*DISCLAIMER: Hi there, welcome to my 400th review. What a massive amount. I just want to mention this: even though my review lists the PC version, this was not actually played on the PC. It was played on the Xbox Series X thanks to the recent Game Pass release. For some reason, GameSpot does not have it listed for either Xbox platform as of the time of this review, so I went with the next closest option, which I figured would be PC. Just bear that in mind: this was played on a console and not a PC.*
Pros:
- Plenty of demon-slaying mayhem for players to enjoy.
- A great assortment of weapons (obviously inspired by the old-school id Software shooters).
- Excellent visual style with great use of sprites that makes for a strong throwback.
- Fantastic action-packed soundtrack befitting its most epic moments.
- Huge breadth of difficulty options makes the game great to get into no matter your experience.
- It feels like the game does a great job of throwing back to the styles of the older "DOOM" and "Quake" titles, but also adds some nice modern touches to make things fresh.
- Campaign has plenty of levels and content to explore.
- Level editor tool really helps breed creativity, and there are already some amazing custom levels available in the game (someone made Peach's Castle from "Super Mario 64" and it's AWESOME).
Cons:
- Sometimes, the game throws a few too many enemies at you at once, causing difficulty spikes.
Level design can blur together just a little bit.
Consensus: It's always fun when a game sneaks up on you and ends up being a great time, and that's exactly what "Prodeus" did for me. After showing up on Xbox Game Pass, I thought it would be fun to give it a whirl, and I ended up being rewarded with an incredibly fun and addicting FPS game that felt like an appropriate throwback. It shows a lot of its "DOOM" and "Quake" inspiration but doesn't feel like cheap nostalgia or the type of game that banks on that alone: there are plenty of modern touches that really help the game out. I'd honestly argue that the game feels more like "DOOM Eternal" dropped into a retro cooling pot and given an old-school filter. It's a really special project, and I think the team at Bounding Box Software did a remarkable job with it. I highly recommend supporting them by grabbing this game, and if you have Xbox Game Pass, my recommendation is even stronger.
Final rating: 9 out of 10 "Awesome"