Painkiller puts the player in the role of a soul trapped in Purgatory. You are offered a deal: fight against the legions of hell in exchange for the chance to atone for your sins and ascend to Heaven. The game is a remake of Painkiller, a familiar name to gamers in the years 2004-2006, at the same time as “fierce” names like Serious Sam nice Doom.

This decision was deeply divisive, creating a game that had great technical highlights but suffered from serious design shortcomings in gameplay and missions.

Let's “dissect” with MarkGame Painkiller Through the following review, please!

YOU WILL LIKE

The feeling of “action” is satisfying!

The brightest point of the game: the action of pulling the trigger to kill monsters feels “handy”, smooth and powerful.

The developers have clearly invested a lot into making the weapons great. The return of the Stakegun famous, with “pinning” the enemy to the wall after shooting, giving the game a “Painkiller” quality. Accompanied by a shotgun with weight after each shot, it increases the “gore” of the game screen, as well as evokes heightened emotions in the player, a “very yo-most” feeling of stress relief when experiencing the game.

Besides firearms, even the melee weapon “Painkiller” (rotating saw blade) has also been significantly upgraded, looking “stronger” than its predecessor and capable of knocking enemies away when moving.

In addition, the presence of a new gun, Electrodriver, also brings a “new breeze” to the game, a “monster” gun with bold colors. Painkiller With both shooting electricity and shooting saw blades to… cut up the hellish monsters in the game.

The act of pulling the trigger to kill monsters feels smooth and powerful

Attractive boss fights – Modernized gameplay

Amidst the repetitive “raid” missions, the boss battles (Nephilim) emerged as a valuable highlight. In these mission levels, the player will start from the beginning of the level, bombarding “layers and layers” of monsters blocking the way, then reaching the climax of fighting to destroy the final boss in each level.

The appearance of bosses at the end of the level like this contributes to changing the pace of the game, creating both a challenge and an emotional highlight, as well as giving the player a goal to hold down the trigger continuously to destroy the boss.

The bosses in the game are also diversely designed, from “Orion of the Bloodswarm” (an evil black rat monster) chasing the player in a small narrow scaffold, to the giant “Anak the Soulbinder” waving his hand to strike… powerfully all over the screen, hindering the player from performing their mission to defeat him!

Amidst the repetitive “raid” missions, the boss battles (Nephilim) emerged as a valuable highlight

In addition, to modernize the game's gameplay, the manufacturer also gleaned some elements from other games, typically Doom with monster finishing to restore energy, and hook shooting in the air to move around the map, or learn Warhammer: Vermintide 2 With cooperative gameplay (co-op), teammates focus on the attributes of each character, to coordinate with each other to overcome the level.

All to make the game, with its simple monster shooting gameplay, more exciting for players: modern with a fast style, challenging with giant bosses.

YOU WILL HATE

Lost heritage…

This is the biggest problem for longtime fans. The game is called Painkiller but breaks the core rules that made its name, which is that players can only carry two types of weapons with them and there are no familiar bullet or weapon pickup screens like its predecessors.

This is a decision… most disastrous and confusing. The predecessor is famous for allowing players to carry an “arsenal” (more than 10 guns) for flexible use in combat. Limiting it to just two guns in an effort to “modernize” the game turned it into a generic, soulless shooting title.

Limiting it to just two guns in an attempt to “modernize” the game turned it into a generic, soulless shooting title.

Each level only follows a motif, choose a weapon to carry, choose a tarot amulet to support the character, choose a character and then “jump” into the level with other players or with AI machine support.

Boring gameplay loop

Painkiller sold as a complete game but only has… 3 main levels, with 3 bosses divided into each level.

The game was changed with an unimaginative “live-service” structure with levels designed to be generic, boring and soulless. Your entire experience is just this: start in the hub, choose a “raid” mission, complete the mission, return to the hub to upgrade your weapons, and then repeat.

Besides, Painkiller There is also no single-player mode to inspire players to explore the game's plot. The game screen is also designed to be lifeless and boring. They force players to perform repetitive, repetitive “chores” that are clearly designed to buy time, not provide new experiences.

For example, players are constantly forced to “fill tanks with blood” by defeating enemies standing near them, or forced to “stand in one place” on “ritual markers” (sacrifice points) for a period of time to activate them to progress deeper into the level.

These mechanics break up the game's fast-paced action and are unnecessary for a classic run'n'gun game like Painkiller. Meanwhile, the machines are constantly “talking nonsense” in your ears, filled with annoyance, with empty and lifeless dialogue.

Weapons are also limited to only seven types of weapons, of which you can only choose two (as mentioned). It makes players feel… indescribable disappointment! The weapon system does not have any leveling up, buying or finding additional weapons.

The game only gives you 7 types of guns and that's it. It can be said that the only factor that attracts players that exists in the game is that if the player wants to “unlock” everything, they must “plow over and over again” continuously through the three levels that the game offers.

The game was changed with an unimaginative “live-service” structure with levels designed to be generic, boring and soulless.