Best Boomer Shooters

Highlights

• Boomer shooters are a genre of FPS games heavily influenced by classic titles like Wolfenstein and Doom, featuring fast movement and intense combat.
• The popularity of boomer shooters is growing, with more games being released and appearing on consoles, attracting both nostalgia and modern gamers.
• Each game in the genre offers its own unique twist, such as Lovecraftian horror elements in Forgive Me Father or a focus on heavy metal music in Metal Hellsinger.

There is a generation of FPS shooters that hold a special place in gaming history. Titles such as Wolfenstein, Quake, and Doom were groundbreaking releases that pushed the genre to new places. For a certain age bracket, these games were often what brought people into gaming in the first place.

Over the last few years, there has been a rise in developers releasing games heavily influenced by these original classics. Known as “Boomers Shooters,” these games recreate the feeling of pure FPS chaotic fun that the originals did so well. Taking the elements of fast movement, a simple art style, rapid combat, and tons of enemies to gun down; boomer shooters are adrenaline gaming at its best.

Updated February 10, 2024, by Andy Chapman: The boomer shooter genre of FPS continues to produce new, exciting titles that are both nostalgic and modern. With many of these games, such as Ion Fury and Dusk, starting to appear on consoles, the audience for retro-shooters is growing all the time. For players looking for their next gaming experience, this article has been updated to include a few more entries. These additions are more examples of a genre that is no longer just a trend, but a major part of the gaming landscape that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

15 Postal: Brain Damage

Metascore: 71

For players looking for a chaotic and fast-paced shooter with plenty of big guns, Postal: Brain Damage is the ideal choice. This spin-off from the Running With Scissors series takes players into the damaged mind of The Postal Dude, as they blast their way through a myriad of bizarre enemies.

Getting through this shooter isn’t a walk in the park. Players will need to avoid hard-hitting attacks from the many enemies in the game. But with a great selection of guns that feel both powerful and sometimes silly, Postal: Brain Damage blends dark humor with Doom-style gameplay, creating a fun shooter that ticks all the right boxes.

14 Forgive Me Father

Metascore: 71

Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, this vibrant, comic-like retro shooter is a welcome addition to the genre. Old-school FPS games often included elements of cosmic horror, most notably in Quake. With Forgive Me Father, the developers went all in, creating a Lovecraftian shooter with all the tentacles and insanity that fans of this genre adore.

Like many games in the comic horror genre, madness plays an integral part in Forgive Me Father. Players will find the audio and gameplay changing as their level of madness increases. This unique FPS title will appeal to horror and boomer shooter gamers alike.

13 Dread Templar

Metascore: 72

The quality of boomer shooter games over the last few years has been consistently high. These titles rarely rely on complex mechanics, groundbreaking graphics, or in-depth narratives to sell their games. Boomer shooters are all about fun. Developers T19 Games continue this trend with Dread Templar.

Dread Templar is a hardcore retro-style shooter that offers players the chance to blast their way through hell and its many demons, upgrading weapons and skills as they go. With cutscenes at a minimum, the game gets right to it, letting the player get in on the action straight away. For players looking for their next FPS addiction, Dread Templar is a great title to choose.

Metascore: 79

Metal Hellsinger brings the thrashing metal soundtrack of classic shooters to new interactive levels. This action-packed rhythmic shooter blends Doom-style gameplay with an original metal soundtrack, where killing enemies to the beat of the music does more damage.

Metal Hellsinger is unsurprisingly a game made for metalheads, meaning fans of other genres may be put off by the emphasis on heavy metal music. Nonetheless, the gameplay loop is fun, simple, and effective, and with the added rhythm element thrown in, Metal Hellsinger is a memorable addition to the genre.

11 Wizordum

Steam Reviews: Very Positive

Wizordum takes the look and feel of classic 90s fantasy games and brings it into a retro-style shooter setting, creating a vibrant FPS experience that is reminiscent of Hexen and Heretic. The game also allows players to create and share unique levels, as well as compete online with other players to be the fastest and climb the leaderboard.

Wizordum is another notable release in the growing catalog of fantasy retro-shooters released over the last few years. With a selection of magic weapons and spells to take on the game’s enemies, players will love this vibrant FPS game that takes them on an epic adventure through the world of Terrabruma.

10 Project Warlock

Metascore: 74

Project Warlock takes influence from games such as Quake and Hexen and then throws in a lot more. There are no quick save options and no checkpoints in the game, meaning that if a player dies, they start the level again.

Project Warlock is vibrant in its design, utilizing its pixel art style in a way that is almost comic-like in its presentation. With each chapter taking place in a new setting, the level design never gets old. The combat is fluid and a lot of fun to play, making this a must for any fan of the boomer shooter genre.

9 Blood West

Metascore: 81

Blood West is a unique addition to the retro-shooter genre. With its dark atmosphere, stealth mechanics, and immersive storyline, the game blends all these elements to create an addictive horror experience. Blood West stands out among the many other retro shooter releases, by bringing light RPG mechanics that allows players a higher level of freedom in their play style.

Players control an undead gunslinger as they wander the desolate landscape, ridding it of the demonic entities who haunt it. With many boomer shooters taking inspiration from the same few games, Blood West is a welcome change of pace.

8 Prodeus

Metascore: 84

Heavily influenced by Doom with the blood and guts turned up to ten, Prodeus is a solid addition to the sub-genre that will scratch that boomer shooter itch. While the game suffers from levels that seem to blend into each other, it also features all the hallmarks players have come to love from throwback FPS games.

With a heart-pounding soundtrack, scores of demonic enemies to gun down, and fast-paced movement, Prodeus does all these very well and sets itself apart with some modern particle techniques, elevating the pixilated style from a purely ’90s aesthetic.

7 Amid Evil

Metascore: 85

Amid Evil is a dark fantasy FPS that also takes its cues from cult shooter classics such as Hexen and Heretic. Replacing the standard weaponry of FPS with magic swords and staffs, Amid Evil is a unique addition to the recent flood of boomer shooter games.

Set over seven different worlds, the game brings a lot of different styles and colors to its palette. Weapons can dish out some heavy damage and make the player feel truly powerful. Amid Evil is a nice change of pace from the usual sci-fi setting and offers an excellent dose of fantasy gaming nostalgia.

6 Ion Fury

Metascore: 79

Ion Fury is a game that wears its influences on its sleeve, namely Duke Nukem 3D. The game features all the pop culture references, a sleazy cyber-punk backdrop, and sassy one-liners players should expect.

It also plays extremely well, with a pleasing amount of weapon types, all with alternative shooting modes that can dispatch a myriad of enemies quickly and efficiently. Ion Fury was one of the games that helped the popularity of boomer shooters skyrocket in recent years and has an equally good expansion, Ion Fury: Aftershock.

5 Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

Metascore: 75

The world of Warhammer 40k supplies the perfect backdrop for a game of this style. From the demonic hordes to the near-unstoppable space marine protagonist, Boltgun revels in the slaughter players dish out to the hellish creatures of the warp.

Boltgun isn’t just for fans of 40k; its satisfying combat and swift gameplay make it a perfect addition to the genre whilst staying true to the source material. The late game suffers a little from repetitive enemy types, but with combat this good, players will enjoy purging chaos again and again.

4 Ultrakill

Steam Reviews: Overwhelmingly Positive

Ultrakill is an old-school FPS game that is a lot of fun to play and is inspired by many of the classic games from the past. Like many of the titles in this genre, Ultrakill is short on story but heavy on action. These games focus on pure escapism, and Ultrakill does this very well.

This is a boomer shooter made with lots of love. It may not be the most original game, but what it does, it does well and is an excellent addition to any gaming library.

3 Cultic

Metascore: 79

Take the creeping horror aesthetic of Amnesia: Dark Descent and mix it with the fast-paced action of an old-school shooter and what players will get is Cultic. Cultic is a gritty horror-inspired shooter that revels in its gory mayhem.

As the player carves their way through the world using an array of rusty-looking weaponry, they will discover a boomer shooter that blends the 2D style of older games with modern development techniques. All these elements create a memorable and unique game that stands out among its often futuristic counterparts.

2 Turbo Overkill

Metascore: 87

Turbo Overkill does exactly what players would expect. Never has a title summed up its gameplay more effectively. Players will be moving fast, and they will be killing lots of enemies, fast.

Turbo Overkill is an over-the-top thrill ride of a shooter that blasts the player into a futuristic setting and never lets up, complete with a leg chainsaw that makes the slide function extremely satisfying. The game also features an upgrade system where players can augment the weaponry, giving them even more freedom in the chaos. This game is a highlight of the new breed of old-school-inspired shooters.

1 Dusk

Metascore: 88

When discussing the recent flood of Boomer Shooters, Dusk is one of the games always mentioned, and with good reason. The game is a fast-paced action adventure that knows good gameplay should always come before the story.

Taking a lot of influence from Quake and other games of that era, Dusk has its own identity and feels great to play. The mechanics are responsive and fluid, and taking out the assortment of enemy cultists is a satisfying pleasure. It is easy to see why Dusk led the way for the boomer shooters that came after.