History is destined to repeat itself.
Prodeus is a first-person shooter focused on fast-paced combat, pseudo-retro aesthetics, and tons of brutal explosions. Prodeus can be very simply summarized as a game that tries to find the perfect balance between classic Doom games and modern Doom influences. These influences are reflected in everything from enemy designs to his palette of item pick-up colors, so he’s not shy either. This is both a strength and a weakness. Prodeus knows exactly what it’s going to do, so there’s very little new.
Prodeus’ level design is heavily inspired by early 90’s first-person shooters. Levels are somewhat non-linear, requiring the player to explore and find keys and switches before returning to previously locked areas. The level design feels very accurate to its inspiration and works very well. Each level contains many off-the-beaten-path secrets and a surprising amount of visual variety, albeit with a limited selection of assets.Additional weapons and upgrade points are scattered about. So finding secrets also helps progress. Levels can be replayed from an almost Super Mario World-esque overworld map, and everything can be found in replays.
I generally try to avoid reviewing too much about comparing one game to another, but Prodeus’ biggest weakness is how dependent it is on the Doom franchise. . Almost the same from weapons to enemy types. Infected gun-wielding Marines, fireball-throwing imps, charging giant demons, floating cacodemons: they’re all here, and they’re essentially everything here. It’s rare to see something without a direct counterpart in the Doom franchise. But here’s the problem. It also works very well. Yes, it’s a silent Doom clone, but it’s a very good silent Doom clone.
Prodeus’ ingenuity is most evident on the technical side. Modern rendering techniques and materials are masterfully combined with low-fidelity models and texturing to create something that looks utterly retro yet utterly modern. The enemy uses a real-time 3D model to generate lighting-accurate 2D sprites of him in real-time. It all looks absolutely incredible. Overall, the Switch offers a playable level of performance. Resolution is obviously not an issue, as the game is intentionally rendered at a lower resolution by design, but frame rate can be. I didn’t think it was debilitating, but it certainly was noticeable.
If you want a very artistically and technically accomplished Doom clone, Prodeus is for you. Support for fan-created levels could expand the experience somewhat, but this version lacks the option to create your own levels.Performance on Switch isn’t perfect, but still very playable. It’s easy and looks much better. Although it struggles to find its own identity along the way, coming out more as an elaborate mod or fan game than its own title, Prodeus remains a solid shooter, albeit unoriginal.
