Hedon Bloodrite

This is like HEXEN 2 PORTAL OF PRAEVUS on the DOOM engine minus the insane puzzles plus GUNS! Throw in some ARX FATALIS and shake well. In other words, if you like DOOM, HEXEN & HERETIC, this is a MUST OWN. Why pay $10 for basically a .wad file for GZDOOM? Because it's not "just" a .wad file! This is like a total conversion stand-alone game, made from scratch. Nothing was recycled from DOOM/HEXEN/HERETIC. A lot of work went into this project and it shows. The player character is a demoness with a unique arsenal of weapons which are all fun to use. Excellent level design from start to finish with a lot of variety, an underground dungeon system, a castle and a snowy surface, all packed with various critters. It is just fun to explore the big maps and see as much as you can. Definitely worth buying!

This is the Doom Engine but feels a lot quake/ish. It has a lot of exploration without guidance, but it never gets frustrating (just almost...). The action is really great. Every Medium to Big sized map you will encounter at least one new weapon and several new enemy types. Nothing is repetitive and there even is a great story. As a old school gamer of the Hexen/Heretic era this is a _must play_. I can not compare it the other recent old-school shooters like dusk, ion fury, and so on because i did not play them yet.

Yes, this game runs on GZDoom. No, it's not a mod. Yes, it's worth every penny. Play through it as blindly as you can, a lot of the wonder comes with the sense of discovery and not knowing next. The gameplay is solid, lots of cool ideas and ways to use the weapons you find, and really satisfying and tough encounters. The environments are creative, interesting, and downright beautiful at times. The secrets are well hidden and rewarding, and genuinely require some sleuthing to find, which makes them all the more fun to hunt down. The music is really nice as well, it certainly adds to the atmosphere. Some Alexander Brandon tracks in there as well, if you like him. Lore is there if you like it, pretty extensive wiki, along with a compelling story that kept me wondering what was going to happen next. All in all, really compelling game, easy 6-8 hour experience, lots of varied environments, enemies, weapons, and overall just a breath of fresh air compared to other retro shooters. Absolute recommendation :)

It sounds absurd but that's more or less what Hedon attempts to do and succeeds at consistently through its runtime. Creating level design to facilitate a sense of believability is already difficult on its own but also facilitating fast paced FPS combat sounded like a pipe dream until this game. The game really satisfies that itch for proper level exploration that I think a lot of modern FPS games are missing these days along with how item collection feels believable enough within the world so it feels like hunting for items than just the task of repetitive key/switch all the while having well hidden but also well telegraphed secrets that aren't just "interact with the slightly different wall color" nor being overly bloated like another recent FPS (cough Ion Fury cough). This isn't even going in depth with the game's other components such as the combat with its excellent feeling arsenal and melee systems (the latter so good that the dev added a difficulty mode dedicated to melee only weapons), the hand drawn graphics while initially offputting ends up creating a very distinct art style that won't make me mistake it for any other game, utilitarian but effective writing and world building, and an OST which is a good blend of metal and electronic action and ambience. All of these elements have more or less led me to the conclusion that out of all the current "old-school FPS revival" games that have released over the years, this is genuinely the strongest contender (even more than DUSK or Amid Evil which are great) thanks towards succeeding so much in creating a game that has its own personality all the while not just feel like a mediocre version of those games its clearly inspired by. Any issues? Well only one: I want more of this badly though a second episode is already in the works for sometime in 2020. For anyone still doubtful, there's the free version of the game you can use with GZDoom so you have even less of an excuse to not at least try it before buying.