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The new Painkiller has been released on Steam, and fans are not impressed. Here’s an overview of the situation.
On October 21, 2025, the Painkiller series returns to Steam and is not very well received with the new release. With only 208 reviews, the shooter currently has a rating of Balanced. We take a closer look at the reviews and their points of criticism.
Too little Painkiller and not a good game for some
Balanced means that not only negative voices are represented. However, the new Painkiller from 2025 still gets its fair share of criticism.
Many players criticize that the shooter feels slapdash and doesn’t feel like Painkiller. In addition, the solo mode feels like an afterthought to the multiplayer mode, because here, too, you are assigned bots that are of little help instead of co-op partners. User lockjaw writes, for example:
Nothing has any weight, not even the iconic stake gun. Everything moves twice as fast as it probably should, and there are so many enemies on the screen, all with very similar colors, that it quickly becomes a huge mess.
In addition to the chaotic and poorly legible design, which some commenters mention, the story and humor are also met with little enthusiasm. FSMcas criticizes in particular the lack of an otherwise intense horror atmosphere in his detailed review. The new Painkiller is a colorful jumping game that, in terms of gameplay, focuses primarily on meaningless grinding:
Even worse: there isn’t even a classic “game”; it’s just endlessly repeatable raids. The game has no real content except endless grinding in the same environments over and over again. No progress, no resolution, no story, nothing. It just feels like an F2P MMO: deliberately and intentionally devoid of any sense of achievement, designed solely for never-ending repetition.
However, not all players feel this way about the new installment.
Koop fun on cozy evenings off for others
User blank expresses his suspicion that many players base their reviews primarily on the previous installments and their nostalgia for them. He praises the weapon feel and shooter gameplay, as well as the contemporary graphics.& nbsp;For him, the endlessly replayable roguelike aspect is more of a positive factor because the gameplay loop itself is fun.
Goodless agrees with him in his comment and emphasizes that he rates the game for what it is, not just as a new installment in the Painkiller series:
If it’s not what I was hoping for, that doesn’t automatically make it bad. It can still be a good or even fantastic game—just not the one I expected. […] The game is different. It’s not the old Painkiller, but a co-op shooter inspired by it. […] Overall, it feels like an alternative to something like Vermintide. Fast, bloody, simple puzzles – great for relaxing in the evening. I played for a while and completed three maps and a boss. It felt a little too easy, even though my random teammates almost died at the final boss. Still, I had fun.
He also praises how well the game is optimized. Still, he’s not completely thrilled, mainly because the co-op bothers him and he’s unsure about the long-term motivation. However, he can’t understand the harsh criticism of the shooter in many reviews.
Doom, but in co-op?
It remains to be seen how the mood surrounding Painkiller will develop. We don’t have a review yet because we didn’t receive a review copy in advance. This could be a sign that the developers at least suspected that the reboot might be met with criticism.
The shooter sees itself its Steam page as a modern reinterpretation with co-op. Many people also draw comparisons to the new Doom due to the splatter effects and hordes of demons. You must stop the fallen angel Azazel and his armies, dynamically moving through purgatory with jumps, sprints, and grappling hooks, and mowing down enemies with various weapons.
You can also improve your character (one of four different characters) step by step using tarot cards.
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