Painkiller Review Overview
What is Painkiller?
Painkiller (2025) is a reboot of the classic FPS series, where you battle through Purgatory against hordes of demonic forces. You play as one of the Champions, who are sentenced to live in Purgatory due to their transgressions against Heaven. You are tasked to face Azazel’s demon horde and his monstrous Nephilim to stop his invasion of Earth.
Instead of a classic story-focused boomer shooter like the original, the reboot is a co-op-centric, session-based FPS game where you customize your loadout to fit whatever you need against particular enemies in biomes. Customize your loadout with a variety of weapons and specific modifications to round out your build for what your team needs. Use tarot cards to enhance your abilities by giving you stat boosts and modifiers for each mission.
Painkiller features:
⚫︎ Battle Between Heaven and Hell in Purgatory
⚫︎ Session-Based Gameplay
⚫︎ 15-30 Minute Missions and Additional Roguelike Game Mode
⚫︎ Loadout Customization
⚫︎ Random Powerups and Modifiers
⚫︎ Character and Weapon Cosmetics
⚫︎ Full Offline Support
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Playstation |
 Xbox |
|||
| $39.99 | |||||
Painkiller Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Decent Overall Presentation Commendable Voice Acting Customizable Loadouts |
Lackluster Progression Action Feels Weightless Gameplay Loop Isn’t Inspiring |
Painkiller Story - 4/10
It’s a classic tale of a team of unlikely heroes who are faced with impossible odds in a war that’s clearly not for them. Outside of the initial cinematic, dialogue during Raids, and the codex entries, there’s not much to look forward to for its narrative. The dialogue and characters aren’t very interesting either, as the writing is a constant struggle between comedy and seriousness.
Painkiller Gameplay - 6/10
Frankly, the gameplay is lacking in many aspects, as it feels as if they only took the frameworks of certain games and didn’t expand on them enough to make it unique. Gunplay feels generic and lacks any oomph, while movement feels floaty and weightless. Additionally, several questionable choices regarding its progression result in an unrewarding grind.
Painkiller Visuals - 7/10
The visuals of Painkiller are decent; no more, no less. It doesn’t do anything to stand out from other franchises that have the same theme or aesthetic, but it doesn’t mean it’s the worst one, either. The character and gun designs are commendable, as they’re definitely the elements that do the heavy lifting in making the game look just a bit better.
Painkiller Audio - 7/10
The audio design is average, with the voice acting and music as the sole highlights. Every other element is either underwhelming or mediocre, so they feel insignificant.
Painkiller Value for Money - 7/10
For $39.99, the amount of content and replayability the game has is about what you’d expect from a co-op shooter. The main issue that comes with its content is that the progression isn’t rewarding enough to keep you playing, as weapon mods don’t affect gameplay as much as they should.
Painkiller Overall - 62 /100
Painkiller is your run-of-the-mill co-op experience that doesn’t stand out in many ways. It has its good points and bad points that equate to something painfully average. The biggest problem that it has is that it isn’t interesting enough to catch your attention, as it feels like it lifted frameworks and ideas from other games and didn’t expand enough to make it its own.
Painkiller Review: Generic Over-the-Counter Co-Op Relief
Co-op shooters are a niche that’s sort of like an itch that you need to scratch once in a while. Something about the genre’s simplicity and replayability just makes it the perfect genre to plug-and-play when you want to mindlessly just shoot things. I’ve put in a ton of hours on games like Deep Rock Galactic, Left 4 Dead, Payday, Darktide, and most of all, Gunfire Reborn. So safe to say, I’ve been itching to look for a new co-op shooter since these titles have been a little past their prime.
Many of the aforementioned titles stood out due to having something unique to them, whether it be gameplay mechanics, aesthetics, or even theme. Enter Painkiller, a co-op session-based FPS that’s a reboot of the original boomer shooter. The game’s setting seems interesting enough, but what I really wanted to know is how it separates itself from the rest of the other games.
Bullet Hell in Purgatory
Set in Purgatory, you play as one of four Champions who have been trapped in limbo due to past sins that have deemed them unfit to enter Heaven. Conveniently, the fallen angel Azazel plans to invade Earth with an army of demonic hordes and his three monstrous children called the Nephilim. The Voice of the Creator now tasks you and the other Champions to stop his invasion with the reward of eternal salvation.
The premise certainly is grabbing, especially since there aren’t many games that like to explore this theme with the same genre. However, everything else doesn’t quite match up, and it’s clear that the shift to reimagining it into a co-op shooter made it less interesting than it originally was.
As briefly explained earlier, Painkiller was a boomer shooter with a narrative centered around defeating the generals of Hell to eventually get to Heaven. With the game now being more of a live-service game, the narrative focus has been turned into meandering dialogue and codex entries you have to read. Admittedly, I’m not familiar enough with the original to make a sound judgment regarding its theme and narrative. However, the lore and story have better potential than being turned into a discount Suicide Squad.
Stuck in Limbo
The gameplay is similar to that of Vermintide and other games like it. It’s a session-based co-op FPS where 3 players complete missions with varying tasks set in different areas. In terms of mechanics and controls, it’s a fairly standard FPS with a dash, jump, slide, and different firing modes for shooting enemies. As for game modes, players can either engage in its main campaign called Raids or in the randomized arena mode called Rogue Angel.
Raids are what can be considered the main campaign, where there are a total of 9 missions in 3 different acts. At the end of each act, players will fight a boss that has its own unique gimmicks and mechanics that players will have to successfully navigate around to win.
Rogue Angel, on the other hand, is an experience where players will have to fight for survival in a randomized arena. This also means that players will encounter a random boss as well, meaning that they have to be ready against any of the bosses that they encountered during the campaign.
Truth be told, the gameplay loop of the game is basic. While it does have certain things like the Painkiller Shredding and the elemental stuns, playing the game itself doesn’t hook you with anything that it has. There are various reasons for this, but the easiest ones to point out are the gunplay and movement. But we’ll get into that later.
Illusion of Choice
I felt that the progression in this game is fairly weak and non-impactful. For context, you use your currency to buy new weapons and unlock additional weapon mods to change the behavior of the gun you’re using. The variety it offers to the guns is great, but the core design of the game limits it greatly.
You can only bring two guns at a time, meaning that these will most likely be a crowd-control-centered gun and a Demon or Elite killing weapon. Some weapons don’t even offer a change in playstyle, as some mods fulfill the same role in a different flavor. So what ends up happening is that even if you change the mods, they end up doing the same thing at the end of the day.
Another issue is the exclusive character system and lack of progression related to it. Players are forced to play certain characters if the character they intended to play is already taken by a different player. With characters having different passives, it’s normal for people to lean towards playing one character over another. So it does feel off-putting when you want to pick a character but can’t because they’re already taken.
And yet, even then, the difference between their passives is minimal and isn’t game-defining. Meaning that you could easily just play one character over the other without much consequence. But that also proves the point of not needing this exclusive character design thing to begin with.
Feels… Bland
One thing that co-op shooters have to get right is their mechanics. This will definitely boil down to preference, but the game just doesn’t feel great to play. If the controls don’t feel great to play, then a game that’s aimed to be repetitive will feel repetitive quicker than others, and that’s exactly what I felt.
The movement feels way too fast and floaty, while the gunplay feels weightless and has no impact. In addition to this, certain weapons just feel weaker than most, and I’m not entirely sure if it’s because of damage or just because they look off.
Is Painkiller Worth It?
No. Better Options Are Out There Right Now.
Painkiller is an average game, nothing too spectacular or extremely bad to make it not worth your time. But the main problem is that the game doesn’t have an identity to call its own. With how similar it plays and looks to more popular games, in this case, Vermintide and Doom, respectively, Painkiller doesn’t offer anything new to the table.
There are some things to like about its aesthetic, music, and overall presentation, but certain design choices with its gameplay drag it down a lot. If you were looking for a more robust co-op experience, I would recommend that you look for other options or alternatives instead. Of course, the developers can also easily improve the game through patches, but that may take some time before it gets there.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Playstation |
Xbox |
|||
| $39.99 | |||||
Painkiller FAQ
Is Painkiller a Reboot of the Original?
Yes. The developers have stated that Painkiller (2025) is a reimagined version of the original game released in 2004. This current version, however, plays completely differently since it’s more of a co-op experience instead of a single-player-focused narrative shooter.
What are the System Requirements for PC to play Painkiller?
The System Requirements as listed on Steam are as follows:
| Specifications | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 (64-bit) | |
| Processor | Intel i5-9400F or AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
| Memory | 16 GB RAM | 32 GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT or Intel Arc A750 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT or Intel Arc A770 |
| Storage | 30 GB | |
| Additional Specs | Direct X12; Broadband Internet Connection | |
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Painkiller Product Information
 |
|
| Title | PAINKILLER |
|---|---|
| Release Date | October 21, 2025 |
| Developer | Anshar Studios |
| Publisher | 3D Realms |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, Multiplayer, Shooter |
| Number of Players | 1-3 (Online Co-op) |
| ESRB Rating | M17+ |
| Official Website | Painkiller Official Website |
