Prodeus feels like a game from alternate timeline, where Quake has never happened and id software made a third Doom instead, using semi-3D approach to graphics - everything but environments being sprites. It's fast, it looks good (if you don't like pixelated retro look there are ways to adjust it) guns are punchy and satisfying and gore is so over the top that it gives Brutal Doom a run for its' money. It plays a bit like Doom 2016, but with less linear level design, you'll find yourself revisiting areas and hunt for keys/buttons to press to unlock new passages just like in Doom and Doom 2. However, game barely makes you backtracking through empty halls, enemies either spawn on your way back or new parts of level geometry get unlocked to release monsters. Game favours exploration as secrets are plentiful and they usually give you currency you can use in shop to buy access to weapons and upgrades or even new abilities like double jump and dash. It feels good to have saved enough of ore to buy a new "toy" to unleash upon opponents. When it comes to monsters, there's a slight minus that doesn't impact score, though. They feel like reskins of classic Doom 1 and 2 monsters, which is a bit boring. There are some unique designs with attack patterns that didn't appear in Doom titles, but for the most part you won't really be surprised by anything. Weapons are neat and have alternate fire (majority of them). I won't spoil much, but if you need a gun to be "sold" on the game, quad barrel shotgun it is. You can fire from all chambers at one or one by one. You can also take one or two shots to down fodder enemies and then unload rest into stronger enemy. Overall, if you are into old school shooters, get it. Game runs well on low end systems, even a joke of a card like GTX 1650 will carry it at locked 60fps in 1080p.
There's enough of nice things in Wrath to make it a great game. Thing is, I am no longer sure that devs are able to. It is stuck in development hell. Roadmap have nothing to do with reality, delays are frustrating. I mean, just look how many great retro shooters came out since this has been annouced. When it comes to Wrath, we are fed bi-weekly updates like "added some detail to map X". It is pretty obvious that development is super slow and possibly a side-gig for the team which cannot commit to it full time. When it comes to gameplay, I do know that it isn't really possible to come up with 100% fresh ideas, but this barely feels like having identity of its own. Enemies and guns function and look like reskins of Quake and Doom ones (with a bit of Unreal thrown into mix, hello bio rifle). Everything could use balancing. Sounds are pretty bad imo and world lack any meaningful ambient noise which would add to atmosphere. Level design is ok, but thing is, I have played plenty of community made maps and mods for Quake 1 which had more interesting layouts, better visuals and flowed better in terms of gameplay. And oh boy - if you compare it to Dimension of the Machine episode from Quake Remastered (if you haven't played it, go buy remaster and do, it's great) it's not even close. Out of all retro stylised shooters annouced in past years, Wrath was the one I was looking forward the most, considering that it is using Quake engine and done by people from Quake community. But my patience has run out and there are so many great games in this genre right now, that Wrath is extremely hard to recommend. Buy it in early access if you've played most of what is available out there and crave some more Quake-like games, otherwise wait for 1.0 release and see how it will turn out.
I remember that when Rune came out and I've got my hands on the game, I was incredibly hyped. This is a game that defined an era of 3rd person action games along with American McGee's Alice and Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. 2 for me. While game aged graphically and texturework is sketchy in places, Unreal engine was put to a good use here and levels are impressive. There is for sure much of Tomb Raider influence regarding platforming, however it is way more forgiving than in original TR games and most importantly - Ragnar, game protagonist, is much easier to control than Lara, as gmae embraces mouse look and WSAD movement. What matters most, though, is combat. It has not aged a bit, trust me. In early levels you'll be fighting your way through hordes of critters and undead which are, honestly, not much fun to fight. But later on, when human (and other) opponents appear, combat often feels like proto-Dark Souls with multiple weapons and shields. Story-wise it is typical drama of betrayal, vengeance and conflict between divine powers and after playing Rune you can find yourself wondering if creators of God of War games series took influence from the title when they released first GoW whole 5 years after Rune. Overall, this is great game full of ideas which were revolutionary at the time of release and we often take them for granted nowadays. I have two warnings for you, though - don't play Rune Classic, play Rune Gold included as extra instead - game is longer and while it lacks few enemy types from Classic, it's simply better. Get updated OpenGL driver for Rune if you want to run it on modern PC, it's almost mandatory and will let you play in 1080p and beyond. And don't quit because initial levels are kind of boring - game gets way better after you'll exit underworld.
