Painkiller is back and has changed, but fans of the original should still take a look.

Painkiller returns in 2025 as a brutal co-op shooter—with Doom-like gunplay, grappling hooks, and plenty of demons to nail to the wall.

Hallelujah, hell is freezing over: Painkiller is returning this fall! But instead of straightforward solo carnage, 2025 will see the arrival of a co-op shooter for three demon hunters – can this work? After a few bloody rounds in the prologue and two complete levels, I’d say: yes, it sure can!

Old cult shooter, new concept

In 2004, Painkiller let us turn hell upside down as a one-man army: A linear level marathon, metal soundtrack, and tons of monsters bursting into pieces in a hail of bullets. Main hero Daniel Garner slaughtered his way through purgatory alone, without cover, without reloading, but with plenty of absurd weapons.

Over 20 years later, developer Anshar Studios is attempting a balancing act: Painkiller (2025) should feel familiar, but shine with fresh ideas. Probably the biggest change: instead of going solo, we now have a team of up to three players (or bots, if you really want to play alone) at the shotgun.

This time around, iconic leather jacket hero Daniel Garner is left out of the picture – instead, we slip into the role of four new champions named Ink, Void, Sol, and Roch, chosen by the creator himself to stop the demon hordes. Each of these anti-heroes has their own perks: one can take more damage, the next deals extra damage, and so on.

The new Painkiller also takes a different approach in terms of structure. Whereas the original was a series of levels, the 2025 spin-off focuses on replay value through progression: we can upgrade weapons and abilities, unlock new gadgets, and steadily improve our skills (more on that in a moment).

In short: Painkiller (2025) feels like a meeting of old and new – still a fast-paced arena shooter with a boomer shooter feel, but packaged in modern co-op structures. Fortunately, the pace remains high: the prologue gets straight to the point, and within minutes I find myself stomping through bloody remains.

Nevertheless, the feel of the game is slightly different than it was back then – in addition to classic bunny hopping, dash maneuvers and even a grappling hook have been added, allowing me to whirl around even faster. The new moves make for fast-paced, agile gameplay à la Doom Eternal, while the old Painkiller felt comparatively down-to-earth.

And the atmosphere? While the original was more of an exaggerated heavy metal nightmare, the reboot is also dark and gothic, but in a more subtle way. In the Cathedral Bridge level, for example, I fight my way through a collapsed cathedral while a dark sky hangs over the scene – visually really cool and gothic as hell, in the truest sense of the word.No comparison to the clunky graphics of 2004.

Old-school weapons and Doom gunplayAnd this is where the new installment makes a spectacular entrance: There are bangs, clangs, and splatters everywhere, enough to bring tears of joy to the eyes of any Doom fan.

We ultimately have seven infernal weapons at our disposal, each with primary and secondary fire, and we have to choose two before each level.

It doesn’t sound like much at first, but what weapons they are! The legendary stake gun is back – a kind of portable ballista that fires thick wooden stakes, allowing me to nail enemies to the walls in style.

The first demon I catch with it flies several meters through the chapel, writhing, and then remains impaled on a pillar. Nailed it, as they say. Also back again: the Electrodriver, which fires shurikens in secondary fire and shreds entire rows of enemies.

Of course, the eponymous Painkiller blade is also a must: This rotating saw chops up everything that comes too close and now even serves as a grappling hook that I can use to pull enemies toward me and turn them into bloody confetti.

Another new feature is that melee kills now replenish ammunition – but I didn’t really need to use this feature because you can always find enough supplies in the levels. Of course, this can change at any time in the higher difficulty levels.

By the way, the developers have another ace up their sleeve: weapon upgrades! With each mission completed, we collect money and hell shards, which we can use to pimp our favorite weapons or unlock completely new guns.

For example, you can upgrade the stakes of the stake gun to drills that easily pierce shields and armor.With the final update, they even explode once they’ve dug into the rotten flesh of your enemies.

I’ve only completed two levels on the lowest difficulty setting so far, but I’m sure that tailoring your loadout to specific enemy types could add another layer of strategy to the already intense gunplay.

Still, I’m glad that Painkiller remains primarily a brutally simple shooter – you can literally feel every projectile hitting you, and you rarely have to do more than pull the trigger, dodge, and aim like hell. That’s how it should be!

Through purgatory together

In my play session, I (with two bots at my side) mastered the prologue and two other levels, and it really felt like Doom (2016) crossed with Left 4 Dead or Warhammer 40,000: Darktide.Hordes of smaller demons storm out from every corner, and alone you’d be challenged, but not overwhelmed.

But with other players, it’s glorious team chaos: While I rush ahead with the stake gun and literally nail zombies to the wall, my partner covers my back with a hail of SMG bullets.

Every now and then, one of my companions warns me when another group of screaming hellspawn rushes out of a side passage or a particularly nasty elite mob spawns – communication is definitely helpful, even if Painkiller isn’t a tactical shooter per se.

Of course, the question arises: Is the classic Painkiller essence lost in the process? After all, the old game was a pure single-player trip. Based on my impressions so far, I would say no. Painkiller remains Painkiller, only now the fun is shared.

Important: No one is forced to play co-op here. If you want, you can complete the entire game solo with bot companions starting October 9, 2025, and get a similarly intense experience, just on your own.

Editor’s conclusion

After my hellish trip through the preview version of Painkiller, I’m optimistic – and also relieved. As a fan of the original, I was worried about whether the balancing act between old-school shooter and modern co-op horde shooter could work at all.

But Anshar Studios seems to know exactly what ingredients make this franchise successful. The gunplay bangs like a double-barreled shotgun, the atmosphere is dark and gothic yet wonderfully exaggerated, and in co-op, the whole thing unfolds with a pull that’s hard to resist.

Sure, you have to be ready for a brutal, fast-paced, cooperative hell ride that falls somewhere between the high-speed carnage of Doom Eternal and the team-oriented battlefest of Vermintide/Darktide. Painkiller (2025) caters to exactly this niche – and that makes it almost unique in the current shooter landscape.

Of course, there are still questions to be answered. Will all levels be as varied as the ones we played? Will the progression and upgrade system keep us motivated in the long run, or will we just end up grinding for skins? And will the game be just as exciting in solo mode as it is in co-op (keyword: AI bots)? The final version will have to answer these questions. But my impression is that this is a game with a lot of potential to win back old fans and attract new co-op friends. Anyone who is longing for more PvE co-op shooters – perhaps disappointed by other titles – should keep an eye on Painkiller.