Gory platformer Butcher channels Doom and Quake

Doom was never a fully 3D game of course, using various tricks to convince you that you weren't shotgunning foul hell demons on a flat plane. But that shaky third dimension has been entirely done away with for Transhuman Design's Butcher, a gory platforming shooter channeling Doom and Quake. Before we go any further, here's a new trailer:

If Butcher rings a bell, that's probably because of the free prototype that King Arthur's Gold/Soldat developer Transhuman Design released some time ago. The game appears to have come on a long way since then, with flashier pixel art and visual effects, and extra features not present in the prototype. Here's a quick rundown, from the newly minted Steam page:

  • Ultra-violent uncompromising carnage in the spirit of Doom and Quake (chainsaw included)
  • Skill-based gameplay mechanics
  • Release your inner artist, paint the walls with (permanent) blood (up to 4 million pixels available to be painted per level)
  • Use the environment (saws, hooks, lava pits, animals and other) to brutally dispose of your enemies
  • Choose from an array of weapons (featuring classics like chainsaw, railgun and the deadly grenade launcher)
  • Adorn more than 20 levels with the insides of your enemies
  • Soak in the dark atmosphere reinforced by a wicked, heavy soundtrack (while you kick corpses around)
  • Die painfully: melt in lava, become piranha food, get crushed by heavy doors... and more!

It's pretty violent, in other words. Butcher is due out "Fall 2016", so quite soon.

Tom Sykes

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.