At the turn of the decade, dormant niche franchises, particularly in the first-person shooter genre, experienced revivals following the release of Wolfenstein: The New Order in 2014. From a franchise that first put Polish development on the map, 3D Realms, in collaboration with Saber Interactive and Anshar Studios, decided to reimagine Painkiller in a modern way. To recap, the original Painkiller was a single-player horde shooter that allowed players to shred through groups of enemies with hitscan weapons, accompanied by a story that took itself far too seriously for the time. It received several expansions that followed different protagonists and their battles within purgatory.  

The new Painkiller is a three-player co-op raid shooter that blasts through a horde of enemies with hitscan weapons. With a reimagined story and conflict with a new set of characters and storyline, an entire lobby, and levels with secrets to explore. With different terrain and challenging difficulties, along with returning mechanics and changes that may disappoint returning fans. While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, Painkiller is worthwhile; however, numerous issues hinder it from truly standing out. 

Dealing with a High Dose of Lead

Heaven and hell wage an eternal war, as the demon horde gains a strategic advantage under the fallen angel Azazel’s command, which would lead to an invasion of Earth. The archangel Metatron enlists the help of four doomed souls, and fortunately, they carry the strength to turn the tide against the forces of hell. This merry band of tortured souls also possesses traits that offer minor, distinct gameplay advantages. Each trait reflects the characters’ personalities and is also tied to their past, such as Ink’s spirit regeneration tied to her half-breed status and Sol’s higher ammo count reflective of her greed. Each character can also dash and slide to their heart’s content, as it allows for a breakneck pace through each level. 

All it takes to drive back the forces of hell is running and shooting through hordes with satisfying results. Shooting can only be held up alongside its arsenal, which, at first glance, appears limiting, with only six weapons available. While it is a controversial decision, not having the whole arsenal through every raid, these weapons do feature customizable modularity, making each loadout unique. This is further unlocked through weapon progression by completing mastery challenges during a raid; it’ll open up more tiers, which can be unlocked through Ancient Souls. This, when paired with two other players, opens up a more personalized loadout, as I settled on the Hand Cannon and Stakegun for their absolute firepower.

Besides ancient souls, coins can be collected throughout the level in addition to chests, which are scattered around the level and change position every time. When returning to the bastion of redemption, coins can be spent on unlocking weapons along with two ancient souls, unlocking skins, or even rolling for tarot cards. Tarot cards return from the original game and come in varied types and effects, as they’re drawn through random chance. Upon completing a raid, larger amounts of souls and coins are rewarded, especially when getting all the secrets of the level or with a special tarot card. Previously, in the preview build, it introduced a weekly reset that featured two cards allowing for unlimited use; however, this feature didn’t carry over to the final release.

The titular Painkiller is an excellent Swiss Army knife that allows for shredding enemies to drop ammunition and a grappling hook for advanced mobility. There are grapple points around each level that it can easily latch onto, allowing for a faster time. When charged, the shredder sends a deadly attack that can clear out a group of thralls, converting them into spirit energy. Spirit energy fuels the elemental alt-firing modes for each weapon. As there are four types per weapon, the elemental damage can clear a horde. Using a combination of elemental damage can leave Demons in a stunned state, which the shredder can instantly execute.

Roaming Demons Run Amok

At the start of each level, thralls only exist as punching bags that exist to be blown to bits with every weapon. Although they’re not pushovers, as a horde, they can surround and damage the player, or spawn shielded snipers that deal damage. Demons serve as mini bosses during each arena, either to be cleared for a wave or as an obstacle when doing different objectives, and they come in various forms and sizes. Most of them come in pairs, as some can tip the balance of a run via completely unexpected combinations. The dynamic scaling system also amplifies this unpredictability, seeming like a punishment for exploration, but it’s meant only to keep the pace up, since demons could spawn at any moment. Each raid also features a range of difficulties, and I felt comfortable running on Insomnia as it provided the best enjoyment.

In every third level of the biome, there’s a boss in the form of a Nephilim, as they reuse mechanics as a means to challenge the players for going through a gauntlet with a challenging and rewarding boss fight. The Nephilim battle designs are unique from one another, with standouts including Faith and Steel and Water and Flesh, as they provide both a mechanical challenge and unique monster designs and weaknesses. These are a standout. However, with the limited length of the biomes, I wish there were more unique boss battles. 

Biomes offer different visual aspects of Purgatory, ranging from gothic industrial architecture to lush, toxic jungles featuring various secrets, including breakable walls that hide coins, chests, and even caches. However, there are traps and hazards to be found throughout. Most of the time, they can be identified, but other times they become trickier, almost leading to unnecessary damage. The graphical fidelity never once caused performance issues, even on the Ultra settings, as the screen flooded with thralls and demons alike. Each arena and raid is also accompanied by the soundtrack, composed by Steve Motliz and Silent Skies. The adrenaline-pumping metal follows through in every level; however, it isn’t as diverse as one would wish, especially across different biomes.

Each biome also has specific gimmicks that are easy to understand, but the gimmick from the Souls and Sands biome is the worst yet. The gimmick of soul charges looks simple on the surface, and it is! The underlying issue, though, lies in the animation latency when throwing it into an orb. The latency can be so bad that it either registers too fast or completely overshoots the trajectory, taking what feels like minutes for the cooldown to settle. This is also followed by two back-to-back arenas that require escorting a payload that needs soul charges to recharge the carriage, which can easily stall if thralls jump into its area bubble and spend the soul fuel.

Written in History, The Soul Burns Bright

Along the way, as you rush through the hordes of enemies, you unlock codex entries upon returning to the bastion of redemption. This is completely diegetic, as it only requires defeating a specific type of thrall or demon, sometimes to unlock each personal entry that describes characteristics through both Azazel’s and Metatron’s reports. This also provides information on the various biomes and their secrets, along with a tutorial page to refresh the core mechanics, and footage to accompany it. However, it does come with a cost: at times, some character exchanges fail to save as the conversations get cut when reaching an objective, leaving the entry incomplete.

The performances are a standout of the game, and the banter between the cast and Azazel adds a layer of humor. Despite this, this banter is always settled during the latter parts of the second and third raids. I wished to have heard more of the sultry sounds of this renegade angel; gladly, that’s answered with the new Rouge Angel mode. Each character features a lengthy backstory that can be unlocked by progressing through each raid, which unlocks a larger dossier on them. While uncovering the mystery of these characters, a profound truth is revealed, leaving me intrigued about where the narrative will go next.

Additionally, new modes were added to the final release. After receiving multiple complaints about its always-online nature, an offline mode was officially introduced and debuted during the Steam Next Fest demo. When loading up the final release, the offline mode works just like running a raid solo with bots. However, when loading it up after progressing in the game, the save files are separate, leaving any weapon and tarot progression behind while the codex and levels are unlocked. While I appreciate the effort to include offline mode, there’s still a lot of work to be done instead of running through the gauntlet once again.

Rogue Angel is a newly added mode that adds more replayability once all the levels’ secrets are uncovered. Completely randomized, it relies on a shared seed system that provides different challenges and rewards structures, like weapon upgrades or even cards. Each challenge can range from a speedrunning gauntlet to a previous objective that depends on either the gimmicks or clearing out waves. It only takes eight phases to survive, as the last level contains a boss fight. It does come at the cost that the promised player leaderboards are absent from the release; it’s not a huge loss, but sharing scores from Rogue Angel could’ve been very fun.

Pure Adrenaline with a Short Step

Painkiller attempts to become more than just a reimagining, evoking a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era. Its short length and nine levels seem to undermine much of what it is trying to achieve. Rogue Angel does answer some of these issues, but I wish there were more to do in Painkiller. The boss battles and difficulty feel just right, pushing me to attempt a nightmare run while dreading throwing soul charges again. The shooting feels fantastic, the gameplay loop is solid, yet despite these highs, the story takes a back seat, as interactions can be interrupted by another voice line, and the rest of it is relegated to the codex. That said, Painkiller has the potential to become more, but it’s hard to imagine it standing out from the rest of the genre.

Disclaimer: Anshar Studios provided a PC (Steam) copy of Painkiller for review purposes.