Released in 2022 after a long period of early access, Prodeus has only one goal: to revive the feeling of old Doom with a few modern touches. In terms of tribute, the fun is there.
Many video game fans born in the 70s or 80s are bound to have fallen in love with doom, a shooter released in 1993 that revolutionized the genre and spawned many heirs. For a long time, we called FPS doom-like, in reference to one of the founding fathers (it’s easier to say than wolfenstein-like, the other ancestor). It is therefore not surprising to see the arrival, even today, of games inspired by the cult work of id Software. Producer is part of.
Like so many others, Producer went through a period of early access to polish its content and be released in the most decent form. Available since September 2022 in its final version (it can also be found in the Xbox Game Pass, if necessary), this fast-FPS manages to assume its proposal of pure and hard homage, without falling into pastiche off topic. Be careful, you probably have to have played the first Dooms for the magic to work. Which amounts to saying: being a little old.
(Very) guilty pleasure for those who love Doom
To be a tribute to doom comes down to respecting codes that continue to fascinate, again and again. It is not for nothing that enthusiasts compete in ingenuity to install it on multiple devices, giving birth to ever more improbable, even crazy projects (doom on a Lego brick, doom on a pregnancy test). Producer logically takes up several ingredients on its own: slightly labyrinthine levels, a varied cast of enemies, an atmosphere on the border between gothic and horror and, in the lead, an exhilarating feeling for weapons. There is even a face visualization in the interface, and it changes depending on the damage received.
We will first emphasize the fact that the developers have taken care of the form, as evidenced by the colossal work on the animations. Producer allows itself to mix textures from another time with more modern elements. When the hero reloads his weapon, the cutting of the movements is chiselled, which reinforces the immersion. Beneath its appearance of a relic from another time, Producer knows not to fall into too old. This observation is reinforced by visual effects – explosion, hemoglobin, particles – of the most beautiful effect. The rendering is deliberately pixelated, which gives an undeniable cachet (in the settings, you can choose to play with a lower definition, to believe it even more).
Producer knows not to fall into the too old-fashioned
If we can highlight the deep respect for Producer towards Doom, this choice still has an impact on the identity of the universe. It appears a bit too generic as it looks like doom — a trap that Bounding Box Software was unable to avoid. Producer would undoubtedly have gained from asserting his personality a little more, by detaching himself more from his ancestor. This is especially true for the bestiary.
We finally come across the same monsters a little too much, while there is certainly room to be more inventive. On this point, Producer Nor is it helped by its laughable script, barely materialized by a few lines of text. This narration too in the background necessarily has an impact on the overall direction. This is the problem of homage, and this tendency to cling too much to branches known in advance.
Remember when you had to be patient?
Fortunately Producer makes up for it with its super well-calibrated gameplay, certainly voluntarily limited (by the scale of the old FPS). We take great pleasure in annihilating everything that stands in our way, raining blood to the rhythm of an angry soundtrack when necessary. We inevitably take a little bit of old when we play it, remembering those moments of childhood or adolescence spent on a PC that took a long time to turn on. This somewhat carefree time, when we still knew how to be patient, when we didn’t mind waiting 5 minutes to play barely twice as much. Where we did not spit his frustration on Twitter at the slightest bug. Those were the good times, some would say. We will not fail to tell those concerned to try Doom Eternala real revival proving that the saga can still exist.
On content, Products is irreproachable. The arsenal is classic, but effective: a rifle capable of igniting its shots, another with a sawed-off barrel, a rocket launcher, a grenade launcher, a gatling machine gun… The means to shred, literally, the adversaries are not lacking . All weapons are equipped with a secondary fire to gain efficiency, knowing that you can buy new ones through shops. A boon to dot the dozens of levels of small secret rooms to find – as was already the case in Doom – filled with a resource serving as virtual currency. On the structure, Producer is distinguished by a chessboard connecting the different chapters, among other additional challenges.
In addition to the main campaign which makes us travel between several dimensions and multiple levels of difficulty (be careful, the last missions are tough), Producer has the luxury of offering several modes online – always with classicism for philosophy. Better, it leaves the community the freedom to design levels, using an editor that will appeal to the most creative. From A to Z, we feel that Bounding Box Software maintains the love of a job well done. The proposal will not appeal to everyone, of course, but Doom enthusiasts will not be able to remain indifferent to it.
The verdict
We liked
- Visually, the old/modern mix is great
- The feeling of weapons
- Content at the height
We liked less
- Gotta love the old Dooms
- No effort on storytelling
- Lacks a bit of identity
Prodeus is a Proust madeleine, with a flavor reminiscent, as expected, of the first episodes of Doom. There is necessarily a barrier to entry: without affect for the cult FPS from id Software, we are not sure that the proposal will speak to you. But if you spent your childhood or teenage years mindlessly killing enemies, then this tribute is worth checking out.
This is all the more true since the developers have taken care of the form, with a rendering mixing the old and the modern. The cachet is undeniable, the feeling is ideal and the content is really appreciable. He relies a little too much on his achievements sometimes, but he will make the most nostalgic say: it was still better before.
