Painkiller review for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X

I never played the original Painkiller. I think this is important to note when talking about the rebooted version of the game, since it seems like a lot of the hate the new Painkiller gets (and looking at Steam reviews, it gets a lot of it!) is from people who are annoyed – even angry – that it doesn’t match up with their memories of the original. While I get that, there’s something to be said for approaching the game with a fresh set of eyes, rather than just wanting it to copy a game from 20+ years ago.

That said, as someone approaching Painkiller with a fresh set of eyes and no preconceived ideas of what it should be, I can’t say that I found it that much better. I mean, I didn’t loathe it, but I certainly can’t recommend it to anyone, either.

A big part of this is that there’s so little here. Painkiller is very much focused on being a co-op multiplayer arena shooter, where you race into a few set levels, guns blazing, and mow down wave after wave of enemies. Unfortunately, there’s not much content beyond that. There’s a single-player mode which is basically the same thing, just with nine arenas chained together, but the game feels marked by a distinct lack of depth.

Well, depth, and a slavish devotion to the rebooted Doom games. I know the original was all about fast-paced action, and this version of Painkiller has that too, but the constant feeling here is that you’re just playing a less ambitious version of Doom Eternal. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to be given weapons and free reign to blast down Hell’s hordes, but it gets awfully repetitive very quickly – and it doesn’t do anything as well as the newer Doom games, which makes this one harder to appreciate on its own merits.

Though I guess the question is, does Painkiller have any merits? It kind of does: again, if you don’t mind repetition and just want to shoot demons, it gives you every opportunity to do that, and you’ll get some big honking guns in the process. But if you want anything deeper or more substantial, you’re not going to find it here.

3D Realms provided us with a Painkiller PC code for review purposes.