Bright, bloody and blaring boomer shooter Prodeus is getting an expansion. Announced at this year’s Realms Deep event, Prodeus: Elder Veil adds some new wrinkles to the base game’s bombastic gameplay, by which I mean a grappling hook and a spear. All shooters need a grappling hook and a spear.
I’m not entirely sure what the narrative of the expansion is, but I’m also 100% convinced that it’s not enormously relevant. The trailer put together for Realms Deep features some kind of disembodied Galadriel type murmuring a load of disquieting things about a desire for blood permeating your rotting flesh, which is probably exactly the kind of problem you can sort out by killing like a billion guys in some sort of astral plane.
It looks fun as heck, which is no surprise given what a joyous time I had playing base Prodeus. The addition of the grappling hook looks like it mixes up the murder quite nicely, giving you new ways to spring across levels and get in enemies’ faces. You might be put in mind of the grappling hook that id put in Doom Eternal, but it mostly reminds me of my halcyon youth spent grappling across levels in Quake 2 CTF matches.
It all looks quite a bit brighter and airier than the Prodeus you’re already familiar with, too. Where the base game mostly confined you to a lot of dark, steel and glass research facilities and underground labs, Elder Veil looks like it’s sent you to rage against heaven. It all looks like you’re knocking on the abode of god with a shotgun under your arm. It’s reminiscent—as PCG’s Ted Litchfield noted—of the baroque and disquieting celestial aesthetic in the Bayonetta games.
There’s no release date on this one yet, just a familiar “coming soon” stuck on the end of the teaser, but with any luck we’ll see it in the near future. Still, it’s not the only interesting thing to come out of Realms Deep. We’ve also laid eyes on the upcoming Bioshock-alike, Twisted Tower, and a shadow drop of old school FPS Cultic’s latest level. It’s a real feast for the senses.