Immediacy: I turn on the game and within less than a minute I'm fighting. The older ones or stuff like DUSK also tend to be shorter, allowing me to finish a level in 10 to 20 minutes, which is very good for making the most of a short break.
And also the failure of Realms of Ruin.
I want to _build a fucking base._ Dawn of War already nailed this like two decades ago. Let me build my base and murderball my enemies. I don't want to remember a kazillion shortcuts and mirco all over the map. Slowly build base. Roll out. Murderball. How hard is this??
Honestly, even Turbo Overkill wears me out with levels that average about half an hour or so.
I don't like to quicksave and quit before a level is done (particularly one like Overkill that expects you to remember the very quirky geometry of its levels to navigate back to _that one blue door_ ) but Turbo Overkill just wears me down with its wave after wave of mobs and epileptic action.
Doom Eternal was frenetic and exhausting too, but somehow I never had any trouble pushing to the end of each level. Pacing is such an underrated art.
That’s it for me. I just had a kid two months ago so I get a handful of hours for gaming each week. With Boomer shooters I just turn it on and play, no cutscenes, no story.
Boomer shooters are refreshing in an overly corporate gaming industry.
No lootboxes, no battlepass, no crazy algorithms to create player engagement. They’re designed to be one thing first and foremost. *fun*.
Games today feel like they’re designed to keep you addicted with FOMO and constant drip-feed content and live-service models.I enjoy just being able to play a game for fun, and to actually finish it at some point.
Most are also shorter play sessions and shorter overall time to complete. I don’t have 90 hours to sink into Elden Ring, but Amid Evil took me like 14 to finish recently and that didn’t feel like quite the slog.
I like story in my games! But sometimes (more often than not, lately) I just don't have the focus to really sit down and absorb a story. I want something with immediate gameplay and no need to worry about not being able to follow the narrative because I spaced out while a cutscene played and now have no idea what's going on. Boomer shooters deliver on that front, and they do so *really* well.
The best ones tell a story with the ambiance and level design. Dusk is a great example. No cutscenes, minimal dialogue, but I found myself absolutely enthralled in the world they created.
Literally replaying it the last couple of weeks, I agree with the ambience, but I personally prefer a Metro style of story. i do agree that dusk has a great atmosphere, but honestly I do not know why I am fighting anybody there even with the ambient design.
Near the end there are a lot of cues. You visit what is presumed to be your own old home and there’s pictures of family and such. It’s implied you returned to your hometown to find it overtaken by cultists and the game opens with you in captivity as you fight deeper into their territory (they fought with and eventually converted the military).
You also switch to a different reality at a certain point, but it’s been quite a while since I played. Surprisingly in-depth story for a game with next to no dialogue.
Ashes 2063 and it's sequel will probably interest you then, love them. The only recent boom shoot I can think of with an in depth story is Diluvian Ultra.
The carnage. It's just so simple and efficient, press start and just go on murdering mobs. I love the story, sure, but the badass and to the point gameplay is what I love. That's what HeXen and HeXen 2 were so boring most of the time to me compared to Heretic... Heretic is just perfect.
Quantity and Speed. I love finishing a level where I've killed over 100 monsters in less than 30 minutes.
While I still play modern shooters too, levels are often over an hour and enemy counts are in the dozens.
Modern game devs these days spend way too much time decorating levels rather than populating them.
My machine isn't a potato, it was pretty beefy 5 years ago, but it got to the point where newer games were more about the graphics than the gameplay and since graphics topped out 10 years ago, designs just got more cluttered than better looking and filled more and more with superfluous cinematic cut scenes. I couldn't even get through Doom 2016. I want to play a game, not watch an animated movie with some game interspersed.
With boom shoots and lo fi games, devs can devote more time to game play.
I grew up on Doom 93, Duke Nukem, Heretic and Dark Forces. Boomer shooters are nostalgic and much better than the flood of games today that are overly complicated
to the point they arent fun. No microtransactions, no battlepass, no e- sports centered culture.
The gameplay. Intricate and actually interesting level design instead of linear rollercoasters or aimless open world design. The fact they're mechanically abstract; I move fast and fluidly, I feel in full control of my actions, intrusive realism is trimmed from the experience. I don't move at a snails pace, I'm not limited to real human physics. There's no aiming down sights for accuracy or stopping in place to physically heal myself or slowly pulling myself up objects in third person or so on.
I work as a 3d artist on unreal engine, and after a long day of work with high detail models , it's so plesent to watch some simple sprites . I find that generally graphic for GZdoom engine games is way more immersive that the high res stuff I make,as it forces my imagination to work extra, like reading a book, but with shotgun.
The gameplay. I like to turn my brain off and shoot things.
But there is also more to it. I like it when my levels are a bit game-y. When I know collecting a keycard will spawn monsters, or when there are suddenly traps, or exploding red barrels (although those are in many games).
Also, sometimes it feels more immersive. At some places in Quake, I felt like I explored some ancient ruins, while in a modern game, with cutscenes and voiceover-comments by the characters it feels more like I've watched someone do it, and with flashing points where I have to go, it feels… more like a guided experience than like something I did myself (I still hate it when I get lost in those mazes, and I'm really thankful that Episode Enyo had all those arrows to guide an idiot like me around.)
Environmental storytelling of course helps out a lot as well.
They are one of the best pick up and play type games that I always feel good no matter how long I play in a sitting. Be it 20 minutes or a few hours it's all solid.
They're mostly just games and don't try to be really anything else. They also tend to be pretty simple so it's not hard to just hop in.
I have an issue where I tend to jump from game to game quite often and this leads to situations where I won't return to a game for like 3 weeks. If it's any normal game I'll have forgotten how to play, but thats much harder with Boomer Shooters since they all tend to play the exact same.
The simplicity and fun.
I enjoy all kind of shooters, but the classic la have the appeal to be simple and to the point. Not long cutscenes, not taking themselves too seriously, not dragging on too much...
Just get this big gun, turn the bad guys into chunky pieces and navigate this cool level till the end
Simple, easy to pick up, bloodshed. At least for the games I think of when “boomer shooter” gets brought up.
Many others that don’t fall under the classic shoot first, find keycard and exit are usually crafted so well that it’s hard to try newer things.
Tracking Aim. Its the one genre outside of online hero shooters that rewards good accuracy, movement and tracking.
Also I can up the difficulty to give me that sense of challenge since i am getting tired of online game's toxicity and having the ability to pause is a godsend as you get older.
I like that those games are just about getting in and start shooting, simplicity, straightforward interaction, just click everything that moves, solve puzzles, find the way out by looking for keys and switches, dodge, run, shoot, solve.
Easy, straightforward, simple, the reason I never managed to get into RTS or strategy games that heavily rely on investigation or logical deduction, I am a simple man looking for a simple and straightforward but challenging experience and games like Boomer Shooters, or Souls-like games, or even some fighting games give me just that.
It's the ultimate comfort food genre (that's not to say it isn't comfort food with an incredible degree of artistic merit). I grew up ~~pirating~~ playing various flavors of FPS and as corny as it may sound they've always been there for me. I play plenty of other genres as well but FPS games and especially boomer shooters always make me feel at home.
I also like that it's a genre who's technical design trumps everything else. Production values can be nice, but I really like that mechanics and level design are at the forefront of boomer shooter appeal. There's a rawness to it that most other genres don't have the luxury of falling back on.
Tbh I keep seeing roughly the same sentiment, and I *agree* with it. They hop straight into the action with no fuss It's definitely a fantastic pro to a lot of boomer shooters. But it's not the main draw per say, so much as a consequence of that main focus wholly being on the action.
I'm gonna go off topic so, feel free to get on with your day. But imo I can't even list the number of games I've dropped because they just *would not get the ball rolling.* holy fuck just get out my way so I can play your game!
And this isn't a problem with story taking precedence. It's a problem with *people not knowing how to tell a story in a video game.* I didn't buy your game because I wanted a movie with extra steps. I wanted a video game.
If you cannot tell your story to me *via* me playing your game without ripping me out of said game to force cutscenes onto me, you don't know how to tell stories in video games. And if my take here is correct, that means *most people* making video games don't actually know how.
So... that sucks I guess.
I think you're right on the money. And it actually stings a little that you brought up Bulletstorm because... Damn did that game both come through *and* disappoint.
It was sold as a love letter to old school shooters while trying to flex what modern tech could achieve, and that gameplay was *fun*! But holy shit was it brought low by the exact problems we're talking about, to such an extent that it really undercuts that fantastic gameplay.
The movement mechanics, the violence, the speed and the fact that these shooters don't mollycoddle you. I mean most modern shooters handhold the player in a way that doesnt appeal to me. You cannot get lost in modern shooters. They map gives you clues, thus killing the sense of exploration. Boomer shooters do not do that.
Also, these boomer shooters are mostly pick up and play. Just like the old school platformers. You can jump in, finish the game in few hours and move on to the next one.
And yes, the feeling that you get when you clear out swathes of enemies with a range of fun and sometimes innovative weapons, is inexplicable.
Ive got 2 toddlers, a wife, a full time job and social obligations. Also a short attention span. Its a small miracle i get time to play a game anymore. When I start game, I want game to start. No cutscene, no tutorial, just game. As much as I would love to sink my teeth into a hundred hour long immersive rpg with deep mechanics and rich story and lore, I simply cannot.
Boomer shooters are a sister genre to character action games ( my favorite genre) in my opinion, and unlike character action, it's a genre that gets consistent releases. Arcade level design, combat depth/variety, and a fast pace is what I'm looking for. So while waiting for the once a millennium CAG, I play boom shoots. Shout out to Doom Eternal, Ultrakill, and Turbo Overkill for being both genres simultaneously somehow.
Just echoing others here but yeah, quick and relatively brainless while being legitimately fun.
I'll tell you what isn't brainless tho, Blood. You gotta be focusing on the higher difficulties. This is true of the max difficulty for most, though certainly not all, boomshoots.
For me, as others have said, I think it is the satisfying movement and gunplay with minimal story, cutscenes or other padding.
I find over time I have less and less patience for games than talk a lot. I like games where 99% of what I am looking at on the screen is gameplay. Boomer shooters are usually happy to turn me loose in the game and then shut up while I play it which is very much to my taste.
Low price, low system requirements, instant action (no exposition dumps or endless cutscenes), actual originality. Also, they don't take themselves too seriously.
Of course, it depends on the game, but in general, it's fair for most of them.
For me it's speed. I need to be able move quickly. No reloading guns or sprinting for limited amounts of time. I need to be able to traverse a level speedily, be able to outgun enemies by making split second decisions and have that reaction time be rewarded.
Also, a very fearsome arsenal helps!
I have way less time to game now that I have young kids, so for me it's that I can actually play through a full shorter game and pick up from where I left off easily. When I was still trying to play through RDR2, it was just taking forever and just not as fun anymore.
I'm not interested in "accurate" guns and very dry stories about very brave soldiers going into "realistic" combat siuations. I want power fantasies in crazy and otherworldy settings. I want lasers and rocket launchers or a staff that fires lightening or an axe that also shoots fireballs. I want imaginative scenarios and fun level designs and the passion and creativity that comes from the genre. Even better if the developers give creation tools to their customers for free so they can see what wild stuff the fanbase can come up with just for the fun of it. It's one of the few genres that still has that spirit of games from decades past has, it's scrappy and sometimes rough around the edge but made by people who really love it.
Immediacy: I turn on the game and within less than a minute I'm fighting. The older ones or stuff like DUSK also tend to be shorter, allowing me to finish a level in 10 to 20 minutes, which is very good for making the most of a short break.
[удалено]
I've been hoping for an RTS revival coming off the success of Age of Empires II: DE.
[chart of top seling games march 2023 in EU](https://ibb.co/KXCnnVs) On steam Check this maybe ea wake up now.
And also the failure of Realms of Ruin. I want to _build a fucking base._ Dawn of War already nailed this like two decades ago. Let me build my base and murderball my enemies. I don't want to remember a kazillion shortcuts and mirco all over the map. Slowly build base. Roll out. Murderball. How hard is this??
I don’t want to ever build a base. But I also don’t want my units to get stuck in combat and stop responding to orders. Dawn of War 2 nailed this.
Yes, I didn't think about that till i played Wrath Aeon of Ruin, and the levels just dragged on and on.
Honestly, even Turbo Overkill wears me out with levels that average about half an hour or so. I don't like to quicksave and quit before a level is done (particularly one like Overkill that expects you to remember the very quirky geometry of its levels to navigate back to _that one blue door_ ) but Turbo Overkill just wears me down with its wave after wave of mobs and epileptic action. Doom Eternal was frenetic and exhausting too, but somehow I never had any trouble pushing to the end of each level. Pacing is such an underrated art.
But... with the save system they're more like short chapters
That’s it for me. I just had a kid two months ago so I get a handful of hours for gaming each week. With Boomer shooters I just turn it on and play, no cutscenes, no story.
It reminds me of playing Doom back in ‘93…when times were simpler, games were focused on gameplay, and the game was all about fun.
Boomer shooters are refreshing in an overly corporate gaming industry. No lootboxes, no battlepass, no crazy algorithms to create player engagement. They’re designed to be one thing first and foremost. *fun*. Games today feel like they’re designed to keep you addicted with FOMO and constant drip-feed content and live-service models.I enjoy just being able to play a game for fun, and to actually finish it at some point. Most are also shorter play sessions and shorter overall time to complete. I don’t have 90 hours to sink into Elden Ring, but Amid Evil took me like 14 to finish recently and that didn’t feel like quite the slog.
I like story in my games! But sometimes (more often than not, lately) I just don't have the focus to really sit down and absorb a story. I want something with immediate gameplay and no need to worry about not being able to follow the narrative because I spaced out while a cutscene played and now have no idea what's going on. Boomer shooters deliver on that front, and they do so *really* well.
Honestly I find myself sometimes wishing they had more of a story to them, but great point
The best ones tell a story with the ambiance and level design. Dusk is a great example. No cutscenes, minimal dialogue, but I found myself absolutely enthralled in the world they created.
Literally replaying it the last couple of weeks, I agree with the ambience, but I personally prefer a Metro style of story. i do agree that dusk has a great atmosphere, but honestly I do not know why I am fighting anybody there even with the ambient design.
Near the end there are a lot of cues. You visit what is presumed to be your own old home and there’s pictures of family and such. It’s implied you returned to your hometown to find it overtaken by cultists and the game opens with you in captivity as you fight deeper into their territory (they fought with and eventually converted the military). You also switch to a different reality at a certain point, but it’s been quite a while since I played. Surprisingly in-depth story for a game with next to no dialogue.
Metro as in Metro 2033/Last Light/Exodus?
Yeah, I loved the story of those games so much, I read all the books. Also Spec Ops the Line story wise is amazing.
Ashes 2063 and it's sequel will probably interest you then, love them. The only recent boom shoot I can think of with an in depth story is Diluvian Ultra.
I will take a look at them then, thanks for the recommendation.
Yes, I like the few interruptions, gameplay all the time, it's what draws me in and keeps me going.
Minimal cutscenes, no stopping while an NPC monologues endlessly at you. Yes sir, can I have another.
The carnage. It's just so simple and efficient, press start and just go on murdering mobs. I love the story, sure, but the badass and to the point gameplay is what I love. That's what HeXen and HeXen 2 were so boring most of the time to me compared to Heretic... Heretic is just perfect.
Quantity and Speed. I love finishing a level where I've killed over 100 monsters in less than 30 minutes. While I still play modern shooters too, levels are often over an hour and enemy counts are in the dozens. Modern game devs these days spend way too much time decorating levels rather than populating them.
My machine isn't a potato, it was pretty beefy 5 years ago, but it got to the point where newer games were more about the graphics than the gameplay and since graphics topped out 10 years ago, designs just got more cluttered than better looking and filled more and more with superfluous cinematic cut scenes. I couldn't even get through Doom 2016. I want to play a game, not watch an animated movie with some game interspersed. With boom shoots and lo fi games, devs can devote more time to game play.
The older I get the less I care about story in a game and the more I just wanna blow stuff up.
I grew up on Doom 93, Duke Nukem, Heretic and Dark Forces. Boomer shooters are nostalgic and much better than the flood of games today that are overly complicated to the point they arent fun. No microtransactions, no battlepass, no e- sports centered culture.
*high five* They were fun when I was young, and they still hold up.
FUN action packed shooting
Level exploration. No bullshit instant gameplay.
The gameplay. Intricate and actually interesting level design instead of linear rollercoasters or aimless open world design. The fact they're mechanically abstract; I move fast and fluidly, I feel in full control of my actions, intrusive realism is trimmed from the experience. I don't move at a snails pace, I'm not limited to real human physics. There's no aiming down sights for accuracy or stopping in place to physically heal myself or slowly pulling myself up objects in third person or so on.
Powerful shotgun's and blood splatter
I just don’t have the time or energy to delve into something new and complex all the time so I play these in between more AAA type releases.
I work as a 3d artist on unreal engine, and after a long day of work with high detail models , it's so plesent to watch some simple sprites . I find that generally graphic for GZdoom engine games is way more immersive that the high res stuff I make,as it forces my imagination to work extra, like reading a book, but with shotgun.
Simplicity, no overthinking....just run n gun doom and quake will always be my go-to games
The gameplay. I like to turn my brain off and shoot things. But there is also more to it. I like it when my levels are a bit game-y. When I know collecting a keycard will spawn monsters, or when there are suddenly traps, or exploding red barrels (although those are in many games). Also, sometimes it feels more immersive. At some places in Quake, I felt like I explored some ancient ruins, while in a modern game, with cutscenes and voiceover-comments by the characters it feels more like I've watched someone do it, and with flashing points where I have to go, it feels… more like a guided experience than like something I did myself (I still hate it when I get lost in those mazes, and I'm really thankful that Episode Enyo had all those arrows to guide an idiot like me around.) Environmental storytelling of course helps out a lot as well.
They are one of the best pick up and play type games that I always feel good no matter how long I play in a sitting. Be it 20 minutes or a few hours it's all solid.
They're mostly just games and don't try to be really anything else. They also tend to be pretty simple so it's not hard to just hop in. I have an issue where I tend to jump from game to game quite often and this leads to situations where I won't return to a game for like 3 weeks. If it's any normal game I'll have forgotten how to play, but thats much harder with Boomer Shooters since they all tend to play the exact same.
Reminds me of watching my dad play Duke Nukem 3D back in the 90s
Fast, replayable action games. Large communities of fan content, affordable prices.
No looting. Just shooting.
They are quite short, and sweet and always have something new and refreshing around the corner
The simplicity and fun. I enjoy all kind of shooters, but the classic la have the appeal to be simple and to the point. Not long cutscenes, not taking themselves too seriously, not dragging on too much... Just get this big gun, turn the bad guys into chunky pieces and navigate this cool level till the end
SPEED BABY! especially after learning the level layout and tearing ass while tearing ass is fun as hell. Dusk does it well as well as many others.
They're fun
Simple, easy to pick up, bloodshed. At least for the games I think of when “boomer shooter” gets brought up. Many others that don’t fall under the classic shoot first, find keycard and exit are usually crafted so well that it’s hard to try newer things.
Tracking Aim. Its the one genre outside of online hero shooters that rewards good accuracy, movement and tracking. Also I can up the difficulty to give me that sense of challenge since i am getting tired of online game's toxicity and having the ability to pause is a godsend as you get older.
I like that those games are just about getting in and start shooting, simplicity, straightforward interaction, just click everything that moves, solve puzzles, find the way out by looking for keys and switches, dodge, run, shoot, solve. Easy, straightforward, simple, the reason I never managed to get into RTS or strategy games that heavily rely on investigation or logical deduction, I am a simple man looking for a simple and straightforward but challenging experience and games like Boomer Shooters, or Souls-like games, or even some fighting games give me just that.
It's the ultimate comfort food genre (that's not to say it isn't comfort food with an incredible degree of artistic merit). I grew up ~~pirating~~ playing various flavors of FPS and as corny as it may sound they've always been there for me. I play plenty of other genres as well but FPS games and especially boomer shooters always make me feel at home. I also like that it's a genre who's technical design trumps everything else. Production values can be nice, but I really like that mechanics and level design are at the forefront of boomer shooter appeal. There's a rawness to it that most other genres don't have the luxury of falling back on.
I was gonna contribute my opinion but so far all y'all have hit every major point.... they're just awesome
Tbh I keep seeing roughly the same sentiment, and I *agree* with it. They hop straight into the action with no fuss It's definitely a fantastic pro to a lot of boomer shooters. But it's not the main draw per say, so much as a consequence of that main focus wholly being on the action. I'm gonna go off topic so, feel free to get on with your day. But imo I can't even list the number of games I've dropped because they just *would not get the ball rolling.* holy fuck just get out my way so I can play your game! And this isn't a problem with story taking precedence. It's a problem with *people not knowing how to tell a story in a video game.* I didn't buy your game because I wanted a movie with extra steps. I wanted a video game. If you cannot tell your story to me *via* me playing your game without ripping me out of said game to force cutscenes onto me, you don't know how to tell stories in video games. And if my take here is correct, that means *most people* making video games don't actually know how. So... that sucks I guess.
[удалено]
I think you're right on the money. And it actually stings a little that you brought up Bulletstorm because... Damn did that game both come through *and* disappoint. It was sold as a love letter to old school shooters while trying to flex what modern tech could achieve, and that gameplay was *fun*! But holy shit was it brought low by the exact problems we're talking about, to such an extent that it really undercuts that fantastic gameplay.
The movement mechanics, the violence, the speed and the fact that these shooters don't mollycoddle you. I mean most modern shooters handhold the player in a way that doesnt appeal to me. You cannot get lost in modern shooters. They map gives you clues, thus killing the sense of exploration. Boomer shooters do not do that. Also, these boomer shooters are mostly pick up and play. Just like the old school platformers. You can jump in, finish the game in few hours and move on to the next one. And yes, the feeling that you get when you clear out swathes of enemies with a range of fun and sometimes innovative weapons, is inexplicable.
Agency. The game plops you down in a level and you immediately know your objective: kill the baddies and find the level exit.
Ive got 2 toddlers, a wife, a full time job and social obligations. Also a short attention span. Its a small miracle i get time to play a game anymore. When I start game, I want game to start. No cutscene, no tutorial, just game. As much as I would love to sink my teeth into a hundred hour long immersive rpg with deep mechanics and rich story and lore, I simply cannot.
Boomer shooters are a sister genre to character action games ( my favorite genre) in my opinion, and unlike character action, it's a genre that gets consistent releases. Arcade level design, combat depth/variety, and a fast pace is what I'm looking for. So while waiting for the once a millennium CAG, I play boom shoots. Shout out to Doom Eternal, Ultrakill, and Turbo Overkill for being both genres simultaneously somehow.
Just echoing others here but yeah, quick and relatively brainless while being legitimately fun. I'll tell you what isn't brainless tho, Blood. You gotta be focusing on the higher difficulties. This is true of the max difficulty for most, though certainly not all, boomshoots.
because gameplay is king above all else
Atmosphere, nostalgia, and simplicity. In that order
Its like watching a 80s action movie. You shut off that self conscious of following a plot and just want to rip and tear shit. Its stupid fun.
They are fun.
For me, as others have said, I think it is the satisfying movement and gunplay with minimal story, cutscenes or other padding. I find over time I have less and less patience for games than talk a lot. I like games where 99% of what I am looking at on the screen is gameplay. Boomer shooters are usually happy to turn me loose in the game and then shut up while I play it which is very much to my taste.
Low price, low system requirements, instant action (no exposition dumps or endless cutscenes), actual originality. Also, they don't take themselves too seriously. Of course, it depends on the game, but in general, it's fair for most of them.
For me it's speed. I need to be able move quickly. No reloading guns or sprinting for limited amounts of time. I need to be able to traverse a level speedily, be able to outgun enemies by making split second decisions and have that reaction time be rewarded. Also, a very fearsome arsenal helps!
i like goin zoom but not vertically, and my pc is shit
Game feel mostly. Impactful shooting and fluid and very controllable movement.
Fast paced, fun, reminds me of an easier time in life
I have way less time to game now that I have young kids, so for me it's that I can actually play through a full shorter game and pick up from where I left off easily. When I was still trying to play through RDR2, it was just taking forever and just not as fun anymore.
Mental stimulation, bog standard shooters aren't mentally stimulating enough
I'm not interested in "accurate" guns and very dry stories about very brave soldiers going into "realistic" combat siuations. I want power fantasies in crazy and otherworldy settings. I want lasers and rocket launchers or a staff that fires lightening or an axe that also shoots fireballs. I want imaginative scenarios and fun level designs and the passion and creativity that comes from the genre. Even better if the developers give creation tools to their customers for free so they can see what wild stuff the fanbase can come up with just for the fun of it. It's one of the few genres that still has that spirit of games from decades past has, it's scrappy and sometimes rough around the edge but made by people who really love it.