Hellscreen, the retro shooter with a rear-view mirror, is now on Kickstarter

You may remember Hellscreen from an article Austin wrote last year: it's a stylish, retro, reflex-oriented FPS with a bloody rearview mirror. And while the bloody rearview mirror is cool, I'm more drawn to the hellish sci-fi colour palette, which kinda reminds me of the latter episodes of vanilla Doom, crossed with, uh, Dark Forces. Each death lets you upgrade both your weapons and abilities too, using souls retrieved during the last run. Death is not the end in other words, but rather, an opportunity to win more easily.

Creator Jamie Degen has just launched a Kickstarter for the game, alongside a huge dump of info regarding how the game will play, its weapons, and its levels. "We wanted to put Hellscreen on Kickstarter because we want to devote ourselves full time to realise its vision," the Kickstarter page reads. "It also allows us to get the game out quicker and to a higher quality.

"If successful, the Kickstarter will provide funding for new levels, extra weapons and additional enemies. It will also allow new features and time for polish what is already created and will make for better gameplay experience."

While it definitely takes it inspiration from the golden age of '90s FPS games, Hellscreen will develop on the format. There's an upgrade system which, in addition to allowing health and armour upgrades, can also add a dash, fast travel and double jumping. The levels are all handcrafted, and the environments will have a degree of destructibility also.

Check out some footage below, and the Kickstarter over here, which runs until late March.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.