TOXIKK says no to XP systems, regenerating health; yes to all-caps and double jumps

The name needs work—and by that I mean the name needs to be fired into the sun—but this debut trailer for TOXIKK sure knows how to go after a disenchanted audience. It's a multiplayer first-person shooter that aims to take the genre "back to its roots", and as the giant text in the following video makes abundantly clear, that means no classes, no levelling systems, no regenerating health, no cover, no iron sights, no reloading, and no free-to-play. Basically, "no bullshit", in their words. It's a bold trailer, undermined only slightly by TOXIKK's shiny generic soldiers, and general paucity of defining features at this stage. Also it being named 'TOXIKK', but what can you do.

Reakktor Studios' disdain for modern design and marketing decisions doesn't appear to extend to Early Access, where TOXIKK is heading before the end of the year. Shooters of the late '90s and early '00s such as Quake 2 and Unreal Tournament 2004 seem like obvious inspirations, so this might be one to keep an eye on if you're feeling nostalgic for that era of enhanced mobility and rocket jumps.

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.