Boomer Shooters are popular these days, but what exactly are they?! And what are some good examples of a boomer shooter? I give you my thoughts and share some boomer shooters that I am playing lately!

GAMES SHOWN:
Project Warlock
Ion Fury
Severed Steel
Turbo Overkill
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun
Forgive Me Father
DUSK
Prodeus
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Platforming games shown: Broforce, A Robot Named Fight!, Battle Princess Madelyn & ATOMIK: RunGunJumpGun

Video Transcription:

– [Metal Jesus] So what the heck is a boomer shooter? Hey, guys. Metal Jesus here. And today, I’m back with a video that was prompted by a comment that I made, oh, about a month ago, when I was reviewing a bunch of games, and I mentioned that I was playing a boomer shooter. And that comment was really interesting because it got three responses. Some people were like, “Man, that’s a stupid name! “I hate it!” Other people were like, “Oh, I love those type of games!” And the third response was, “What’s a boomer shooter?” And that’s why I wanted to do this video. I wanna talk about boomer shooters, and also, share with you some of the games that I’ve been playing in that genre. Now, when it comes to the name boomer shooter, I get the annoyance. When I first heard it, I was like, “Boomer? “That means a baby boomer.” And isn’t that, like, somebody who’s in their 60s or 70s? I mean, that’s not me, you know? That wouldn’t be somebody who’d be gaming in the ’90s. But after I thought about it, I was like, “Well, it’s kind of a term “of endearment a little bit.” You know what I mean? I don’t think that there’s any sort of negativity implied in that term. Also, it kind of reminds me of terms like Metroidvania, also, shmup, right? People say shmup when they’re talking about arcade-style shoot ’em ups. Basically, you instantly know what those games are about. The term boomer shooter is applied to, specifically, newer first-person shooter games that are designed to look and play like a 1990s-era game, such as “Wolfenstein 3D,” the original “DOOM,” “Quake,” “Duke Nukem,” et cetera. And I think there are a couple reasons why these games are starting to get popular, the most obvious being that first-person shooters have gotten way more sophisticated over the decades. You know, AAA games today, they’re definitely showcases for the latest technology. There’s a real focus on inching closer to reality so that, you know, the games have amazing lighting and physics and animation and all that really cool stuff, but there’s something to be said for that classic gaming experience, you know? Something that’s simpler, faster, less complicated, and, you know, a lot easier to jump into. And games were simpler when it comes to the story back then. You know, they were much more pick-up-and-play. And the other reason is that these smaller retro-style shooters can be made with a much smaller team, and also, I assume, you know, leaner budgets. And if you think about it, other gaming genres have also experienced a move towards this older retro style as well. Over the last five or 10 years, we’ve definitely seen a lot of kind of smaller indie games that look more like 8-bit and 16-bit platforming games, which typically are made by developers that have much smaller teams than you would normally see on a AAA game. With that said, here are a few boomer shooters that I’ve been playing lately. I’m gonna start with “Turbo Overkill.” And, wow, this game is cool. I mean, really cool. This is a cyberpunk shooter that has some excellent 3D graphics, and as you can see here, it is super fast, and it controls extremely well. You play as Johnny Turbo who is trying to destroy this rogue AI that’s taken over his city. And your character has this chainsaw that is built into his leg. And so what you can do, is you can slide with this and activate the chainsaw mechanic that essentially functions almost like an instant kill for anybody who’s directly in your path. It never gets old. It’s really fun. Basically, the game runs almost like a souped-up PlayStation 1-era game, but then it adds in these real-time lighting and effects. It’s a really awesome game. I like it a lot. All right, next up is “Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun.” When this was first announced, I was like, “What? “They’re doing a boomer shooter “in the ‘Warhammer’ franchise? “This is gonna be pretty cool.” And like you would expect, in this game, you can control a Space Marine that is taking on various Chaos Marines and Chaos demons. Immediately, I noticed that the game is a little bit slower, especially compared to some of the others on the list, and that makes sense because you are a beefy Space Marine, and honestly, it just makes you feel more badass, more tough. The level design here is excellent. It’s a little bit futuristic but it’s also got this gothic thing going on. That said, the levels can be a little bit confusing. You tend to get turned around a lot. Now, that’s primarily because the levels are definitely bigger than some of the other games on this list. Shooting feels really good. Things blow up and splatter just really well. This game also has a chainsaw ability. It’s like a chainsaw jump at an enemy. Essentially, you just leap across, and you’ll do an instant kill. It never gets old. And there’s a good amount of enemy variety here. It feels a little bit more creative than some of the other games on this list. However, things do tend to feel a little bit monotonous after a while. I kind of wish there was a little bit more depth to this game. I know that’s probably not the point, but I was feeling it after a while. I mean, don’t get me wrong here, it’s a run-and-gun first-person shooter, but after a couple levels, yeah, you’ll start to kind of get numb to it all. However, it’s a really well-made boomer shooter and definitely worth your time. Next up is, “Forgive Me Father.” Kind of an unusual name for a game, don’t you think? In this one, you play as a priest that’s going around and just killing a bunch of undead bad guys. And as you can see here, it’s got its own kind of graphical style to it. Has some really nice graphical touches too, by the way. It’s got, you know, some nice real-time lighting. And it runs really smoothly too, even with all the graphical detail just cranked way up. And now that I think about it, that’s really one of the requirements of a modern boomer shooter, don’t you think? You know, we expect these games to run really well, high frame rate because the action is just go, go, go. I don’t think we would really tolerate a modern boomer shooter that had like sub-30 frames per second. I don’t think it would work. Now, I wanna warn you that this game can be pretty difficult, especially when it locks you in a room, and then suddenly you are battling wave after wave of bad guys, often with zero cover and limited health and ammo. You basically just need to try to survive. But it’s really cool, very unique. Definitely check it out. “DUSK” is a game that comes up a lot when you go online, and you look at a list of boomer shooters. This is a very popular game, and what I dig about it is that it’s meant to look and play like a PlayStation 1-era, or maybe even like a 486-era first-person shooter, and they nailed it. As you can see here, the game features full 3D polygon graphics, and the sense of speed and the control here is just perfect.

– [Duskdude] Kill him.

– [Metal Jesus] I like how in the advanced settings you can go in and dial up or down the pixelation. For instance, you can make this game look like Grandpa’s old 386 computer. That’s hilarious. Or even like a Game Boy. I thought that was awesome. And I don’t think there’s any real reason to do that, other than it’s really cool that they even give you that option. Another standout feature with this game is the level design, almost more than any other game on this list. I was really surprised how the levels twist and turn and you never know what to expect. Sometimes, you’ll go down this massive rabbit hole, almost literally, into a whole other section of the level. It looks very simple when you see this gameplay footage, but trust me, when you’re playing it, it’s really interesting to explore. So it’s very understandable why “DUSK” is a fan favorite, especially in this genre. If you haven’t played it, you should definitely check it out. Next up is a game I discovered, and it came out fairly recently, it is called “Prodeus.” And this game is truly excellent. It feels like a throwback to “Quake,” in both its feel and its design. And like so many of these other games, I like how it mixes in the retro-style graphics, but with little modern touches of like, say, the real-time lighting and effects. It’s a nice balance because you know that you’re playing something kinda retro-inspired, but then it’s taking advantage of those things that modern computers and consoles can give you. A little interesting fact about this game is that the developers of this also worked on “Singularity” back during the Xbox 360 era. I love that game so much, and I was excited to go, “Wow, this is what they’re doing today.” They also had their hand in the making of “BioShock Infinite,” “Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 & 2,” and a bunch more. So you can tell that they understand what makes a really good first-person shooter, and they applied it to this one. Now, if you’ve been playing these games for a while, you know that over-the-top gore is kind of one of the trademarks of this genre. I mean, really going all the way back to the original “DOOM.” And this game absolutely embraces that. This is probably the goriest game in this video, and I love it. It’s so completely over-the-top and disgusting and wet. It’s the only way I can really describe that. I mean, but again, it’s so much fun. You just got a smile on your face the whole time. I also feel like I should mention “Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon” because, and correct me if I’m wrong, but this game feels like it was the one that kind of kicked off this boomer shooter, I don’t know, trend or revival. I mean, don’t you think? Basically, this is a re-skinning of the already excellent “Far Cry 3.” It’s a love letter to kinda 16-bit gaming era and also, ’80s sci-fi action movies. Also, I noticed that the main character that you play in this game sounds an awful lot like Reese from the “Terminator” movie, right?

– [Rex] Lieutenant, just who the hell are we taking down?

– [Spider] Couldn’t tell you, Sergeant. But Black Sector? That could only mean a handful of outfits.

– [Rex] All of them bad news, Spider.

– [Metal Jesus] I also love the graphics in this game and the neon design that they use, plus it’s got a synth-wave soundtrack that you could listen to on its own. Now, I don’t know if this would technically be called a boomer shooter because, at its heart, it’s still a modern first-person shooter, just like “Far Cry 3.” I mean, it almost plays exactly like that. So I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing, but I could see, looking at this game now, playing it now, it doesn’t really play that retro, you know what I mean? Because you’ve got elements of stealth in here, plus the level design is very complex. You’ve got a lot of advanced mechanics from modern shooters in here that almost makes it feel like it’s not really a boomer shooter. But I don’t know. I’d love to know what you guys think. And I can’t not mention the story cinematics in this game. They are excellent. They are hilariously low… Not low-budget, but just retro-inspired. It’s almost like they ripped them off straight from like a Sega CD game. And while I really like “Blood Dragon,” I’d be curious to know down in the comments if you guys think it’s actually a true Boomer shooter or not. And guys, obviously, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to boomer shooters. There are a bunch of them that are already out, and more of them are even coming. You know, when you look at Steam, and you go into the boomer shooter category, I’m amazed at how many are coming soon. So it’s definitely a subgenre that is gaining traction and popularity. But I would love to know what you guys think about the boomer shooter craze. Is it something that you partake in? Is it something that you are enjoying, or you’re like, “Nah, leave it in the ’90s”? But something tells me if you’re watching my channel, you probably love them. But anyways, guys, as always, I wanna thank you for watching my channel. Thank you for subscribing, and take care.