The ultra-violent retro-shooter Prodeus is now available on Steam

YouTube

Prodeus, the hyper-violent retro-FPS that we first clapped eyes on back in 2018, is now available on Steam Early Access. The initial release of the game offers a singleplayer campaign estimated to run about 3-5 hours, with "a large variety of weapons and monsters to blow up," plus a level editor and community workshop.

"We’re still finalizing our roadmap but we are already planning more campaign content, monsters, weapons, editor tools, achievements as well as a larger emphasis on multiplayer support," developer Bounding Box Games said. "More specific details to come."

That's not much to go on, but what we've seen of Prodeus so far, including an appearance at the PC Gaming Show earlier this year, has looked very promising. Bounding Box describes it as a "first-person shooter of old, re-imagined using modern rendering techniques." Put simply, it looks like Brutal Doom, but it plays like Doom Eternal. (And it might sound a bit like both: The game's soundtrack is composed by Andrew Hulshult, whose previous work includes Brutal Doom and Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods.)

The gameplay looks great, but like the original Doom way back when, the ability to easily create and share maps through a built-in editor and map browser is a big part of the puzzle too. Prodeus also has online leaderboard support, so players have something to properly fight over.

Prodeus is expected to be in Early Access for 8-12 months, during which players are invited to offer thoughts and feedback on Discord. There's also a website with more information at prodeusgame.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.