Painkiller Review – Running on Empty

Review of painkillers

Original painkiller debuted in 2004 and spawned 7 more related games, ending with Painkiller: Hell and Damnation in 2012. For several years, it even enjoyed success among professional gamers. For a game that's 21 years old, the original still looks pretty good, and, surprisingly, has a much more intricate plot than your typical Doom or Quake cousin. However, beyond the title and the indirect narrative connection, a completely new 2025 Painkiller has nothing to do with the original.

Well, that's not entirely true. The new Painkiller shares a very subtle storyline with the 2004 game. In the first game, you tried to escape Purgatory to reunite with your wife in Heaven. The new game finds you and your quartet of characters back in Purgatory, caught up in an ongoing battle between the angel Metatron and the demon Azazel. However, to say that history matters in 2025's Painkiller is wild hyperbole. The story sounds quite metallic, but it contains many sarcastic and humorous asides that undermine the seriousness of the story.

Team composition

Painkiller is a co-op team-based shooter, although there is also an offline mode where human players fill out bots. Yes, this is still relevant in 2025. I think the single player mode has some utility if you're trying to learn the mechanics and levels of the game and try out the weapons. Bots do a good job as support and don't need to be revived too often. But it's not the same as playing a game with three friends talking nonsense.

Speaking of levels, there are three “raids” consisting of three chapters/biomes each, with a boss at the end. Add to that the roguelike's casual mode and you've got Painkiller's current slate of content. The levels and zones themselves are visually eye-catching and graphically rich in lighting effects and details. The design is interesting, with some verticality, well-placed jumping pads, hazards, and secret rooms.

You rarely have time to pay attention to your environment because 100% of your time is spent fending off waves of highly mobile enemies. One of Painkiller's weaknesses is that he only has one approach to combat: frantic. It's a hell of a lot of fun and a nice tension for a while until it becomes tedious and monotonous.

Weapon of choice

Between raids, you gather squads, level up, and gear up in your own little slice of Purgatory. The game has a wide selection of interesting weapons to use, each of which has many original improvements. The guns and their various ways of destroying and dismembering enemies are the standout stars of Painkiller. There's not a single coherent narrative to the weapon's design. Apparently, as long as steampunk, fantasy, modern, or classic video game weapons fit the mission of destruction, it's all good. This is one of the best qualities of Painkiller.

In addition to upgrading your weapons, there are tarot card mechanics for power-ups and match-specific special abilities that you purchase with in-game currency. Then you form a squad or add some bots and you're done. The raid design means that if you run out of healing or respawn, the match is over. There are no mid-mission saves.

The enemies move so fast that they're hard to spot, but they're mostly standard gothic heavy metal monsters of varying strengths and attacks. They aren't tactical or strategic, but they have enough ways to kill you that situational awareness is important. I played the game on PC with an Xbox controller, but I understand that on PS5 the game makes great use of the DualSense controller's capabilities.

Graphically, Painkiller doesn't fall behind and runs relatively well. The audio aspects are less impressive, with a generic metal soundtrack that never surpasses the wallpaper audio and voice acting that can be quite mediocre. Not that it matters much.

Made for many

I give Painkiller credit for its original weapons, crisp graphics, and intuitive combat. It's an empty and transient experience for solo players in offline mode, and you'll be able to see what Painkiller has to offer in a very short time. Things are better in co-op play. That said, I can't imagine Painkiller becoming an obsession for any shooter fan. The basics of what could be an impressive game are there, but as it stands there's simply too much repetition and too few surprises.

***PC code provided by publisher for review***