From time to time, some swimsuit at a writer seems to be at a beloved collection they personal, realizes they may make it right into a reside service co-op sport, and says, out loud, “I do know this has by no means labored for anybody else, however it may work for us.” It by no means does, after all; it makes the unique fanbase offended, and oftentimes the franchise is sufficiently old that new gamers don’t even know what it’s. The result’s a sport for nobody, an entire lot of nothing pushed by market forces and the deluded perception that in some way, a way, this time the concept is simply higher than all the earlier occasions it’s been tried. This time, they, chosen by God, will likely be immune from no matter results have pissed off lesser mortals. The most recent sport on this doomed style is Painkiller, a reboot of Individuals Can Fly’s 2004 cult basic, and the end result is identical because it ever was. It’s becoming that it takes place in Purgatory. When it’s consigned to the graveyard of historical past, its gravestone will learn “Right here lies Painkiller, neither ok to get into heaven nor unhealthy sufficient to be damned to the inferno. You’ll want you’d simply performed the unique and known as it a day, or just booted up the Judas Priest music as a substitute.”
This new Painkiller is one among these co-op video games. You recognize those; a quick tutorial frontloads the meager plot, reveals you the ropes and unlocks your base of operations. As soon as established, you choose from one among 4 visually-distinct-however-apart-from-one-passive-capacity-just about-equivalent-characters, all of whom include pre-packaged quips that largely sound like they have been written by Greenback Retailer Joss Whedon. After deciding on your weapons and loadout, you select one among a number of missions, the place you go to a spot and kill a variety of unhealthy guys, then return to your base with the spoils, the place you’ll be able to improve your stuff, and do all of it once more. You’ve seen all of this earlier than, and I’m already bored describing it.
The story right here is principally nonexistent. You’re one among 4 souls caught in Purgatory – Ink, Void, Roch, and Sol – approached by the disembodied voice of the angel Metatron to cease the demon Azazel, one other faceless voice, from Doing One thing Dangerous. Go on mission, go residence, spend spoils, repeat. To Painkiller’s infinite credit score, there is no such thing as a paid forex or battle cross right here, only a Season Cross with skins and the like, However the loop by no means varies – when you get New and Higher Stuff, it is simply time to go do no matter Metratron determines wants doing subsequent.
“That basically doesn’t sound like Painkiller,” you may say should you performed the unique – and also you, reader, you win the stable gold Kewpie doll, as a result of it isn’t like Painkiller in any respect! In the event you squint, you’ll be able to see the inspirations, although I take advantage of this time period loosely. There are tarot playing cards, although you “win” a number of them by spending gold within the Tarot Lottery as a result of every part about video video games is playing now (even should you’re not spending actual cash), and equip them earlier than missions for bonuses like +50 well being and 30% extra injury. As soon as the mission is over, your tarot playing cards are used up and also you both need to spend extra gold within the lottery or Historic Souls, which you earn throughout missions, to revive one you’ve beforehand used. You may also use these currencies to purchase and improve weapons, and also you typically gained’t have sufficient to do this and have tarot playing cards early on.
Talking of, a lot of the unique sport’s iconic arsenal has been resurrected right here just like the Stakegun and Electrodriver, full with their amusing alt fires. Nevertheless, the titular Painkiller (which you at all times have) is now doing its finest impression of Doom Everlasting’s chainsaw, there to get you extra ammo when your different weapons run out. Typically, ranges will lock you into a big, often round or rectangular house and make you kill a variety of enemies, although none of them are as visually placing or bats**t insane as the unique rogues’ gallery. The similarities finish there. This isn’t a Painkiller sport; it’s Warhammer 40,000: Darktide carrying a Painkiller pores and skin swimsuit, and hoping no one cares sufficient to note.
Painkiller seems to be good, however its issues actually come right down to mission design. Environments really feel samey even once they look totally different, and every of the three acts (that are three ranges apiece) finds a single gameplay thought and by no means lets go of it. Your progress will likely be stopped by one thing and the one method by way of will likely be Doing That Act’s Mechanic: within the first, meaning filling barrels with blood by killing enemies close to them after which slotting these into the right place; within the second, you’ll want to seek out and use soul containers to energy issues; within the third, you’ll have to face on ritual markers to activate dreamcatchers.
Sometimes, Painkiller will combine it up a bit – I truly preferred the spots the place my crew had to make use of the soul containers to energy a big cart we needed to escort, however moments like which can be uncommon. Largely, you do the identical issues over and over, transferring by way of the environments, amassing gold, discovering hidden chests, and selecting up consumables –one plops down well being; one other plops down ammo; the third is a largely ineffective decoy you’ll by no means choose up except the opposite two aren’t out there; and the fourth is an additional life; that’s it. You’re then locked right into a fight area till you both get sufficient blood canisters/soul containers/dreamcatchers to proceed or every part barring your path is lifeless.
Even the fight isn’t as satisfying accurately. Most enemies are cohorts, innocent by themselves however doubtlessly harmful in massive numbers (and so they at all times are available massive numbers) that die simply. There are additionally bigger, extra harmful demons you’ll be able to stagger by pouring on alt fires or kill outright, and the top of act Nephilim, who function bosses. None of those are all that participating except for the Nephilim, and whereas there are a number of totally different sorts of cohorts and a handful of demons, none of them have a lot of a singular visible id. There are not any Psychonuns or Hell Bikers or Evil Samurai or Freaks, nothing that made the unique sport’s wacky evil ensemble memorable. No, that is Purgatory by the use of a heavy metallic album cowl if it have been generated by AI. In the event you’re going to do Painkiller, it may at the least appear like Painkiller, you understand?
Maybe most infuriatingly, Painkiller isn’t out and out unhealthy. The motion is quick, exact, and a hell of a time – you’ll be able to slide, sprint, air sprint, sprint by way of enemies, bounce off partitions for a double leap, and use the Painkiller to grapple to numerous anchor factors (or enemies!). All six of the weapons, whether or not it’s the Electrodriver, Rocket Launcher, Hand Cannon, Stakegun, Shotgun, or SMG, really feel nice, and I preferred messing round with the assorted alt fires. A shotgun that freezes enemies so I can shatter them? Neat. A Stakegun that’s additionally a grenade launcher or can create a gravity properly? Like it. Turning the Rocket Launcher right into a minigun that shoots rockets that freeze? Signal me up. And getting a brand new improve on a weapon’s branching paths feels significant and adjustments the way you play. Yeah, a variety of it’s “we’ve got Doom Everlasting at residence,” however should you’re going to steal, you may as properly steal from the very best.
I even got here to benefit from the characters, notably Sol, a haughty, eternally youthful priestess, and Void, a straight man with a self-described fishbowl for a head and no reminiscence of his previous. Even Ink’s sarcasm and self-loathing and Roch’s tragic backstory aren’t poorly written, actually. (The unhealthy stuff is reserved for in-fight dialogue.) The problem is you not often get to listen to them end telling one another their tales since you’ll run into some enemies and the background heavy metallic (which is nice) will kick in, or one other character will spout some inane fight dialogue and the story dialogue you have been listening to will simply cease lifeless and by no means resume. Yeah, you’ll be able to learn it within the codex at your property base, however it’s not voiced, and the voice solid does admirable work with what they’ve. Bummer.
The boss fights towards the Nephilim are fairly good, too. They’re not groundbreaking – you’ve seen a variety of these mechanics earlier than – however they’re participating to play and so they look cool, whether or not it’s an enormous blood rat, a giant statue hiding a secret, or a literal dragon. These are the very best elements of the roughly 4 or so hours it takes to play straight by way of Painkiller’s Raid (learn: marketing campaign) mode, and a pleasant change of tempo from the “we’re not locked in right here with you, you’re locked in right here with us” normal encounters.
Painkiller is designed as a 3-participant co-op sport, and that’s one of the best ways to play it, however should you’re quick on mates or no one’s round on-line, the bots are fairly good and reply properly to participant instructions. Ordering them to face on a swap to open a secret space is much less intuitive than one among your co-op companions seeing the swap and simply doing it, however it works, and I didn’t thoughts taking part in with bots when nobody else was on.
Disappointment nonetheless manages to creep in, although. I figured Painkiller’s blink-and-you’ll-miss it plot was setting us up for a showdown with Azazel once we completed all 9 ranges, however nope. You simply get entry to his empty tomb the place his voice gives you the prospect to work for him. Your character naturally declines and he pivots to providing, and I child you not, that is an precise line of dialogue, “the next problem” and the chance for extra violence and chaos. Certain, Azazel, why not? I’m already having so a lot enjoyable.
There may be additionally a roguelike mode to check out, and I loved it as a result of, not like the Raid ranges, there’s much more selection, and you’ll take your rewards again with you. You may navigate a platforming section between fights that hurts you for so long as you’re in it or need to convey soul canisters as much as the highest of a ziggurat. Even the “we’re gonna lock you in a fight area till both every part else is lifeless or all of you might be” bits are extra enjoyable right here simply since you haven’t seen these environments earlier than, and the randomized nature of your weapons, alt fires, and tarot playing cards feels extra pure. It’s like that is what the Painkiller reboot was imagined to be earlier than somebody determined it ought to have a marketing campaign, too. Sadly, throughout my first roguelike run, my sport crashed. Speak about being damned.