Games like 'Dusk', 'Amid Evil', and 'Into the Pit' are shining examples of a new FPS subgenre: the "boomer shooter" inspired by games like 'Doom' and 'Quake'.
“Boomer shooter” is the latest term to follow the likes of “Roguelike” or “Soulslike” in the realm of hyperspecific gaming subgenres. It applies to first-person shooters that intentionally harken back to the classic PC games of the late ‘90s like Doom and Quake.
The internet loves roasting “boomers,” the shorthand term for the Baby Boomer generation born in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Admittedly, most boomer shooter fans are likely Gen-Xers and Millennials, but they’re still co-opting the term in a sarcastic but positive way that conveys the old-school nature of this niche genre.
It all comes down to it rolling off your tongue better.
OG doom is so awesome. It basically fathered the FPS genre and speedrunning. There’s still so much development and so much being done. Even artistically there’s a lot happening. Have you seen myhouse.wad? That’s just brilliant meta storytelling.
If you’re not going to play myhouse.wad there’s a great (albeit long) video essay on it.
Millennials? No way. The oldest millennials were 11 when Doom came out.
It is most definitely a Gen X game. It has all the hallmarks of mid 90s GenX culture: unapologetically rebellious, anti-establishment, edgy and violent. The developers are also all oldish GenX-ers (Adrian Carmack, John Carmack, John Romero, Dave Taylor) or young Boomers (Sandy Petersen and Tom Hall)
Somehow I had 1991 in my mind for Doom’s release date, but it’s 1993. That’s my mistake.
In any case, if you were 13 when Doom came out, you were born in 1980 or 1979, so you’re still not a millennial, but GenX. The cut-off point for millennials is usually put around 1981-1982.
Even so, Doom’s target audience at the time, with all the satanic and gore content, was most definitely not 13 year olds although it’s possible you played it on your Boomer or GenX dad’s PC of course.
I’m a GenX-er from 1975 by the way, so I was “there” when all this happened.
A lot of us older Millennials still grew up playing these games as they came out.
Of course. Especially the ones that came after Doom I guess. I listened to a lot of older music at the time too (like 80s new wave or 70s hard rock and punk), but that doesn’t make it “GenX” music.
But you’re right, they are thoroughly a product of '90s Gen-X culture.
Yeah, Doom, Quake, Duke et al are like ‘90s GenX culture personified for me. Millennials’ era (and this is sort of in the name) is ca. 2000 and afterwards, and gaming had already shifted to something else by quite a bit by then.
Doom is still incredible. It has it’s faults, but fantastic nonetheless. I highly recommend you try out some of the sick mods community made for it, like Heartland (it requires the Eternity Engine).
I completely agree with the generational… “faux pas” in the naming. But it SOUNDS good…
boomer shooter…
I’ve also heard retroFPS.
I wasn’t a fan when these originally came out. I was too busy with more “complex” hoity-toity puzzlers and “deep” rpg’s…
Now that I’m almost 50, I enjoy the HELL out of Boltgun. If you buy ONE game… I HIGHLY recommend it. It starts with the pedal to the metal and then hits turbo at some point (you’re too busy to notice).
REALLY… give it a try.
Quake III is an arena shooter, Quake I and II definitely are not. Yes Unreal Tournament is an arena shooter but Forgive Me Father, Blood West, Wrath, Deadlink, and Boltgun definitely are not…
Good to hear thanks! I’m taking a breather from fast paced fps to get into a hoity toity puzzler now (outer wilds is awesome) but I have reminded myself how nice it is to take a mindless break and destroy Nazis and demons so I’ll be back to the dizzingly fast violence trough soon enough
If you like Outer Wilds, take a look at Call of Cthulhu or Superliminal. Superliminal will bend your perception. Call of Cthulhu is a fun romp through the Lovecraftian universe. And both have an extra helping of hoity.
It’s also kind of ironic to call them boomer games since they were hell bent to censor or cancel games like those or pretty much any video game in general.
That’s my thought as well. The only game my boomer dad ever played on our old Windows 3.11 Acer PC was some golf game. It was my gen x future brother-in-law that introduced me to shooters like Doom and Quake.
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These are millenial shooters dangit, boomers were too old for doom. Gen X at most.
More seriously though I just replayed the OG doom and it still slaps, nice to see some folks are trying to recapture that. I should check these out.
John Carmack is 52. Gen X can comfortably work.
The article did address this:
It all comes down to it rolling off your tongue better.
I was making a joke my friend :)
I know I know. Just thought it was interesting that they had the same thought process in the article too. 😄
OG doom is so awesome. It basically fathered the FPS genre and speedrunning. There’s still so much development and so much being done. Even artistically there’s a lot happening. Have you seen myhouse.wad? That’s just brilliant meta storytelling.
If you’re not going to play myhouse.wad there’s a great (albeit long) video essay on it.
Millennials? No way. The oldest millennials were 11 when Doom came out.
It is most definitely a Gen X game. It has all the hallmarks of mid 90s GenX culture: unapologetically rebellious, anti-establishment, edgy and violent. The developers are also all oldish GenX-ers (Adrian Carmack, John Carmack, John Romero, Dave Taylor) or young Boomers (Sandy Petersen and Tom Hall)
I am a millennial who was 13 when Doom came out but go off
Somehow I had 1991 in my mind for Doom’s release date, but it’s 1993. That’s my mistake.
In any case, if you were 13 when Doom came out, you were born in 1980 or 1979, so you’re still not a millennial, but GenX. The cut-off point for millennials is usually put around 1981-1982.
Even so, Doom’s target audience at the time, with all the satanic and gore content, was most definitely not 13 year olds although it’s possible you played it on your Boomer or GenX dad’s PC of course.
I’m a GenX-er from 1975 by the way, so I was “there” when all this happened.
A lot of us older Millennials still grew up playing these games as they came out.
But you’re right, they are thoroughly a product of '90s Gen-X culture.
Of course. Especially the ones that came after Doom I guess. I listened to a lot of older music at the time too (like 80s new wave or 70s hard rock and punk), but that doesn’t make it “GenX” music.
Yeah, Doom, Quake, Duke et al are like ‘90s GenX culture personified for me. Millennials’ era (and this is sort of in the name) is ca. 2000 and afterwards, and gaming had already shifted to something else by quite a bit by then.
Doom is still incredible. It has it’s faults, but fantastic nonetheless. I highly recommend you try out some of the sick mods community made for it, like Heartland (it requires the Eternity Engine).
I completely agree with the generational… “faux pas” in the naming. But it SOUNDS good… boomer shooter… I’ve also heard retroFPS. I wasn’t a fan when these originally came out. I was too busy with more “complex” hoity-toity puzzlers and “deep” rpg’s… Now that I’m almost 50, I enjoy the HELL out of Boltgun. If you buy ONE game… I HIGHLY recommend it. It starts with the pedal to the metal and then hits turbo at some point (you’re too busy to notice). REALLY… give it a try.
It’s a bit silly because at least with like quake and unreal tournament, they are referred to as arena shooters already
Quake III is an arena shooter, Quake I and II definitely are not. Yes Unreal Tournament is an arena shooter but Forgive Me Father, Blood West, Wrath, Deadlink, and Boltgun definitely are not…
Good to hear thanks! I’m taking a breather from fast paced fps to get into a hoity toity puzzler now (outer wilds is awesome) but I have reminded myself how nice it is to take a mindless break and destroy Nazis and demons so I’ll be back to the dizzingly fast violence trough soon enough
If you like Outer Wilds, take a look at Call of Cthulhu or Superliminal. Superliminal will bend your perception. Call of Cthulhu is a fun romp through the Lovecraftian universe. And both have an extra helping of hoity.
I found superluminal just made me miss portal unfortunately. It wasn’t bad but not as strong. Might take a look at coc though!
It’s also kind of ironic to call them boomer games since they were hell bent to censor or cancel games like those or pretty much any video game in general.
aa
Asteroids was my dad’s boomer shooter.
It’s a great game though. Can’t blame him at all
Galaga was my dad’s boomer shooter.
Pinball on an Apple IIe was honestly slick.
Farmville on Facebook might be up there, too.
That’s my thought as well. The only game my boomer dad ever played on our old Windows 3.11 Acer PC was some golf game. It was my gen x future brother-in-law that introduced me to shooters like Doom and Quake.