Painkiller Black Edition

My system specs are: AMD Ryzen 5600X, 32 GB DDR4 RAM, AMD Radeon RX 480 (8 GB) with the latest drivers, Windows 11 Pro 22H2 During the game (Version 1.64), I came across two bugs: The 1st one occurs in Chapter 2, Level 6, "Swamp" where you have to fight against the 2nd boss, the "Swamp Thing". Here, the game repeatedly crashed, giving an error message about /Data/Lscripts/Main/Game.lua. According to my Internet research, I found that in order to resolve this issue you have to invoke the Task Manager while the game is running but paused (key P). Use ALT+TAB then to return to the Desktop where you can open the Windows Task Manager (right-click on the "Start" symbol, then choose "Task Manager"). If the Task Manager only shows a few processes (which is the default view), click on "More details". In the table of processes, under "Name", find Painkiller.exe. Right click it and choose "Go to details" (or similar; I have a German Windows 11). When you are on "Details", right-click Painkiller.exe again and choose "CPU Affinity". A small window will open where you can choose the CPUs you want to use for the game. Uncheck all except for CPU #0, then click "OK". Then go back to the game and play on. The 2nd bug one comes right in the next level (C3L1), "Train Station". Here, it seems, that saving the game manually using either "QuickSave" (key F5) or via the "Load/Save" menu causes the game to become unstable. When reloading a QuickSave, or even an AutoSave, the game was likely to crash while loading. My solution was to play this level without saving right from the start of the level. The AutoSaves (those red glowing "campfires"), however, were safe to use. In the following level this problem did not occur. My problems may be related to my specific hardware. But if you find my review through a web search because you have the same issues you might have a way to resolve them now.

If you're looking for a fun gothic arcade-style shooter, you'd probably look into Painkiller. The debut game from The Astronauts (formerly a pre-AAA/Outriders People Can Fly) and their best work, hands down, Painkiller is fast, frenetic and refreshingly basic. Playing out as a swarm-fighting shooter akin to Serious Sam only slightly better (yeah, I said it), Painkiller is as basic as it gets: Just you, your gun, and a shit ton of enemies. And by god, does the game excel at both. Despite bad/serviceable AI, the enemy designs are pretty creative and creepy-looking, and are fun to fight against as they still pack a punch. You'll face Skeleton Knights, Ghost Monks, Reaper Templars, Zombie Ninjas, Insane Amputees and even more nightmarish enemies of different forms. It's genuinely varied and it keeps the adrenaline pumping as you unload lead into another swarm of bizarre freaks. And guns? The roster of guns in Painkiller is unique and fun: We have a basic shotgun and a rocket launcher-chaingun combo, but we also get the Stake Gun, a weapon that fires wooden stakes to nail enemies to the wall, and the game's main crowd control weapon, the ElectroDriver, aka. The Gun That Shoots Shurikens and Lightning. All of these guns are great to use thanks to the game's awesome physics, sound design and even function of these weapons, and despite only being a roster of 5 including melee (7 in Battle out of Hell), you will get a lot of mileage out of this arsenal. Combine this with awesome music, fantastic level design and an interesting, though flawed Tarot Card system that gives you powers, and you have a gem. It won't convert those who despise swarm-style shooters, but for everyone else? Grab an ElectroDriver and tear those monsters a new one.

You go into an area, the doors close, lots of enemies start swarming, you shoot everything, keep shooting until they stop coming, then move to the next area. Rinse, repeat. The fights are indeed fun, and there are some interesting combat areas. But there isn't much more to the game than that. The more I played, I started to realize how much I appreciated other games that have some kind of legitmate story going on, taking place in some kind of consistent world setting. Some games overload you with dialogue and text to read, and that's exhausting. But then on the other hand, some games are the total opposite.... this game. This game has only a flimsy excuse for a "story". It's essentially nothing but endless wall to wall combat in some totally random "locations". I guess it's a good game for anyone that just wants to relieve some stress and shoot everything in sight. But I just wasn't feeling it. I don't recommend it.

Painkiller is in the same vein as Serious Sam, Duke Nukem and Doom. There's no physics puzzles, no epic story, no tactical choices. It's all testosterone and violence. Painkiller swarms you with wave after wave of enemies, arms you to the teeth with a wide variety of wierd weapons (a gun that shoots shurikens and lightning) and tells you to get from point A to point B in one piece. That's it. There's a story here about demons and your dead wife or something but it's largely passable and is pretty much only used to establish the fact that you're killing demons. Painkiller: Black comes with the original game and the expansion, Battle Out Of Hell. While the first game is excellent all around, featuring some really nice level design and trigger-happy gameplay, the expansions seem to fall flat on their face and really aren't worth touching. That said, it's still a pretty good steal to get Painkiller for ten bucks. This is a classic mindless shooter. You can't do much better.

I truly miss this era in shooters: where fun was king and the bullets, baddies and bosses were plentiful. "Painkiller" sticks to its guns and never slows down, providing a solid campaign and expansion. Nothing but thrills!