First-person shooters have re-embraced agility over the years, naturally leading to a revival of games that specifically attempted to emulate the genre’s graphical style and feel from the 1990s, when speed was king. prodeus is another title that looks and plays like it came out in 1997 rather than 2022 and while it has the aesthetics and action of a title from that earlier era, it’s little more than a loving tribute.
prodeus looks like a tribute because of the subject matter and art style and feels like one because of the controls. The low-resolution pixelated sprites and backgrounds look decent enough, but are enhanced by modern visual effects that give it an edge (except for the optional, inappropriate polygonal models that clash with the pixelated backgrounds and should be left out). While the lighting stands out as one of those more contemporary upgrades, blood is the most common effect as each enemy violently explodes as if they were in a Evil Dead movie.
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It’s an eye-catching display of violence that doesn’t lose its shine and also provides such visceral visual feedback to the gunfight. Sound effects are also pretty solid, meaning each recording has an appropriate amount of auditory flair to match the over-the-top and gory visual splendor. A well-placed bullet can also chop off an enemy’s arm or head, and while this doesn’t seem to affect gameplay, it further shows how his violence sells the impact of his firearms.
The shooting itself is otherwise pretty standard, as it relies on many of the tried-and-true genre staples. Hordes of demonic enemies spawn and players must manage their ammunition and choose their tracks between pursuing key cards and special buttons; a through-line seen in so many of these types of shooters.
Cutting through demons is quite satisfying due to the familiar toolset – all of which have useful alternate fires for added nuance – and the feedback mentioned above. Some unique levels, such as one in which a hidden sniper steals the player for most of the mission and another where rising and falling lava reveals new paths, appear every now and then and offer just enough variety from his typical hallway shots, but it doesn’t stray too far from that same template and gets a bit repetitive towards the end. The double jump and dash abilities give it the ability to deviate slightly from that template, but they’re frustratingly locked behind a significant number of in-game collectibles and essentially locked out for the first playthrough to avoid some ridiculous rode.
Combat is generally smooth and fast, but it’s uneven. The normal difficulty is incredibly easy for a significant portion of the game, as most enemies don’t fight much, often failing to pressure players as they scurry around waiting to be turned into a pulp. A shot or two can destroy most of the biggest baddies without much effort and not much quick strategy involved. Cutting down waves of enemies with a minigun or rocket launcher is still a satisfying power fantasy, but there’s not much beneath the surface.
The cranking too hard is only marginally more intense, but it mainly points to how wildly the difficulty rises when you decide to take off the gloves. Blue variants of the game’s bestiary – which suitably coat the walls with blue paste – can spawn and immediately increase the tension as they move faster and hit harder. It’s a more welcome challenge, but the gap between regular skirmishes and this more difficult one is too steep; there is not much build up here, which is shocking. Checkpoints are forgiving and don’t even reset the fight, so it’s not hugely frustrating, but a more even influx would be a more satisfying challenge. It gets there eventually, albeit when the experience starts to wear out its welcome.
prodeus travels through worn territory, but does so covered in significantly more red (and blue) gunk. The mix of modern effects and retro visuals flow well together giving it enough of its own identity which is enhanced by its buckets of blood. While the firefights can vary wildly in difficulty and begin to diminish in the final stages, destroying Prodeans and the powers of Chaos is still quite exciting and recalls many of the greatest parts of the genre’s early transformative years. on. prodeus isn’t the most adept of throwback shooter, but he understands that taking a four-barreled super shotgun and unloading it at swarms of beasts can still be a cathartic exercise nearly 30 years later.
SCORE: 7/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but may not appeal to everyone.
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