Prodeus Review: Grimy Pixels

The advent of the “boomer shooter” has become something of a phenomenon in recent years: scaling back the cinematic presentation, regenerating health and more “realistic” aesthetic of more modern FPS titles in favour of some old-fashioned run n’ gun fun. Prodeus takes the boomer shooter philosophy and turns it into borderline religious dogma, and you can tell this right from the start.

Prodeus starts with no explanation or fanfare. You’re in some sort of prison cell in a techno-nightmare world as fire rages outside. In short order, you flick a switch, escape from your cell, pick up a gun and start shooting zombies and monsters. The land is an endless greyish-orange industrial hellscape. There’s no one to talk to, no help on the way and nothing to do other than gun down every masked trooper and monster in your way. After each level you move across an overworld to the next one where you’ll have to find keys to doors, flip switches, destroy some things and head to the exit, killing everything in your path.

Prodeus will feel instantly familiar to any lover of the past and present Doom games. There’s a protagonist who can carry unfeasibly vast amounts of ammo, and run as fast as a car without getting tired, with a handy illustration of his face on the bottom to signify how wounded he’s gotten.

The grimy, brutal feel of Prodeus will definitely be its biggest appeal for many and it delivers on this point with gusto. Prodeus has a unique visual style where modern dynamic lighting and particle effects mingle with a “demake” effect on enemies, weapons and scenery, making them artificially pixellated. You can demake the visuals even further if you wish, lowering the resolution of the scenery down to 360p or even 240p!

There’s a full commitment to creating a grimy industrial hell world here. The canyons, caverns, towering power plants, toxic waste disposal facilities, military bases and factories all feel even more bleak and oppressive than a brutalist London apartment block from the 1970s.

It’s the level of lovingly rendered gore that really puts the blood-soaked cherry on the proverbial sundae. Every time you blast a tougher opponent with a shotgun, progressively more of its limbs will fly off, creating satisfying gouts of blood. If you blow them up entirely with a more powerful weapon, such as a rocket launcher, they’ll create a gory explosion, splattering blood everywhere and totally soaking the floor and any walls nearby.

The music too is appropriately thrashing when getting into combat, assaulting your ears with violent guitar strains as the floor becomes stained with claret. For those who share the dogmatic reverance of Doom and Quake that Prodeus does, they will be very pleased.

The weapon selection is substantial and every weapon has a distinctive alt-fire mode. There’s a super-charged railgun that you can fire either like a sniper rifle or a zapper that arcs electricity through groups of baddies, perfect for alternating between long and short range when needed. There’s a plasma rifle that can “tag” particularly fearsome enemies, allowing you to fire homing shots around corners, letting you inflict damage without exposing yourself to return fire. I was very impressed by how cleverly each weapon is designed so that each one always has some kind of unique purpose even though there’s so many of them.

The levels are rather artfully designed. You’re always directed the right way and seldom get lost. Even when there’s backtracking involved it’s usually interesting, with monsters popping up in unexpected places. Each level usually builds up to some exciting climax, such as being trapped in a reactor as it’s about to explode, gouts of flame everywhere as more powerful monsters teleport in. It’s quite clear when the exit is open and you’re ready to head off, and this gives you time to search the area for secrets, which there’s an absolutely huge abundance of. Buying the double jump ability from the shop, later on, allows you to access even more of them. 

The monsters in Prodeus are a decently diverse bunch, and many fit into the Doom archetypes. Some are big brutes who charge at you, some are floating, snake-like beasties who fly at you and self-destruct. Then there are a wide array of troopers who challenge you in different ways – in particular the snipers who will force you to make good use of cover and approach them carefully. The problem is they’re all a bit non-descript and forgettable, even discounting the fact the artificial pixelation makes them look a bit formless. Any FPS fan can instantly recall what Doom’s Cacodemons and Hell Knights look like, but Prodeus’ baddies, not so much.

One issue I had with Prodeus is the total lack of story and word building. There’s so little in the way of narrative in Prodeus, I actually had to look up online what the plot was meant to be! Apparently, the player character is a “corrupted agent” of a mysterious, godlike entity named Prodeus, and the player character is driven by a relentless urge to destroy his creator. Outside of short level descriptions when you’re travelling across the map, there’s no real sense of where you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing.

“But Jonathan…” I hear you cry “…does story and worldbuilding really matter in an FPS game?” Well, my theoretical friend, I’d have to say it does a little bit. I need to feel at least some motivation and immersion in the world or I just feel more like I’m at a fancy target range. At least Duke Nukem cracked his knuckles and swore revenge on the alien bastards who trashed his ride before beginning his rampage. Even Doom and Quake would have periodic text screens to describe the protagonist’s journey and their progress towards their goals. Even for a boomer shooter, it wouldn’t have been hard to add at least some minimal story here.

There’s a root of why I liked Prodeus, but why I stopped short of loving it. Unlike some of the great boomer shooters, it’s all iteration on the old school FPS formula and no innovation. There aren’t any interesting new mechanics to mix up the gameplay loop as in something like the grapple-hooking, demonic soul-stealing Shadow Warrior 3. None of the levels feel “lived in” or like they have their own stories to tell as they do in the madcap cyberpunk world of Ion Fury. I always had to have a podcast on in the background when playing Prodeus because though it was taxing my twitch reactions, it never gave much for my higher mind to latch onto.

Prodeus is self-consciously an old-school shooter, and it does a good job in replicating the frenetic, explosive gunplay and oppressive atmosphere of classic 90’s FPS titles like Doom and Quake. Sadly, beyond some interesting aesthetics, it doesn’t really stake out much of an identity of its own. The lack of any real story, worldbuilding or unique gameplay mechanics stops Prodeus short of being something really special. Still, if you’d like a game where you can switch off your brain and just exercise your trigger finger, Prodeus provides a great world to blast your way through.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5

Available on: PC(Reviewed); Publisher: Humble Games; Developer: Bounding Box Software Inc; Players: 1; Released: 23rd September 2022

Full disclosure: This review is based on a review copy of Prodeus provided by the publisher.