In recent years, “boomer shooters,” otherwise known as retro-inspired first-person shooter (FPS) games, have made quite the comeback, resulting in the gaming market being flooded with dozens of new games inspired by 1990s legends such as DOOM, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, and Shadow Warrior.
This trend has been further bolstered by recent remakes that have generally been met with either great success (e.g., Nightdive Studios’ System Shock remake) or long-term mixed reactions (e.g., the Shadow Warrior remakes).
No matter what your style of boomer shooter is, there is something for everyone in this action pact genre, but it all comes down to the same question. What makes a good boomer shooter game? What makes it stand out from the crowd of other FPS games, and why has there been a cult following ever since the glory days?
So, What Makes a Good Boomer Shooter?
Several key components go into making a boomer shooter game, and while we can’t talk about every single detail, there are many things we can highlight that make or break a boomer shooter. Here are some of the critical things that make an excellent boomer shooter:
- Weapons
- Responsiveness
- Replayability
- Weapons
- Movement
- Atmosphere
- Enemies
- Sound design
Weapons Must be the Star of the Game
Everyone knows that the main element that makes or breaks a boomer shooter is the arsenal of weapons the player gets to wield, especially the shotgun. Guns must feel fun and interesting to use and serve different functionalities and power levels.
For instance, the strength of a weapon should also change how often the player acquires ammunition. Full ammo on the BFG would lessen the experience of using the gun. Implementing limited ammo encourages players to only use their biggest and worst guns on the toughest enemies.
Satisfying Weapons and Strategic Swapping
Combining this with the fact that the guns, of course, need to feel satisfying to use. Pulling the trigger and letting a shower of lead from both barrels of a sawed-off shotgun should feel impactful, powerful, and meaty, not only in its sound design but in its feedback in the player’s hands and on the enemy it’s pointed at.
This resource management and gun strength goes as far back as the original DOOM games, where certain weapons like the Chaingun, Rocket Launcher, and the BFG had varying ammo drops and effectiveness at dealing with certain enemies, which encourages constant weapon swapping instead of over-relying on one gun over having variety.
Weapon Variety is Key and Is How the Player Makes Interested Choices
Lastly, having weapon variety is essential for a well-balanced arsenal. There are dozens of options to choose from, but typically most boomer shooters follow a similar weapons selection:
- Pistol
- SMG
- Shotgun
- Machine Gun
- Grenade Launcher
These weapons, of course, change between boomer shooter games, but it’s extremely common to see a variety of weapons that often have separate ammo drops, which encourages weapon switching and conserving ammunition.
Ammo Management is Key for the Game’s Most Powerful Weapons
While it sounds simple on paper, it plays into making enemies more difficult and arenas more challenging by limiting the amount of weapon variety or ammo drops the player has to fight against hand-crafted waves of enemies.
However, while more weapon options sound good on paper, including at least five to eight weapons is a good base to start at, recently weapon variants or upgrades have helped spice up this old formula, but this, of course, stems from having different weapons to balance the game around.
Responsiveness & Feedback
Boomer shooters have evolved since the old days and often take the form of modernized full-fledged 3D environments, enemies, and objects, stay true to the classic 2D style, or have a mixture of both. No matter the boomer shooter’s style, responsiveness and feedback are paramount for a good title.
Effective Damage Feedback Implementation Really Improves Boomer Shooter Games
Damage feedback can be simple to implement, especially for 2D games, where enemies can shift to a different sprite animation after taking damage, otherwise known as a “pain state.”
Plenty of games give great feedback, like Cultic, which uses simple but effective means to communicate damage feedback while having the environment respond to your actions.
However, a recent entry into the boomer shooter genre, Boltgun, does many things right but severely lacks damage feedback, making enemies feel more lifeless to fight.
Related Article: Beginners Guide to Boltgun
Enhancing Responsiveness in Gameplay
Responsiveness is also a gameplay element that should be used to enhance your gameplay experience. Bigger and more powerful guns should have more kick, shake the screen or have some unique way to respond to the player.
Of course, this doesn’t have to stop with guns and damaging enemies; this can also tie into movement or any unique gameplay effects. This can sound like a lackluster point to highlight.
Still, even the smallest elements are important, especially since plenty of lesser-known retro FPS games willingly choose to have all the predated elements of Wolfenstein 3D.
Enemies Make Boomer Shooter Games Memorable and Exciting
Weapons are the first step in making a boomer shooter fun, but the enemies make the game memorable. Having unique and memorable enemies makes combat experiences more fun and makes enemies come to life. Cultists from Blood, Pigcops from Duke Nukem 3D, and even Elites from Halo Combat Evolved are great examples of memorable enemies.
Distinctive Enemies and Combat Behaviors
Combining multiple elements such as enemy/weapon variety, unique animations or voice lines, and combat behaviors make all of these foes stand out from not only one another but from different games.
For example, the Elite from Halo Combat Evolved is aggressive, dodges often, and will rush the player down if the rest of their squad is eliminated. Combined with their unique voice lines, screams, and behavior, they are still remembered and sometimes referenced today.
Challenging Enemies
Enemy difficulty can also easily make or break how fun and memorable enemies are to fight against. From Mindflyers in Ultrakill to Jackal Snipers in Halo 2, all enemies have multiple ways of being remembered and fun to shoot and be shot at, with or without massive difficulty spikes.
Enemies in Cultic are another example of devs doing a great job of making their boomer shooter game even better. They are monstrous and incredibly creepy; they’re something the player feels a compelling need to destroy.
Fast-Paced Movement
Earlier, we lightly touched on movement, another vital pillar for boomer shooters. Recently, with the revival of boomer shooters, plenty of games have implemented dozens of new ways to traverse around arenas while sticking to that old-school vibe.
DOOM Eternal was one of the bigger titles in recent years that added new ways to move with the Meathook Shotgun attachment, pole jumps, and even rock climbing in some areas.
Dynamic Movement Enhances Gameplay in Boomer Shooters
Sprinting, double jumping, sliding, wall-running, air strafing, and b-hopping. There are dozens of ways to incorporate fast, addicting, and tight movement that opens up new ways to engage enemies, levels, and even platforming or puzzles.
Of course, there are plenty of unmentioned ways to move around, but having multiple ways to traverse the battlefield enhances nearly every aspect of the game.
Fighting enemies, traversing the environment, and even adding knockback or rocket jumping to weapons can enhance the gameplay of great boomer shooters further.
Examples of Boomer Shooter Games with Great Movement
One of the best examples of extremely tight, fast, and satisfying movement is Ultrakill. We cannot think of another game that allows you to parry your own shots to increase the damage and projectile speed and ride your rockets after parrying the projectile right as it launches out of the launcher to ride it across a stage.
Ghostrunner is also a stellar example of impeccable movement with its brilliant use of wall-running and dashing.
Atmosphere
A game’s atmosphere is what ties everything together, even for boomer shooters. Without a good atmosphere and art direction, every other aspect of the game suffers. A game set in a sci-fi world such as Turbo Overkill has a beautiful environment and a wonderful atmosphere that not only complements but sells the flashy movement and guns.
The Atmosphere and the world play a bigger part in all games than most people realize, and sadly boomer shooters can be very bland when there is a lack of focus on the overworld.
Atmosphere and Environmental Storytelling are Very Important
The atmosphere can also help build the game’s story without requiring the player to sit through dozens of conversations, dialogue, and cutscenes that take them out of the action for too long.
Cultic is a great recent example of having beautiful environmental storytelling and optional notes scattered around each level that helps build the world and thus make the more paranormal enemies and moments more memorable.
How Boomer Shooters Create Immersive Atmosphere and Fearful Enemies
A boomer without atmosphere will spawn lifeless enemies, which are often forgettable, and weapons that remain uninspired. Can you imagine being thrown into Cyberpunk and you weren’t given any explanation as to what the world was like or that your character’s body augmentations didn’t do anything and were just for show?
Games like Half-Life 1 set the standard and continue to be praised for the revolutionary elements they brought to the game, starting with the atmosphere and art direction.
The Best Boomer Shooters Have a Lot of Replayability
Since boomer shooters typically aren’t live-service games, they need to have replayability to encourage players to return for additional playthroughs. This can include secrets, speedrunning, leaderboards, and, of course, multiple difficulty modes.
Even alternative game modes like survival mode can add a lot of replayability. Of course, there’s no definitive answer for preserving a boomer shooter, but adding a map builder or open mod support helps shape the title’s longevity.
Sound Design
Lastly, there is sound design. We briefly discussed sound and its importance in several earlier sections, so we won’t repeat ourselves much. Sound design is a vital element that makes enemies, guns, and environments more immersive and memorable.
Hearing the loud, satisfying blast of unloading both barrels from a sawed-off shotgun or hearing the gorey and meaty crack of a monster’s head exploding.
The subtle noises of the environment help immerse the player in the world of the boomer shooter game whenever the soundtrack isn’t front and center.
Innovative Sound Design Examples
Blood and System Shock are good examples of old-school and new sound design. Blood has a wonderful sound design, adding in small SFx depending on the player’s surroundings, from haunted houses, abandoned mountains, or the amazing moving train levels.
Even the System Shock remake has an amazing sound design, making players feel as if they are constantly being watched, even alone in parts of Citadel Station.
Our Final Thoughts on What Makes a Terrific Boomer Shooter Game
There are several elements that go into making a good video game and even more that go into a great boomer shooter. With the recent influx of boomer shooter titles coming out in the past few years, we thought highlighting the major and minor elements that make a good boomer shooter game would be a good idea.
Of course, with a genre this easy to make, there will often be a huge pile of games to dig through, that can be hard to salvage the real gems of the genre.
If you’re looking to get your hands on some wonderful boomer shooters, check out our review for Cultic and Boltgun, two amazing titles that do a great job of blending new and old ideas while putting a spin on traditional gimmicks.
That’s all for now; happy slaying!
