Toxikk trailer tries to take arena shooters back to the old-school

Is a man not entitled to the purity of his frag? Toxikk thinks he is, and has previously set out its "no bullshit" mantra in a short, action packed teaser . Today's trailer is more of the same, only slightly longer and with a fuller exploration of its back-to-the-'90s FPS philosophy.

"Designed as a spiritual successor to the fast paced arena shooters of the late 90s and early 2ks," explains Reakktor , "there is no levelling, no skill-trees, no perks, no cover systems, no classes, no configurable weapons and no iron sight aiming."

I have a slight problem with marketing that relies on a situation that doesn't exist. Toxikk looks like an enjoyable cross between Halo and UT, but its hypothesis that classic arena shooters need reviving doesn't hold up. We've got Warsow , Quake Live , an upcoming Unreal Tournament , and a catalogue of classic FPS games that refuse to die. Here's UT2K4 . People are still playing it.

Which isn't to say there's no room for Toxikk, just that Toxikk needs to make room amidst a healthy number of existing arena first-person shooters. As such, I wish they'd stop saying that it's an arena FPS, and instead focus on what makes it an interesting arena FPS.

Toxikk is currently available to pre-order and will soon be in Early Access. You can find more details on the game's website .

Thanks, RPS .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.