Respawn, Epic Games, Riot Games, Bungie, and the like. Spectre Divide features a unique art style for the genre with sci-fi comic book art and the classic Japanese cel animation of the ’90s—a little reminiscent of Rollerdrome or the No More Heroes games. What is more distinct about this game is its gameplay gimmick.

At first glance, the concept of controlling two characters simultaneously does not seem like something that should work in a relatively fast-paced competitive shooter game. Yes, there is some time to strategize around the map and jump-peak or use utility to gain information. However, adding a new concept, like having a second body, appears to be a dynamic addition.

The function of what the devs call ‘Duality’ allows players to control their ‘Spectre’ or second body, as well as their main body. Players can swap between the two bodies. The coolest part is that players can open up their map to lay out their two bodies during the Buy Phase/Pre-round Phase—including having the bodies face a certain direction. Moving characters around via clicking the map looks so choppy and jarring, but once the pre-round timer is up, this function ceases.

Having the second body can be super helpful. If a player’s unused body is idle, it can still give information that an enemy is near or if an enemy is in sight through danger indicators. Additionally, the unused body goes into a crouch position, making it harder for enemies to spot when placed correctly. Or it can be great to have it crouched slightly, peeking as a decoy at strategic angles.

The unused body can also be moved through the ‘pucking’ action, with some delay depending on the distance. This is the primary function so when the main player dies, they are not stuck trying to run all the way from where they had their Spectre setup. Like the game’s name implies, it is relatively smart to divide the Spectre from the main body.

Spectre Divide has utility skills, which are very similar to various Hero skills in Overwatch or Agent utility in Valorant. Another important distinction with Spectre Divide is that there are no Champions, Heroes or Agents; there are Sponsors. Sponsors work in place of roles, such as Assault/ADC/Dualist or Support/Healer in other games. Having a good balance of Sponsors can easily make or break a victory in this game, with the various assortment of utility skills—including recon.

A big question many new players who came from other FPS games asked was what the spray/recoil patterns for each gun, aiming, and ADS aiming were like. For the first part, every fully automatic and semi-automatic gun had a random spray pattern. This is an interesting feature because it means it is not something someone can particularly get used to, like a Vandal spray pattern in Valorant or an AK-47 spray and recoil pattern in CS2 or CS:GO.

“Another important distinction with Spectre Divide is that there are no Champions, Heroes or Agents; there are Sponsors.”

It means that players should practice their ADS firing since the accuracy is pretty near to one-hundred percent. There is also no bullet punch when taking damage, so players do not have to worry about suddenly aiming at the sky when getting shot at. Single-tap or burst-fire skills are more important in Spectre Divide for the guns that require it, otherwise ADS-ing and spraying is the way to go. And like Apex Legends, running in this FPS tac-shooter is encouraged.

What irked me and my teammates the most is the fact that enemy colour highlights are insanely non-user-friendly. It took a few games for us to not accidentally shoot at one of our teammates or teammates’ idle body. Eventually we got used to it, but it was not as distinguished as other FPS games.

The things that will have many Spectre Divide players divided will probably be how overstimulating it can be to jump into a match at first, as well as how many guns they will have to know the names of. The Duster RX6 plays like a Desert Eagle or Sheriff; the M67 Reaver plays like an AK-47, dishing out great range and damage; and the Harpe and Prototype-OP play very much like a high-powered sniper in most FPS games. One shot to the head at any range, one kill, baby!

The gun buys are interesting in Spectre Divide, sort of a mashup of Call of Duty multiplayer default loadouts. Guns are bought in pairs and distributed to the player and the Spectre. Interestingly enough, when one of the characters one player controls dies but the other lives, there can be special economic buys for keeping the same pairing of guns in the next round.

Based on a lot of feedback from other players I talked to from games and my own teammates, I have gathered that this game comes off as something for those who already have put in some if not countless, hours into other FPS games. Spectre Divide is easily an amalgamation of games like Valorant, Apex Legends, Overwatch, Halo, amongst many more. This makes sense since a lot of Mountaintop Studios’ team used to work at the companies that made many of those titles.

There are a lot of fun mechanics to try and experiment with in Spectre Divide, such as using Ghostlink Collective’s Dupe ability while pucking away or using it and running with the decoy body. Another cool thing we found out was how Ryker Industries’ Wave Scan could scan the whole map if you throw it while pucking away.

“The ultimate judgment of Spectre Divide is how it may not be as inviting to newer FPS gamers.”

Hopefully by launch, there will be better aesthetic additions to the game—here is hoping there will be a way to do Fortnite-adjacent dances in the team lobby. The sprays and gun buddies could also be improved upon, but again, that may come with more time and players making memes and/or pro-player and community involvement to grow the fan base of Spectre Divide.

The ultimate judgment of Spectre Divide is how it may not be as inviting to newer FPS gamers. Even someone who is well-versed in other FPS titles will struggle a bit getting used to pucking around their Spectres, and learning more about the advantages and disadvantages of things like guns or Sponsors.

There are a lot of extra keybinds to learn and re-map, too, but the tutorial does a decent enough job explaining it all. The economy catch-up system is great, too, since two losses allow the losing team to get a free light shield. But it could be good for newer players ithe a sense that they can build the proper game sense tailored to this game versus carrying over irrelevant habits from other FPS games.

Spectre Divide will not be out on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles at launch, but devs have stated that they have “future plans for consoles.” There is also no release date for PC yet either.

Friends vs Friends is a chaotic shooter that introduces cards into the mix, creating custom decks to blast your enemies (and probably a few friends). Friends vs Friends is an action paced,...

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It's been two years since Mafia developer Hangar 13 confirmed it was working on a new entry in its open-world crime series, and the time has finally come for it to be revealed to the world. It's called Mafia: The Old Country and is heading to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC next year.

While 2016's Mafia 3 shunted the series forward in time to the late 60s (the first two games spanned the 1930s, 40s, and 50s between them), The Old Country is going backward, presenting players with a "gritty mob story set in the brutal underworld of 1900s Sicily."

"Fight to survive in this dangerous and unforgiving era," teases the scant bit of blurb accompanying today's teaser trailer, "with action brought to life by the authentic realism and rich storytelling that the critically acclaimed Mafia series is known for."

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Bethesda's first big expansion to Starfield, Shattered Space, will launch for PC and Xbox Series X/S on 30th September.

We got a quick look at the upcoming addition tonight during Gamescom Opening Night Live, in a trailer that mostly focused on the REV-8 land vehicle included in August's free game update.

Ahead of launch, marketing for Starfield felt fairly sober and dramatic - it's fair to say tonight's video takes a more upbeat tone. Previously, Bethesda's Todd Howard said that the lack of land vehicles was a deliberate choice - but it's now something that's being walked (or driven) back.

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ARC Raiders - the free-to-play PvPvE extraction shooter from The Finals developer Embark Studios - has resurfaced following an extended period of retooling, and is now launching as a premium title for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 next year.

If you're struggling to remember much about ARC Raiders, that might be because few details have been shared since its announcement back in 2021. It was originally set to release in 2022, but its launch has continued to slip since then - first into 2023 so Embark could focus on The Finals, and latterly while the studio continued to tinker with the title following a genre change.

But it turns out its switch from co-operative third-person shooter to PvPvE extraction shooter (its original form "wasn't really fun", Embark admitted during a recent press event) wasn't to be ARC Raiders' only notable change. It's now been re-announced as a $40 USD premium title, jettisoning its previous free-to-play form, albeit while still remaining a live-service game.

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Microsoft has confirmed the next batch of titles headed to Xbox Game Pass for the latter half of August: Atlas Fallen, Core Keeper, and Star Trucker.

Then there's that little known game called Call of Duty Black Ops 6. You'll be able to participate in the early access open beta when it kicks off for Xbox Game Pass subscribers on 30th August, 2024, with pre-downloading available from 28th August.

"Sure, it takes itself way too seriously and the loot chase can get monotonous, but everything outside of the monster-slaying is just an excuse to get right back to the monster-slaying. Or make the monster-slaying cooler with upgrades," we said in our Atlas Fallen review.

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Hunt: Showdown 1896 - the huge new update that necessitated an engine upgrade and introduced all new UI - has just hit an all-new concurrent player peak of over 60,000.

Up until the 1896 update dropped on 15th August, the extraction shooter's simultaneous player record - set back in October 2023 - sat at a modest 42,000ish players.

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Just when Geoff Keighley had started to fade from your memory, he comes rubber-banding back with a vengeance - snap! It's Gamescom week and it kicks off with Opening Night Live this evening from 7pm UK time (other Opening Night Live timings here). A pre-show with additional announcements will begin at 6.30pm UK. We'll be watching and reporting on it live, as always, right here, so you can either keep abreast of announcements while you do something else, or you can join in with your thoughtful and amusing comments. Please keep us company. Please.

What do we expect to see today? Well, probably Geoff Keighley, but also the new Indiana Jones game, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Dune Awakening. We're also expecting Little Nightmares creator Tarsier to unveil its new project, which could be exciting. On top of that: Diablo 4 expansion Vessel of Hatred, Civilization 7, hero shooter Marvel Rivals, Lost Records (the project made by the creators of Life is Strange), Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (which was recently delayed), and Black Ops 6. Keighley's best pal Hideo Kojima has also been tweeting enigmatic silhouetted pictures of actors who are presumably playing roles in Death Stranding 2.

And before you ask, "Yes, there will be new game announcements," Keighley said on X.

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The creator of the now-defunct Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 mod, H2M, has opened up about what happened when Activision slapped the mod with a cease and desist, admitting, "the past couple of days have not gone to plan".

Although the mod - which upgraded Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer mode - was announced over a year ago, the cease and desist arrived the day before the mod was scheduled to be released last week, forcing the project to "shut down [...] immediately and permanently".

Shortly thereafter, unhappy Modern Warfare 2 fans jumped onto the Steam page to express their dismay.

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Netflix has given us our best look yet at its upcoming animated series, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.

The show is scheduled to make its debut on the streaming service this autumn, and features the vocal talents of the MCU's Hayley Atwell as Lara Croft. It's all set to take place after the events of the Tomb Raider Survivor trilogy, which comprised Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

"Following the events of the Survivor Trilogy, Lara Croft (voiced by Hayley Atwell) has abandoned her friends to embark on increasingly more perilous solo adventures," reads the official blurb. "But she must return home when a dangerous and powerful Chinese artefact is stolen from Croft Manor by a thief with an uncanny personal connection."

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The Borderlands film adaptation will seemingly be available to watch digitally from the comfort of your home very soon.

While nothing has been officially announced by Lionsgate itself, multiple sources such The Hollywood Handle, DVD Release Dates, ScreenTime and When to Stream all have the Cate Blanchett-fronted film listed as being made available digitally from as soon as 30th August.

That's less than a month after its cinematic release, with the film only debuting on 9th August.

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Ubisoft has cut 45 staff across two of its North American studios, as part of its third round of redundancies so far this year.

The company has laid off workers at both Ubisoft San Francisco, the developer of XDefiant, and Red Storm Entertainment, which had been working on the now-cancelled The Division: Heartland live service game.

"Last week Ubisoft San Francisco and Red Storm Entertainment informed their teams of a restructuring that will result in 45 employees leaving Ubisoft," a spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Eurogamer.

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Just a month after its last free event, Star Citizen is free-to-play again, from now until 22nd August, 2024.

That means everyone can jump in and give the space sim a chance, as well as try out all "top 16 ships", "granting both green and grizzled pilots the ability to try out eligible ships before choosing which one to vote for" at this year's Ship Showdown event.

For the last few weeks, the community has been voting for their favourite ships and ground vehicles with their own "original creations", including videos, songs, photos, paintings, and more.

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nDreams, the developer behind one of my all-time favourite VR titles, Synapse, has announced a new shooter game called Vendetta Forever during this week's VR Games Showcase.

If that wasn't cause for celebration enough, nDreams also released a short, Quest-exclusive demo for the game that I played through for this week's episode of VR Corner. In the video, you can see me play the Quest 3 version, but it will also be available on the Quest Pro, Quest 2 and the PS VR2 at some point in October.

So what is Vendetta Forever? Well the easiest way to describe it is a mash-up of Superhot and Pistol Whip, with some of the best aspects of both games cherry-picked and given a little twist to make them feel fresh and unique. The monochromatic-but-not-quite visuals are definitely more Pistol Whip-y, but the title screen is just full of those iconic Superhot reds, whites and blacks. Then there's the main menu, which is almost a carbon copy of Pistol Whip's, with mutator and level select options, alongside online leaderboards and a nice little shooting gallery area which is something Pistol Whip does lack.

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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is one of Digital Foundry's most eagerly anticipated games, effectively hitting the beats that made the first series entry so enjoyable. The grand scale of the environments, the dense swarms of tyranids, the absolute carnage of combat - it's all back in Space Marine 2, enhanced by the impressive technical capabilities of the Swarm engine. Focus Entertainment recently shared a preview build of the PC version of the game, and we're eager to share our impressions with you. We're liking what we see - but Space Marine 2 pushes hardware, which poses interesting challenges to the current generation of consoles, especially on the CPU side.

Saber Interactive has taken on development duties for this game, and our first impression is that it's done a fantastic job of capturing the Warhammer 40,000 aesthetic: colossal, heroic figures, massive-scale gothic architecture stretching out into the far distance and an enviable wealth of animated detail in the immediate area. The sense of density is only heightened once you get your first taste of combat: dozens of tyranids rushing you, while hundreds (possibly even thousands more) can sometimes be seen massing in the background.

Density in detail at close range also impresses, though it's not quite to the same extremes as Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. That said, as third-person game up against a first-person experience, that's not actually a bad thing. It works exceptionally well. The emphasis on detail also means that something has to give elsewhere: Space Marine 2 doesn't seem to be using cutting-edge lighting or global illumination technology, but you do get accomplished versions of mature technologies like shadow maps, screen-space reflections and screen-space ambient occlusion, while the GI solution (which does seem pre-calculated or 'baked') does give a good impression of light bounce. The quality of the physically-based materials also works well.

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Destiny developer Bungie says it has addressed an issue where players have had their usernames changed by its "name moderation tool".

After "actively investigating" the issue for 24 hours, Bungie advised that while it had "identified the issue that was forcing a high number of Bungie name changes", it was "continuing to investigate" what happened and how "to address player accounts that were impacted".

Although Bungie acknowledged that a "high number of account names have been changed", the studio stopped short of confirming exactly how many players were affected.

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If you cast your minds back to October 2021, you may recall the news that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was set to make its way to the VR headset, Oculus Quest 2. While details on the project were thin on the ground at this time, it was said to have been "many years in the making".

However, not quite three years since that initial announcement, Meta has now said work on the VR port is "on hold indefinitely".

In response to a YouTube commenter inquiring as to the whereabouts of GTA: San Andreas VR, the official Meta Quest Vr account replied: "GTA: San Andreas is on hold indefinitely while we both focus on other projects."

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered mod, H2M, has been cancelled following a cease and desist demand from Activision.

Although the mod - which upgraded Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer mode - was announced over a year ago, the cease and desist arrived yesterday, a day before the mod was scheduled to be released later today.

"Today, our team members received a Cease & Desist order on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the H2M-Mod project," the team explained on Twitter/X.

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Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has said he has "no regrets" over his company's decision to break Apple and Google's terms of service back in August 2020 - something that saw the hugely-popular Fortnite booted off both iPhone and Android storefronts.

The carefully choreographed stunt sparked four years of legal wrangling over Apple and Google's app store policies - and has ultimately led to Epic Games launching its own mobile store today on Android worldwide and on iPhone in mainland Europe, thanks to policy changes demanded of Apple by the EU.

"We've probably lost a billion dollars not having Fortnite on iOS the past four years," Sweeney said, in a briefing to press ahead of the Epic Games Store on mobile going live. "But what's the price of freedom?"

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Kaitlyn Dever, the actress portraying Abby Anderson in the second season of HBO's The Last of Us adaptation, required extra security during filming for her own protection.

This comes from fellow castmate Isabel Merced, who is playing Dina in the show. Speaking with Josh Horowitz on Happy Sad Confused, Merced discussed the strong emotions the series can spark within some that have resulted in volatile reactions from so-called fans.

When Horowitz said he was concerned about Dever, and the toxicity she will likely receive "through proxy of being Abby", Merced stated there are "so many strange people" who "genuinely hate" the character. This is despite her being completely fictional. And, because of this, Dever was required to have extra security during the filming for the second season.

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Call of Duty has become an absolute hard drive hog in recent years, with 2023's entry managing to consume over 200GB of storage in some cases. That all might be about to change, however, as Activision has announced major changes to the way it'll be handing installs with this year's Black Ops 6, promising "smaller and more customised downloads" as a result.

Activision shared the news in a post on its Call of Duty blog, explaining its optimisation work will begin with a revamp of "the experience formerly known as Call of Duty HQ". This revamp is set to roll out over the course of several updates ahead of Black Ops 6's October launch, and will promises to introduce a streamlined interface, direct access to games, more control over downloads, and expanded texture streaming technology to reduce file sizes.

A first update to reorganise game content arrives on 21st August. Then, following Black Ops 6's open beta on 30th August, a new user interface and other "remaining updates" are scheduled for mid-October. After these "larger initial updates", Activision says future Call of Duty downloads will decrease in size and existing files will take up less space on players' device.

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For many, scaling Mount Everest has stood as the ultimate challenge of one's strength and endurance. An achievement of a lifetime. For long-time Doom players, however, there is an equivalent: NUTS.WAD. Legend has it that NUTS.WAD descended upon Doom players in the year 2001: a map from the future in which players are dropped into a single map with more than 10,000 enemies and a handful of power-ups. And now - for the first time ever - it's playable on a games console.

I'm half-joking, of course, but the ability to load in any Doom mod is just one great feature found in the latest version of Doom and Doom 2. Helmed by Nightdive in cooperation with id Software and Machine Games, this new version is worth looking at as it is the most feature rich, best-performing version of Doom on consoles. It's available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series consoles, Switch and even last-gen PS4 and Xbox hardware. The game was transitioned over to Nightdive's KEX engine and brings with it a vast array of enhancements - 120fps support on consoles, 16-player multiplayer including co-op, and a new soundtrack from the legendary Andrew Hulshult.

But it was the mod support that was my first destination and with it, the chance to see how Nightdive's work would cope with the NUTS.WAD challenge. This pushes beyond the limits of what Doom engine was intended to handle and now we can test it on console and the results are interesting. Before we go on, it's worth stressing that all current-gen machines can handle 4K gaming at 120fps - and yes, that includes Series S. The engine is optimised and fast - all the included content and every map I tested runs like greased lightning. I wanted to raise this caveat because the challenge of NUTS.WAD is so extreme and cruel that I don't want people to get the wrong idea. The fact that you can run NUTS.WAD at all is cause for celebration!

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Activision sure is dragging out its reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Zombies mode. But if you're sucker for the undead stuff, there's more where last week's trailer and gameplay reveal came from, with developer Treyarch having now offered a tour of Zombies' Terminus map.

Terminus Island is one of two maps that'll be available at launch (the other being the West Virginian town of Liberty Falls), and Treyarch calls it "one of the largest round-based Zombies maps ever created". Black Ops 6's Zombies mode takes place in the early 90s - five years after the events of Black Ops Cold War's Zombies mode - and Terminus Island serves as a prison for some familiar Requiem faces. After their liberation early at the start of the story, players can explore the prison itself before moving out to investigate its tropical island surroundings.

There's a secret research facility specialising in "weird science" (in case you were wondering where the zombies might spring up from this time), as well as the ocean, and assorted smaller islands - all of which players will visit as part of Terminus' main quest. It's described as a "living world" full of scripted encounters, ranging from zombies smashing out of vats and prison guards still trying to control the undead threat, to less fortunate souls being chomped on.

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Eli Roth's recent Borderlands film adaptation hasn't exactly had the best debut. Ahead of release, critics far and wide shared disparaging reviews of the adaptation, with phrases such as "disaster" and "lifeless, unfunny, and visually repulsive dud" being bandied about.

And then the film was released and, well, things didn't really get much better. The Cate Blanchette-fronted adaptation generated just $4m on its opening day, a disappointing result that looks set to result in the film becoming a commercial flop.

In fact, Borderlands has been such a misfire that now even filmmaker Uwe Boll - who previously directed that Alone in the Dark adaptation, which saw him nominated for not one but two 'Worst Director' awards (one of which he won) - is taking a swipe at it.

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Developer: Gazelle    Publisher: Banpresto   Release: 10/25/96    Genre: Shooter This one has been a long time coming. In my early days on the internet I discovered the vast Saturn import library of shooters. The list is insane and...

The post Batsugun appeared first on Classic-Games.net.

Developer: Manjyudo   Publisher: Pack-In-Video   Release: 03/23/90   Genre: Shooter I like shooters. I am going by the old school definition of the word, or what we call shmups today. From my early days with Gradius and R-Type to...

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Remnant: From the Ashes is undeniably worthy of praise, especially when it comes to the art direction and technical execution. Though not flawless by any stretch (its environments might appear somewhat stark or monotonous at times, but remember it is a 2019 game), only partially relieved by atmospheric elements present within each world (even though these worlds were generated procedurally and contained diverse areas), though its overall results speak to developer skills who excel in game design even under tight budget restrictions. Gunfire Games certainly excel at doing just this, more for less, a Soulslike experience with epic battles against massive bosses being just an example of their mastery.

Remnant: From the Ashes - You Will Not Notice It Is a Game on a Tight Budget

Remnant: From the Ashes is a game created with a tight budget, which many players forget while playing it as it is truly extraordinary and easily comparable with big-budget productions. The art design combined with a strong sense of inspiration (great creativity) makes for a truly remarkable performance when budget constraints are present, and the developers were really good at guiding this project. For this reason, you can safely buy Remnant: From the Ashes for PlayStation: Gunfire Games has excelled simultaneously artistically/creatively and technically. We can imagine this as part of an outstanding development team effort that displays their skill while exuberant artistic vision with spectacular technical execution, resulting in an end product that proves their capabilities once more!

Satisfying Boss Fights

Consider, for instance, our experience battling Mallet as our initial major boss: it became an agonizing battle spanning multiple nights; at three points close to being victorious, I came within inches of winning each time. only to find it all slipping away by just one inch or less! If you like this kind of struggle and you want to buy cheap PS4 games, Remnant: From the Ashes is one of the best choices available even today. My fight against Mallet was difficult and finally satisfying...the array of emotions I felt in such moments shows just how capable these developers were in creating challenging yet emotionally fulfilling gaming experiences that leave players satisfied but needing another go!

Remnant: From the Ashes is a Hybrid of Genres

Roguelikes have long employed such mechanics as we can see in Remnant: From the Ashes, however, this one takes it one step further by adopting the concept of Leentjebuurspelen - an intriguing hybridization of popular genres and gaming elements from recent decades - including cover systems inspired by Gears of War, cooperative dynamics that recall Destiny, acquired skills associated with recent shooters with RPG elements as well as acquired abilities that bring to mind recent shooters featuring RPG components. While such an amalgam may typically raise concerns, Remnant skillfully weaves these disparate elements together into an integrated whole; influences recognized from multiple games never hinder its flow primarily thanks to one dominant inspiration which serves as its structural backbone - something comparable to Dark Souls itself!

Remnant: From the Ashes - Campaign or Multiplayer?

Remnant: From the Ashes defies the misconception that games tend to soften with more players; its challenge adapts dynamically by increasing adversary numbers and strengthening boss health in proportion with each additional comrade in your party/group. It is another well-designed feature that not so many cheap PS5 games have. You have the choice between embarking alone for an engaging story journey/campaign or teaming up (with friends or strangers) in a 3-players cooperative session for quick collective destruction of adversaries; loot distribution follows an equal 1:1 ratio among participants within any session to ensure outcomes are in alignment with individual needs and preferences. Whatever you choose, Remnant: From the Ashes will deliver.

First person shooters (FPS) have been around for quite a while. Of all the gaming trends to come and go over the last four decades, it seems like FPS games refuse to go down. Ever since the likes of Wolfenstein and Doom popularized the idea of shooting from a first person perspective, the genre has continually dominated as some of the best selling and highest rated games of all time. There's a huge resurgence of sorts happening in the FPS world right now with countless games attempting to recapture one of the best time periods for the genre itself – the 1990s.

Games like Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Hexen, Heretic, and the aforementioned Doom were at the top of the gaming food chain in the '90s. Recently coined "boomer shooters," these fast-paced shooters had an emphasis on movement, crazy over-the-top weapons, minimal story, huge set pieces, and intricate level design. This is in stark contrast to the more modern realistic take on the FPS genre we've seen over the last few years. Action was the name of the game. You didn't always need to know why you were shooting these awesome guns at these oftentimes disgusting and monstrous baddies, just that shooting them felt exhilarating and challenging. The point of these games wasn't to move you emotionally or challenge your world view; it was about turning you into an action hero defying the odds and (usually) saving the world.

Recently coined "boomer shooters," these fast-paced shooters had an emphasis on movement, crazy over-the-top weapons, minimal story, huge set pieces, and intricate level design.

The last 10 years have provided an influx of modern boomer shooters to introduce a new audience to the woefully underrepresented genre. A game like Doom Eternal is a perfect example of modernization within in the retro FPS space. Doom Eternal, and a lot of games like it, tend to skew towards a complete modern version of every aspect of the boomer shooter itself. This modernization arguably makes for an objectively better gaming experience overall, but it fails to scratch that itch of the pixelated masterpieces of the 1990s. Doom Eternal feels like the best Doom game, but it doesn't feel exclusively like Doom. That's where a game like Phantom Fury steps in, and boy does it scratch that itch hard.

Phantom Fury was developed by Slipgate Ironworks and Phoenix Game productions. It is the sequel to 2019's Ion Fury, which is itself a sequel to 2016's Bombshell. At first glance, Phantom Fury may not look like anything too unique. Like many titles in this genre, Phantom Fury presents itself with the modern retro aesthetic; pixelated textures, blocky and polygonal in-game models, and a vintage level design. The devil is definitely in the details, however, as Phantom Fury takes advantage of how many more pixels can be packed into these tighter spaces thanks to the "modern" part of today's technology. The game can look downright beautiful at certain points, especially during the outdoors sections, and it really captures that ever-so-important aspect of modern retro games – it feels like how I remember games looking like back then.

As far as gameplay is concerned, it is a little bit less exciting than the art style direction may make it seem. Phantom Fury covers the basics of what a boomer shooter should be: there's a huge arsenal of fun and inventive weapons that all serve different purposes, ammo can sometimes be hard to come by and as such forces the player to switch weapons and be thoughtful with their choices, staying in one spot for too long means you'll get chewed up by enemy fire, and your health and armor are pickups that don't regenerate when you're outside of combat. While this may be all pretty standard stuff when it comes to boomer shooters, Phantom Fury is still really fun to play. Guns feel decidedly punchy and devastating to use, with the aim of the game not necessarily being the best crack shot in the room, more-so just annihilating all of the enemies in front of you. So many of the weapons – like the main character's delightfully over-the-top triple-barrelled revolver known as "Loverboy" – look like they should put bowling ball sized holes in people, and Phantom Fury understands this. Many of the more powerful weapons will kill a weaker enemy in a single shot, making mowing down your combatants extremely satisfying.

The real beauty of Phantom Fury shines through in its loving depiction of those who came before. There are so many games in this genre (such as the much maligned Duke Nukem Forever) that takes these references way too far. This not only forces the experience to lose all of its own identity, but it causes the games to slide from "cheeky little reference" to "irreverence and envy for a game it considers its better." Phantom Fury doesn't do this, instead taking much of what made FPS games from previous time periods great and drawing from them exclusively.

Doom Eternal feels like the best Doom game, but it doesn't feel exclusively like Doom. That's where a game like Phantom Fury steps in, and boy does it scratch that itch hard.

So many times I found myself smiling at how well this game did at feeling like an experience I've had before while being something completely new. So many shooters from the past strove to be an example of how intricate physics engines could get and how to implement them in a fun and dynamic way. A symptom of this is that every single object in a lot of these games are interactable, oftentimes for no good reason. Appropriately, pretty much everything in Phantom Fury has some sort of physics. Whether you're throwing a bottle across the room for fun or spinning an office chair endlessly while it squeaks, if it looks like you can mess with it, you probably can. When you read computer terminals to activate objects or read information, it zooms in on the actual terminal itself; arcade and claw machines are totally usable, with some going as far as giving you ammo or keeping up with your high score; using keypads means physically manipulating each individual button with a virtual outstretched finger. It seems like a lot of these aspects of the retro shooter have been deemed unnecessary, but it all went so far in immersing the player in the world around them. Sometimes it can slow down the pace of the game, but for the most part, it's a net positive to make more of the world feel real, despite the pixelated textures. This goes as far as being able to use the physics to solve puzzles or circumnavigate an obstacle, which can show a real relationship between the player and the world they're in. One of my personal favorite aspects of boomer shooters makes a return here as well, being that you are able to get your health and armor over 100% if you're able to find health capsules and armor pieces after you're already full. It isn't a huge change, but it's enough to make diving after health and constantly checking every nook and cranny for secret areas (of which there are many if you look around) worth it. This includes the various food items found throughout the game, and there's something so charmingly video game-y about opening up a bedside table, seeing a half-eaten slice of pizza, and devouring it without hesitation for the single percentage of health boost. All of this speaks nothing to the literal references to other games found within Phantom Fury. Little extra details go a long way, and whether it's porta potties named after Portal or a soda brand named after Doom's cacodemons, there's always more fun Easter eggs right around the corner if you look hard enough.

There's a certain level of jank present in Phantom Fury that's very easy to adore. AI can sometimes be a little bit wonky, movement can feel a little bit strange, and hit detection can seem off. Even though these aspects can easily be interpreted as a negative, it truly does add to the feel that you're playing something from an antiquated era. Those of you who are familiar with boomer shooters may see Phantom Fury as just another entry in the popular genre, but for me, it helped satisfy a craving I've been having for a good long while. Even though it never hits the same level of high as these titles, there were multiple times throughout where I had the feeling I was playing the original Half-Life or even the cult-darling Timesplitters. If a $25 USD fps released to relatively quiet reception can do that, I think it hits every mark it sets out to.

The obligatory sewer level still sucks, though.

Arc Raiders was announced back in 2021 as a free-to-play co-op third-person shooter, and has been delayed several times since. That's partly because Embark Studios' other in-development game, The Finals, progressed faster than planned and stole its momentum. It's also because it was re-tooled at some point as a PvPvE extraction shooter.

Now it's back again, aiming for release next year, and it's been re-tooled a little more: it's no longer free-to-play.

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Fine, that was slightly mean of me. There’s clearly at least fifteen people still playing Starfield, and Bethesda are today rewarding their commitment with a free buggy named the Rev-8. Today! It actually looks pretty nifty. With it, you’ll be able to hop, jump, and skip the tedious ballache that was hoofing it across the RPG’s needlessly large planets. Here’s a looksie:

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There's a new instalment of Supermassive's Dark Pictures anthology series on the way, and it's set in Outer Space, wherein you'll find the Darkest Pictures of all. Out in 2025, Directive 8020 is the story of the good ship Cassiopeia, a human colony vessel that is infiltrated by Something Icky. The Something Icky is capable of mimicking humans. So that'd be a bit like Alien and a bit like The Thing, then. Sorry, human colonists!

Directive 8020 was teased at the end of the last Dark Pictures instalment, 2022's The Devil in Me. A trailer also leaked back in November 2022. Now, we have an official announcement video.

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Activision have just screened an abbreviated video of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 campaign level “Most Wanted”, in which you and a buddy infiltrate a US fundraiser to save returning character Adler from Bad Dudes. Good news, people who like Call Of Duty: this looks like Call Of Duty. It’s got a homing knife, an exploding remote-controlled car and a big chap in full face armour with an overcompensatory minigun. Catch the full video below.

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Last week, the Xitter account for H2M - a mod aiming to recreate the heyday of classic Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer inside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered - announced that they had received a cease and desist from Activision Blizzard, and would shut down the project. The 2022 version of Modern Warfare 2 lacked the original’s multiplayer, and H2M was so highly-anticipated that Steam sales of the 2016 FPS balooned in the lead-up to the mod’s planned release date. It didn't hurt that Activision had it on sale, of course, but the timing lined up so well that some fans speculated the discount was a deliberate bait-and-switch on the publisher’s part to profit from excitement over a mod they were already planning to shut down.

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Crytek's sweaty and superlative survival boss-rush shooter Hunt: Showdown has been relaunched as Hunt: Showdown 1896, introducing a comprehensive technological update alongside a chronological leap forward to a new map in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. As is tradition for big 2.0-style updates, some players absolutely loathe it, with recent Steam user reviews dragging the consensus underwater.

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For years, our PC storage has wobbled and buckled beneath the tyranny of gigantic Call Of Duty installs. Like 13th century peasants straining to convey huge, teetering loads of freshly quarried LMGs, our SSDs cry out for justice. Perhaps scenting imminent rebellion and a mass audience desertion to low-poly shooters with more civilised file sizes, Activision have relented. Future installations of the much-padded FPS will be "smaller and more customised", though in a last cruel stroke of villainy, they want you to download a large update to prepare the ground.

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In the grim heatwave of the midsummer, everyone you know would love to come hunch over a table and roll dice for six hours, actually, but they’ve got that thing on. You remember that thing, right? Plus, no-one’s got a big enough table. Or the new errata. Also, Trevor’s been banging on about lady Custodes for five months straight and nobody wants to be around him right now. Thank the Omni-trevor, then, for the three-player co-op of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. “Warhammer with the boys?” said Horace as he stretchily dished out preview keys from an entirely different postcode. James, Edwin and Nic were initially all booked-up for the week, but Horace repeated himself, making it absolutely clear that it wasn’t a question.

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KIBORG: Arena feels like a throwback in several ways that I quite enjoy. It’s a free prologue to the upcoming cyberpunk puncher KIBORG. The titular arena is a large room in which you, a large man, bash a large amount of enemies. You have to punch a gong between waves to trigger the next, and this struck me as a nice pre-emptive nudge that every problem you face in Kiborg can be solved by rapidly moving your fist towards offending objects, which turned out not to be too far off the mark.

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It’s been looking grim for Super Earth recently. I mean, not really. Multiplayer shooty Helldivers 2 is still sitting around 35,000 concurrent players, which is perfectly respectable, if only around 10% of its peak back in April. Still, a clutch of disgruntled ‘divers have recently found a novel way to protest an increasingly unpopular series of nerfs: laying down their guns and letting the bots take the damn planet.

“If Super Earth wanted to remain safe, they would stop nerfing our guns," reads one comment on the subreddit, in response to a post titled “Let the bots advance. Let the Super Earth burn.” It seems to have picked up some steam inside the actual game, too. As of earlier this week, there’s only around a thousand players actively trying to stop the bots advancing perilously close to the home planet, via Gamesradar.

Whether this is all massively overblown for the sake of a dramatic yarn or not, Arrowhead themselves have taken note of player concerns over nerfs. Yesterday, game director Mikael Eriksson unveiled a plan for the next 60 days, directly addressing player feedback over the controversial ‘Escalation of Freedom’ update.

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Everyone loved Half-Life yet no one in 1998 was brave enough to say: "Okay, but what if this was an early access crafting survival game voiced by a bunch of New Zealanders?" Those 90s cowards. Abiotic Factor is the courageous game that has been correcting this historic oversight. It's fun, and the fun just got funnerer. The "Crush Depth" update, released yesterday, adds a heap of new areas to the game's messed-up scientific facility, including a dangerous Security Sector and a vast reservoir zone called the Hydroplant. On top of that there are new weapons, tools, workbenches, drivable vehicles, fishing rods, and quite a bit more. It's all shown off in the trailer below.

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Valve's third-person hero shooter Deadlock hasn't been officially revealed yet, but thousands of you unscrupulous devils have been playing it thanks to stolen development builds. Speculation abounds that these "leaks", coupled with Valve's obstinate silence about it, are a calculated publisher psyop. Are they deliberately letting people play the game early so as to temper the marketing rollout in some way? Perhaps handle any initial player criticism under cover of non-announcement? It seems unlikely, but as other writers have pointed out, this is Valve, unaccountable elder god of PC gaming. I guess we should be thankful it isn't another Half-Life tease.

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Well, root my toots. Unless you’re Australian, in which case don't do that. Just enjoy the now very much confirmed-looking release of the original Red Dead Redemption on PC. That’s according to a listing on the PlayStation Store, which contains the currently inaccurate but tantalising phrase “now on PC for the first time ever.”

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