Wrath: Aeon of Ruin Review – Not Just Another Boomer Shooter

The last decade has seen a massive revival for the genre of shooters inspired by old-school titles like Quake. Lovingly referred to as boomer shooters, these games came in all shapes and sizes, from AAA blockbusters to little known indie gems. The genre’s revival has seen such a positive response from shooter fans that we can’t seem to go for more than a couple of months these days without a new indie boomer shooter coming out. The latest among these, the subject of this review, is Wrath: Aeon of Ruin.

Where titles in the genre have been a hotbed for innovation and experimentation (like Witchfire taking page out of extraction shooters), Wrath: Aeon of Ruin follows a similar path in melding ideas from other modern genres with its old-school shooter foundations. Along with Quake, the most direct point of comparison for Wrath: Aeon of Ruin comes from FromSoftware’s Dark Souls franchise.

"Several of the game’s levels also pay quite a bit of homage to its inspirations"

Before we get to talking about gameplay, it’s important to talk about just how well Wrath: Aeon of Ruin nails its visuals. Quite clearly inspired by horror shooter games like the original Quake, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin features a heavy emphasis on dark cavernous levels with sharp contrast offered up by environmental lighting. For example, some of the upper levels of the map will have gigantic glowing crystals in its walls offering up much of the lighting in the stage, and the sewers will similarly feature bio-luminescence for its moody atmosphere. This combination of lo-fi visuals along with more modern visual techniques leads to a game where the atmosphere is spot on.

Several of the game’s levels also pay quite a bit of homage to its inspirations by effortlessly mimicking their visual designs while at the same time building on them. A big example of this is some of the game’s early levels walking a fine line between old-school medieval dark fantasy aesthetics, and some of its later levels feeling like they would be right at home as levels you would play through in Quake 2. Of course, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin doesn’t simply copy the styles of these older titles; it builds on them by making use of modern techniques that make impressive use of lighting, as well as more modern hardware and software allowing for enemy numbers that just wouldn’t have been possible back in the day. The fact that all of this was achieved while the game uses the modified Quake engine makes things even more impressive.

"The main weapons in the game aren’t exactly the most groundbreaking weapons out there"

When it comes to the core gameplay, the most unique aspect of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is its save system. Seemingly inspired by Dark Souls, the save system needs you to either use up an item you find in limited quantities—the Soul Tethers—or find specific save spots that also heal you up, acting like the Souls franchise’s bonfires. This save system does quite a bit of heavy lifting when it comes to raising the stakes of just about any fight you might get into, since you’ll find yourself constantly wondering whether it’s a good idea to use one of your precious Soul Tethers. All of this is further compounded by the combat encounters in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin being surprisingly lethal.

While the enemies in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin don’t tend to be particularly smart, you won’t be seeing them use flanking tactic. For example, they do manage to pack quite a punch, and this includes even earlier enemies like the bog standard zombie can trap you into a corner and whittle your health down at alarming speeds. The game also has a tendency to throw an immense number of enemies at you, ratcheting up the tension quite considerably. Thankfully, the arsenal in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is definitely up to the challenge of letting you fight your way through hordes of monsters.

While the main weapons in the game aren’t exactly the most groundbreaking weapons out there, most of them tend to follow the basic shooter formula of offering up a melee weapon, and then slowly escalating the firepower with a shotgun, the Fang Spitter (assault rifle), the Retcher (grenade launcher), and the Slag Cannon (rocket launcher). There are some takes on classic Quake weaponry in the game as well, like the Crystallizer, which essentially acts as a laser beam-styled weapon, and the Lance, which is basically this game’s take on the railgun. The most interesting weapon in the whole game, the Mace, essentially lets you absorb enemy souls that can then be used to power up future attacks. Nonee of the weapons feel particularly unique but on the other hand, they still fill out your arsenal quite well, giving you a wide range of options for any combat scenario you might encounter.

The uniqueness in offensive and defensive capabilities in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin come from the plethora of artifacts you’ll find throughout the game’s levels. These artifacts are essentially consumables that give you a unique offensive or defensive ability for a short time. These abilities range from simple things, like letting you get health off enemies you attack, or a stationary shield that lets you catch your breath in the midst of an epic firefight, to more interesting abilities which basically turns enemies against each other.

The crowning glory of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is quite easily its level design. Made by developers that have experience in creating maps and mods for the original Quake, the level design in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is where some of its most interesting ideas lie. Eschewing realistic and naturalistic level design, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin instead harkens back to shooters of old where the levels and zones didn’t need to make any sense when it comes to geography, instead focusing purely on providing players with challenging encounters and fun exploration. The game’s levels also make incredible use of vertical space, and will see you constantly hopping around from snow-covered ruins to complex underwater sewer systems filled with demons.

"The level design in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is where some of its most interesting ideas lie."

The game also expects you to be hopping in and out of levels as you explore them, tapping into some of the ideas of the seminal Demon’s Souls. You’ll often find yourself locked out of a certain place, needing instead to go back to the hub world and explore a different level until you find the right key. While this has the potential to get overwhelming and complicated, the tight focus of the game’s various levels often ensured that I never really had the time to stop and contemplate what exactly I’m doing. I was too busy trying to kill things and stay alive, after all.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin also keeps up with boomer shooter tradition by not really offering much in the way of a story. All you do is go around killing things, rinse and repeat. You’re not going to get any deep character-focused introspection here, and you won’t really care. You’ll be too busy taking down monsters, throwing potions, dying a lot, and going back for more.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin wears its inspirations on its sleeves. Its use of old software technology to do incredible things is especially impressive, and the pedigree of the game’s level designers is constantly at full display. The game also has a well-rounded arsenal of weapons that, while far from unique, never feel dull to use. All of this is wrapped up in a boomer shooter that manages to look surprisingly unique in this day and age by tapping into classical art styles with its own flair.

This game was reviewed on PC.