First-person shooters have re-embraced agility over the years, which has naturally led to a resurgence of games specifically trying to emulate the graphical style and feel of the genre from the 1990s when speed was king. Prodeus is another one of those titles that looks and plays like it came out in 1997 instead of 2022 and while it has the aesthetic and action of a title from that earlier era, it’s not much more than a loving homage.
Prodeus looks like an homage because of its subject matter and art style and feels like one because of its controls. Its pixelated sprites and low-resolution backgrounds look good enough but are boosted through modern visual effects that give it an edge (except its optional, ill-suited polygonal models that clash with the pixelated backgrounds and should be left off). Even though its lighting sticks out as one of those more contemporary upgrades, blood is the most prevalent effect since every enemy explodes violently as if they were in an Evil Dead film.
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It’s an eye-catching display of violence that doesn’t lose its luster and also provides such visceral visual feedback to the gunplay. Sound effects are pretty beefy, too, meaning every shot has an appropriate amount of aural flair to match its over-the-top and gory visual splendor. A well-placed bullet can also lop off an enemy’s arm or head, and while this doesn’t appear to have any gameplay ramifications, it does further demonstrate how its violence sells the impact of its firearms.
The shooting itself is fairly standard otherwise, as it relies on many of the tried-and-true genre staples. Hordes of demonic enemies spawn in and players have to manage their ammo and pick their marks between pursuits of key cards and special buttons; a throughline seen in so many of these types of shooters.
Carving through demons is pretty satisfying because of the familiar toolset — which all have useful alternate fires for added nuance — and the aforementioned feedback. Some unique levels, like one where a concealed sniper pecks at the player for most of the mission and another where rising and falling lava reveals new paths, show up every once in a while and provide just enough variety from its typical corridor shooting, but it doesn’t stray too far from that same template and grows just a bit repetitive by the end. Its double jump and dash abilities give it the potential to slightly veer from that template, however, they are frustratingly locked behind a substantial amount of in-game collectibles and are essentially locked for the first playthrough for some ridiculous reason.
Combat is generally smooth and fast, but it is uneven. The normal difficulty is incredibly easy for a sizable portion of the game because most foes don’t put up much of a fight, often failing to pressure players as they shamble around waiting to be turned into a pulp. A shot or two can destroy most of the biggest baddies without much effort and there’s not much quick strategy involved. Mowing down waves of hostiles with a minigun or rocket launcher is still a fulfilling enough power fantasy, yet there’s not much beneath the surface.
Cranking it up to hard is only marginally more intense, but it mostly points out how wildly its difficulty spikes when it decides to take the gloves off. Blue variants of the game’s bestiary — that fittingly coat the walls with blue paste — can spawn in and instantly dial up the tension as they move faster and hit harder. It’s a more welcome challenge but the gulf between regular skirmishes and these more difficult ones is too steep; there’s not much buildup here, which is jarring. Checkpoints are forgiving and don’t even reset the fight, so it’s not game-breakingly frustrating, however, a more even influx would be a more gratifying challenge. It eventually gets there, albeit when the experience begins to wear out its welcome.
Prodeus travels down well-worn territory but does so covered in substantially more red (and blue) goo. Its mix of modern effects and retro visuals coalesce well and give it enough of its own identity that’s bolstered by its buckets of blood. While its firefights can vary wildly in difficulty and begin to wane in the final stages, blasting Prodeans and the forces of Chaos is still rather exhilarating and evokes many of the greatest parts of the genre’s early transformative years. Prodeus is not the most adept throwback shooter, yet it understands that taking a four-barreled super shotgun and unloading it on swarms of beasts can still be a cathartic exercise almost 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 it may not appeal to everyone.
