Doom 3 and Prey get a spiritual successor in new ’00s-inspired FPS you can try right now

When we reminisce about the glory days of the FPS, we tend to focus on the ‘90s. The original Doom. Half-Life. Quake. System Shock. These are the shooters that pioneered the genre, and defined the PC platform. But the boomer shooter trend is pushing forward, and the greatest FPS games of the early ‘00s are finally getting some attention. A combination of the original (and best) Prey, Monolith’s FEAR, Doom 3, and a little BioShock, a new shooter with a throwback feel is available to try now on Steam.

Mother Hub, a name which in itself sounds like a treacherous area from BioShock’s Rapture, or System Shock 2’s Von Braun, is a new FPS game that looks like a close cousin of Doom 3. I’m not sure how developer S. ODale has managed it, but somehow Mother Hub captures that id Tech 4 visual style perfectly. Glossy textures, oozing surfaces, and dynamic lighting leap off the screen here, whispering ‘00s nostalgia, but at the same time, among a sea of ‘90s-inspired boomer shooters, providing Mother Hub with a highly distinctive aesthetic.

The final vestiges of humanity are confined to a gigantic underground vault, the eponymous Hub, but something has gone spectacularly wrong. In the deepest depths, a terrifying, body-horror pathogen has evolved, transforming anyone who comes into contact with it into screeching fleshly monstrosities. In true immersive-sim style, the further you explore, the more you will learn about the outbreak. Gory, frightening, and teeming with old-school flair, Mother Hub feels like a 2004 FPS that somehow never got released.

And now you can try it for yourself. The Mother Hub demo is live, and you check it out right here. We’re still waiting on a full release date, but it’s currently slated to launch in 2025.

Until then, the best old games will keep the nostalgia fires burning, or you can check out the best upcoming PC games and get ahead of all the hits on their way to you in 2024 and beyond.

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