Many modern FPS games have tried to recapture the spirit of the ‘90s – those halcyon days spent in front of Doom, Duke Nukem, Blood, and the like – but few have succeeded. For PC players, the decade that brought us Half-Life, Quake, and, um, Extreme Paintbrawl, was a very special time to be alive. If a developer claims to be reviving the shooter’s most-classical era, by virtue, it’s got some very hard acts to follow. There’s one new FPS however, available now via a free demo on Steam, that could be up there with the likes of Dusk and Prodeus when it comes to faithful (and extremely fun) ‘90s homages.
In Bloodhound, you play the ‘Keeper of the Gates,’ who is tasked with defending the gates of Hell from the invading Cult of Astaroth. It’s kind of like Doom inverted – instead of killing everything in Hell, your job is to kill everything that’s trying to kill everything in Hell.
Like Monolith’s Blood, the locations in Bloodhound take inspiration from cult horror and slasher movies, with enemies based on demon worshippers and evil priests. There are a lot of weapons, a lot of upgrades, and an absolute reservoir of blood. Also taking some cues from TimeSplitters, Bloodhound looks incredibly fast-paced, with crisp 3D visuals and a very Free Radical-esque art style.
In another homage to the classic ‘90s shareware model, the opening episode of Bloodhound, ‘First Day In Hell,’ will be available completely free, once it launches on March 30. You can head over to Steam and wishlist Bloodhound right now.
Alternatively, you might want to try some great old games that will still run on your PC in 2023, or maybe some of the best zombie games, if you miss obliterating shotgun guys and chaingunners in the OG Doom.