It’s A Boomer Shooter Revival: Here Are 5 Games To Start With

With waves of nostalgia hitting us from all over, it’s often focused on the 1980s. There’s nothing wrong with loving the ‘80s - I know, I love a lot of things from that era - but my childhood was situated in the late ‘90s and into the 2000s. I had older cousins who introduced me to video games that I was way too young to comprehend, and probably too young to play. The biggest genre was the “boomer shooter,” and one of those games was Duke Nukem 3D.

To me, Duke Nukem 3D was the quintessential boomer shooter. The game had everything that makes the genre great: an incredibly simple story, over-the-top violence, and a hilarious, yet memorable, main character. Years later, I’d find more of the classics from the same era as Duke Nukem 3D, and at the same time, I’d find myself situated right in the middle of a genre revival that doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. Here are five places to start your love with boomer shooters

DUSK by New Blood Interactive (2018)

New Blood Interactive’s DUSK was, without a doubt, a major player in kicking off the revival of boomer shooters. The game is modeled after games from the 1990s and even started its lifespan out by offering a “demo” featuring the first episode of the game, calling back to how games like id Software and GT Interactive’s Quake were initially released. In the game, you are a treasure hunter who finds themselves in the fictional town of Dusk, Pennsylvania, where you quickly find out that what the town is, and who is there, is far from normal.

Dusk is available on PC via Steam, Mac, Linux, and the Nintendo Switch.

Post Void by YCJY Games (2020)

While keeping up with most of the genre's tropes, Post Void adds another dimension to the gameplay: speed. Your character keeps an idol in their left hand, and the substance maintained within is constantly draining. To stay alive, you must kill enemies, and you must do it quickly. If you fail to keep your momentum, and your kills up, your idol will run out, and you will die. The game is very unique versus the other boomer shooters we’ve gotten over the past few years, and the incredible level of speed manages to feel simultaneously familiar and fresh with each retry.

Post Void is available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Amid Evil by New Blood Interactive (2019)

New Blood Interactive’s DUSK was a major player in starting the boomer shooter revival, and the development company didn’t slow up after releasing the game. They would return in 2019 with another incredible boomer shooter in the form of Amid Evil. While Dusk took inspiration from Monolith Production’s Blood, Amid Evil changed its trajectory from horror and guns to fantasy, taking the majority of its inspiration from Raven Software and id Software’s Heretic and Hexen games. The game is fast-paced and features a ton of enemy types, plus it’s worth checking out for the fact that there is a weapon called the Celestial Claw, which functions like a rocket launcher, but summons and shoots planets and stars in place of rockets.

Amid Evil is available on PC via Steam, and is slated to eventually come to the Nintendo Switch.

Ion Fury by Voidpoint and General Arcade (2018)

Ion Fury has a very unique distinction against contemporary boomer shooters with the engine it was built on. Using a modified version of the Build Engine, which was made famous by Duke Nukem 3D, the game knocks the retro feeling out of the park while feeling right at home with modern hardware. A familiar voice does feature in the game which helps to continue building bridges between the late-90s and now, and that is Jon St. John, who is most well known for voicing Duke Nukem. In Ion Fury, he voices the game’s main villain, Dr. Jadus Heskel. The game takes place in a dystopian future where cybernetic soldiers have occupied Neo D.C., and the player is tasked with shooting their way through it all. The game also has an expansion pack called Aftershock coming sometime in the future.

Ion Fury is available on PC via Steam, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Project Warlock by Buckshot Software (2018)

Project Warlock is not afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve, integrating the DNA of games like the original DOOM, as well as Wolfenstein and Hexen, to bring us a game that is worth playing. The game blends traditional gunplay with magic, and even adds some role-playing game elements to the mix. After every level, the player can assign upgrade points to the unnamed warlock that they play as. The game is also notable for being developed by someone who was in high school, as developer Jakub Cislo was born after the heyday of boomer shooters in the 1990s. The game features 60 levels filled with both regular enemies and tons of bosses and even has a sequel in the works, which is set to be released later this year.

Project Warlock is available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

This list of titles is only a starting point as there are even more coming out today! For instance, our team has recently enjoyed playing through Kingdom of the Dead by DIRIGO GAMES and the early access version of Forgive Me Father by Byte Barrel. The “boomer shooter” genre is once again on the uprise, so don’t wait long before you dive into it again!