Painkiller

this isn't painkiller, they gutted the story and welded on a 4-player co-op mode instead, so what's left is a generic corridor grinder that could be reskinned into any other coop shooter without anyone noticing. it's left 4 dead and doom eternal had a kid nobody asked for, and the kid inherited neither parent's charm. purgatory looks fine, plays hollow, nothing here feels like painkiller except the name on the box. matches barely fill, grind sets in by hour two. they bought a legendary name and forgot to buy the game that went with it. not even the original metal music style was reintroduced. shame on you, developers! rest in peace 2004 painkiller, you deserved better than this reheated fever dream. 2/10, wouldn't buy again.

Not worth your time

Bought this game to play with my friends and wasn't able to connect after 1 whole hour of attempting to join them. Then they wanted to try and join my session but my game wouldn't start in online solo mode, I could only start to play if I play offline.

The original Painkiller is a cult classic that revels in its over the top depictions of Hell. The story is barely existent and barely coherent, the combat is simple and arcadey. It combined at the time state of the art visuals with cheesy set designs and an old school "boomer shooter" mentality. Despite its flaws it holds up and remains a beloved title for many players. This new Painkiller is an entirely different beast. It also sucks. I don't want to conflate the two. Doom 2016 is an entirely different beast from the original Doom. Fallout 3 is entirely different from Fallout 2. Both are fantastic. This new Painkiller does not need to mimic the old one to be good. I bring up how different it is as a warning to those considering a purchase for nostalgia's sake. This game has literally nothing connecting it to the original but the fact that it is a first person shooter set in purgatory. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's review what Painkiller actually is over what we might like it to be. And what Painkiller is, is incredibly dull. Designed as a cooperative Arena Shooter in the same vein as several other Saber published titles, it lacks the intensity seen in those games.…

Perfectly service-able shooter that mixes Doom Eternal arcady mechanics with Vermintide style "hub world->raid->reward->weapon upgrade" system. Nothing revolutionary, but definitely not bad. The shooting is solid and satisfying, the visuals are good, traversal is fluid. It's brainless arena fun. I'm enjoying it. If you like Vermintide with a light doom / quake 3 skin you will enjoy this game, especially if you get it heavily discounted like I did.

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