Sprawl Zero wants to take the FPS back to 2005

I'm not a big fan of using modern internet phrases when writing about games. You know what I mean: "Hollow Knight's vibes are immaculate" or "I'm Balatro pilled", that sort of thing. It dates your writing within about fifteen minutes, and it pales in comparison to the power of original language you chose yourself.

Anyway first-person shooter Sprawl Zero appears to be Ravenmaxxing.

"Y2K is back" says a loading bar at the start of the trailer, and then "Reloading 2005" just before the liquid drum-and-bass drops for a combat montage of catching bullets, bum-sliding, and throwing physics barrels at enemies. At several points the player punches a man so hard they burst. This is a game made by people who I'd bet have seen Ghost In The Shell, Akira and probably at least one OVA, and who have played not only Raven Software's Singularity, but probably also Ritual's Sin and Monolith's Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. They have probably seen The Matrix more times than they can count.

All of which is excellent. We've had several years now of "boomer shooter" renaissance, with developers trying to recreate the Id Software glory days of Doom and Quake. That's been good, but I'm much more interested in something like Sprawl Zero. While Id's games had a stripped-back design philosophy, almost everyone else was stuffing their shooters with three times as many weapons, and by the mid-2000s were able to marry that maximalism with similarly bombastic physics and movement. This is an era I'd love to see return.

Developers Maeth seemingly agree. Sprawl Zero is a followup to 2023's Sprawl, which was well received. "If SPRAWL was our blood-soaked love letter to the '90s, SPRAWL Zero is our homage to the Golden Age of 2000s console shooters," they write in their announcement. "SPRAWL Zero is heavily inspired by the dynamic worlds and tactical firefights of classics like F.E.A.R., Halo, and Half-Life 2."

I can see an obvious Half-Life 2 influence on the trailer above, but Half-Life 2 - which I love - was always relatively austere, concerned with being credible as a world and a work of fiction. Spawl Zero looks gloriously unconcerned. Every enemy killed tosses their weapon the air as they die so you can catch it before it hits the ground and immediately start shooting your next target. It has over 40 weapons and bullet time, because why not. The claim that enemies will communicate, flank, and flush you out as they do in F.E.A.R. and Halo is welcome, sure, but I want it to remain at the trashier end of that spectrum. I want to end Sprawl Zero with all 40 weapons stuffed in my trousers.

There's no release date yet, though they do promise to show more soon over on Steam.