I still remember playing Painkiller on a plinky CRT monitor as deep as it was wide back in 2004. The game oozed the quaint edginess of that era as I tore through grand environments that zipped like a fever dream from medieval castles to the trenches of early 20th-century warfare. It was a new school of old-school shooters, melding the chaos of Havok physics and multifunctional weapons with massive bosses and arenas filled with swarming enemies.
Painkiller had some great sequels, too, though they didn't quite fit into the late-2000s shooter scene, which largely turned away from the old-school ultraviolent playfulness that the series offered. But with the boomer shooter renaissance proving we have plenty of time for a shooter that's all up in your face with action, now is the perfect time for Painkiller to reemerge from purgatory.
And this time you can bring your friends. The simply titled Painkiller is co-op first, letting you bring two pals along for this latest descent into its hellish rendition of purgatory. The three of you will choose from four distinct characters—Ink, Void, Sol, and Roch—each with their own upgrade paths and unique demon-slaying talents.
Once you've selected your character, you pick your weapons, ranging from a rapid-firing submachine gun to Painkiller classics such as the Stakegun, which pins enemies to walls, and the Electrodriver, which has a "driver" part that fires ricocheting shurikens while the "electro" part paralyzes enemies with zappy currents. Nothing is too wild for Painkiller's refreshed weaponry.
After that, it's time to enter the fray. Grotesque hellscapes await your plucky squad, with gothic church spires and demonic architectures rising into the crimson skies. Blood fountains, corpses, and even towering cranes make up the grim landscape, proving that this land didn't just pop up out of nowhere—some serious industrial labor's gone into building this daunting purgatory.
Your band of misfits finds itself here on a quest for redemption and to preserve the balance between heaven and hell while they're at it. Played with friends, Painkiller amplifies the relentless, fast-paced aggression of earlier series games, at times resembling beloved swarm shooters like Left 4 Dead or Warhammer: Vermintide 2. Add to that a teeth-grinding metal soundtrack and arena-shooter acrobatics, and you have a whirlwind of great FPS ideas in a familiar Painkiller package.
You can unlock further synergies through randomized tarot cards, which offer boons such as doubling your gold gain for completing a level, increased energy gain, and damage reductions. Cards get burned once you die or complete a level, forcing you to adapt and refresh your strategy between runs. And speaking of runs, the game also has a roguelike mode, raising the stakes with randomized arenas and rewards.
Weapons offer another avenue for customization as you unlock skill trees for each gun. You can equip your Electrodriver with bouncing shurikens, for instance, or with an upgrade that fires off lightning grenades that summon a mini-storm from the skies. Your trusty Shotgun, meanwhile, can freeze your enemies before you perform that satisfying close-range coup de grâce on their sinewy forms.
Yes, those upgrades may sound excessive, but you'll need all the firepower you can muster once those enemy hordes start filling the blood-soaked arenas and the series' trademark unthinkably huge bosses come into play.
So gather a couple of your most trusted pals and dive into the long-awaited revival of an FPS classic. Painkiller arrives on Steam today, October 21, and at $40/£35, it bucks the trend of pricey premium releases. You can head over to Steam and get the game now.
