Prodeus

I've found this still fairly recent revival of fast paced, arena styled fps games (aka boomer shooters) to all feel a bit same-y. Nothing has really managed to grab my full attention since Dusk came out, that is, until I played Prodeus. I put off trying it for awhile as I thought it looked too much like other games coming out to warrant the price. But, being very bored one day I decided to give it a try and found it to be one of the most promising and fun indie fps games currently being made.

Prodeus is what I would describe as being a Doom 2016 clone wearing and OG Doom costume. Enemies and weapons and sprite based with the world bein crafted out of simple BSP. Levels consist of you fighting through hordes of enemies, grabbing keys, and finding the level exit. Pretty simple sounding, however the way that levels intertwine on themselves creates a flow that feels amazing to play through. It's all crafted in a way that the player never feels lost or is left wondering what to do. The campaign is masterfully created and is one of the best out of the boomer shooter revival, all while not even being done yet.

The weapons all feel and sound punchy and powerful, every weapon feels like it has a context in which it excels. Enemies explode into a dazzling array of pixelated viscera and leave behind trails of red splat when shot. The amount of blood particles can feel a little overwhelming at times but it never becomes an issue, enemies are still pretty definable behind all the red mist.

There's also a level editor and built in level sharing system all very similar to Mario maker. A lot of the user levels are really good and they regular pluck out the best under a search category called staff picks. I'm not sure how I feel about having the levels be in such an enclosed system considering a minor server issue could result in not being able to play levels, but I'm glad there is an editor and a possible near limitless amount of content to play. 

VERY fun, worth the money.