Many modern FPS games have attempted to recapture the spirit of the 90s, those golden days of Doom, Duke Nukem, Blood and the like, but few have succeeded. For PC gamers, the decade that brought us Half-Life, Quake, and, uh, Extreme Paintbrawl, was a very special time to experience. If any developer claims to revive the most classic era of shooters, by virtue they have some very difficult acts to follow. However, there’s a new FPS, available now via a free demo on Steam, that might just match Dusk and Prodeus when it comes to faithful (and wildly fun) homages to the 90s.
In Bloodhound, you play as the “gatekeeper”, tasked with defending the gates of hell against the invading cult of Astaroth. It’s like Reverse Doom: instead of killing everything in Hell, your job is to kill everything that tries to kill everything in Hell.
Like Monolith’s Blood, Bloodhound’s locations draw inspiration from cult slashers and horror movies, with enemies based around demon worshipers and evil priests. There are plenty of weapons, plenty of upgrades, and an absolute pool of blood. Also drawing inspiration from TimeSplitters, Bloodhound looks incredibly fast, with crisp 3D visuals and a very free radical art style.
In another homage to the classic ’90s shareware model, Bloodhound’s opening episode, “First Day In Hell,” will be available completely free of charge when launched on March 30. You can head to Steam and wishlist Bloodhound right now.
Alternatively, you might want to try some great old games that will still work on your PC in 2023, or maybe some of the best zombie games, if you miss the gunnery and machine gunner destruction in OG Doom.