Painkiller

Painkiller is back! This somewhat niche, yet rather respected gothic fantasy FPS series, played predominantly on PC, has had its highs and lows. It’s time to press the reset button, with a brand new re-imagining of the series – as a 3-player co-op horde shooter, of sorts. A weird pivot for sure, but we’re intrigued nonetheless. This is XboxEra’s review for Painkiller, reviewed on Xbox Series X!

With it being a co-op shooter, series fans aren't likely to get on with this new Painkiller unless they approach it with an open mind. And indeed, while it's nothing special, slaughtering demons with friends while amassing an arsenal of upgraded and customised weapons can be good fun.

Ask any first-person shooter fan out there about their opinion on the 2004 game Painkiller, and the utter vast majority of them will say they’re a fan. It featured great visuals for the time, as well as an interesting premise, a story worth caring about, a lengthy campaign, and an ultraviolent gameplay loop that hasn’t aged a single day since its release. It was the game that put its development team, People Can Fly, on the map, which would then go on to develop Bulletstorm and Gears of W...

I’ll give Painkiller props for its imaginative weapons, sharp visuals, and visceral combat. It’s a hollow and transitory experience for solo players offline, and you can see what Painkiller has to offer in very short order. As a co-op game, it fares better. Still, I can’t imagine Painkiller becoming any shooter fan’s obsession. The nuts and bolts of what could be an impressive game are there, but in its present form, there’s simply too much repetition and too few surprises.

If you're craving the wholesale slaughtering of otherworldly beings, Painkiller has you covered despite a myriad of superior alternatives. You'll enjoy buddying up with co-operative pals and relish in the carnage of the game's meaty weaponry. However, if you're a veteran of the arena shooter or a learned observer, you'll find Painkiller is far too similar to the genre's juggernauts than can be comfortably accepted.

Painkiller reimagines the cult classic as a three-player co-op raid shooter, blending its breakneck gunplay with modern progression and a fresh take on heaven and hell’s eternal war. It doesn’t quite reach its full potential due to a short length, awkward mechanics, and limited content, but when the action hits, the promise of a great game is here.

Painkiller undeservedly wears the name of the beloved shooter and nothing else. Even if its gunplay is excellent, everything else from missions to progression is uninspiring, making it an underwhelming addition to the niche franchise.

Painkiller is a game about nothing for no one, a mediocre resurrection of a classic trying to put a new cover on an old book and hoping it still has some relevance 21 years later.

Painkiller is a series I’ve certainly heard of, but I couldn’t tell you either way whether or not I’ve played it. I must have at some point, I’m sure, because I played every single thing I could get my hands on, but I can’t actually remember doing so. What I do remember that it’s similar to Doom, including all the hellish monsters and environments. You enter a room, kill a legion of monsters, then move onto the next room, where another legion awaits your bullets. This co-op reboot of this two decade old series gets this right, at least, but it’s a bit uninspired because of this.

Derivative, degenerative, and largely despondent in what it offers, the completely unnecessary co-operative core of this Painkiller reboot is what sabotages its potential.

The new Painkiller is not a good game. This is not a title that almost succeeded or has untapped potential that modders will fix. This is a short production, poorly made and ill-conceived at almost every level.

Painkiller has some truly incredible weapons and powers, but not a lot to do with them. I saw everything the game had to offer in one sitting, and while there is replayability, the repetitive and boring objectives prevent me from wanting to keep going. The game looks awesome, but falls into generic territory in several ways, while also adopting a lot of that Marvel-esque vibe we're all tired of. It's reductive to say, but we already have DOOM at home.