cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ninja/post/10393
“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.
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.
The article did address this:
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.
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.
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.
Asteroids was my dad’s boomer shooter.
It’s a great game though. Can’t blame him at all
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)
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.
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.
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.
I’m going to murder someone if I hear any of my friends call them. I swear if this becomes a widespread term
It’s been used for a couple years now. Seems like a pretty small thing to get so worked up over.
What an awful, awful name for the genre. I’ve always hated “Metroidvania,” but I’ll embrace it with open arms if I never have to hear or read “boomer shooter” ever again.
Call of Duty and Battlefield currently define the FPS genre, signaling a trend towards realism
What version of reality does this author live in, anyway?
I feel like a lot of games work better for the indie market because development costs are so low.
