Here's a deal to get your trigger finger twitching. Fanatical's Build your own Shooter bundle offers 23 cracking action games from small and independent developers for less than $2 each.
While the focus is on lesser-known shooters, there are some pretty big names in the package. Most notable is probably the Dusk/Amid Evil pack, which delivers a double-barrelled blast of scintillating throwback action from New Blood Interactive. Dusk remains perhaps the purest visionary of the boomer shooter brigade, while Amid Evil features a fascinating hybrid modern/retro visual style and some wonderfully creative weapons inspired by Raven's fantasy shooters Hexen and Heretic.
Other major titles include The Ascent, Neon Giant's gorgeous isometric cyberpunk shooter, and Pathologic 2. Personally, I would describe Pathologic 2 more as a first-person misery simulator than a shooter. Its focus is on solving a survivalist puzzle in a plague-ridden town, rather than blasting enemies. But it does have shooting in it, so I suppose it counts on technical grounds.
Among these bigger titles are several leftfield indie gems, such as the dazzling kaleidoscopic wave shooter Hyper Demon, the spiritual successor to Devil Daggers. Sam Greer gave this a whopping score of 95% in her Hyper Demon review, describing the experience of playing it as "like dancing on reality's edge. Perspective, time and space all break down as you push past the limits of conventional shoot ‘em ups, leaving their corridors, cover and combat in the dust." The bundle also includes the similarly psychedelic FPS Post Void, which is all about racing through levels as quickly as possible.
One game I'd like to give a special shout out to is Zero Protocol. One the lesser-known games in the bundle, this is a more cerebral, lo-fi FPS set in an abandoned arctic research station. Inspired by games like Resident Evil and System Shock, it's a bite-sized proto immersive-sim with a thrillingly creepy vibe and some clever environmental puzzling—well worth a look at a time when games like this are thin on the ground.
The bundle requires you to buy a minimum of 3 games, which are priced at $1.65 each, totalling $4.95. But the per-game price reduces the more games you buy. If you grab 5 games or more, the price drops to $1.60 each, and if you get 7 games or above, the price lowers further to $1.45 apiece.
Purchasing every game in the bundle would set you back $31.90—less than half the price of the biggest FPS released this year, Doom: The Dark Ages. Much as I enjoyed id Software's latest entry in the venerable FPS series, I don't think it represents the apex of id Software's output, which Morgan Park likewise concluded in his Doom: The Dark Ages review. Hence, picking up a bunch of these indie shooters is a better value proposition at present.
Each game you pick up in Fanatical's Build your own Shooter bundle will be supplied as an official Steam key. The bundle will run while stocks last
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