It’s been more than 20 years since Painkiller, the horror FPS game from Bulletstorm and Outriders creator People Can Fly, first came out. Players who loved its blend of demonic menace and fast-paced shooting have been able to find plenty to enjoy in games from the intervening years, like 2016’s Doom and its sequel Doom Eternal, or Metal: Hellsinger and Devil Daggers. But there’s nothing likely to scratch the exact same itch quite as well as a brand-new announcement made earlier tonight: A surprise Painkiller reboot.
The new Painkiller looks to revitalize the long-dormant FPS game series by bringing its mix of horror and brutal, inventive gunplay back in a new form. In the original game, players were cast as a recently dead man fighting to rejoin his wife in the afterlife by struggling against waves of fiendish enemies. Painkiller’s revival spins this older premise into a new one where the player, in co-op groups of up to three, assumes the role of a ‘Champion” who’s out to take down the demon Azazel and the monsters and Nephilim under his command.
Rather than play as a single, defined character, the Painkiller reboot allows players to pick from a cast of four, each with their own unique statistics and abilities. The original’s focus on imaginative weaponry is set to return, as is its breakneck speed, augmented here by dash and hookshot mechanics.
It won’t be too long before we see how all of this comes together for ourselves. Painkiller is set to launch this autumn. You can find more details or wishlist it on Steam right here.
Or, if you’re looking for something to play right away, we have plenty of great options to check out in our picks of the best horror games and best co-op games out now on PC.
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