Game news ‘Ok Boomer’, Steam Adds Ironic Category Name to Help Nostalgic Gamers
As a nod to a famous FPS which has just celebrated its thirtieth anniversary, the emblematic Steam library has just added a very original category to its catalog. It’s the boomers, including yours truly, who will be happy.
In my time…
Like society, climate or mentalities, video games have changed considerably since the 1990s. At a time when the Internet was still in its infancy, the media industry was trying to exist through original works and the studios did not hesitate (at least, much more than today) to take risks to surprise the gaming community. What we find today in independent production was part of the catalog of the most famous publishers and consoles like the PlayStation have allowed cult series to see the light of day. You just need to pick up a simple magazine (yes, you know, that somewhat basic thing made from real tree wood) to see the astonishing richness of the games of the time.
Action, adventure, sport, racing, fighting, role-playing, tactical role-playing, space opera, real-time strategy, first-person shooter, FPS, sliding, split screen multiplayer… there was something for everyone and the feeling of having sequels was less pronounced. Was it better? No, it was just different and the very bad games were jostling at the gate (a bit like for the Wii and the DS). It was a different era, with much lower production costs than today and it is not unusual for some people to be nostalgic for it.
Something new with something old on Steam
Among the emblematic works to have crossed the generations, Doom stands out as an essential. Considered the ancestor of the modern FPS, ID Software’s title shocked PC owners at the time. Like a Super Mario Bros. who almost single-handedly invented the platform game, Doom is the one who created the concept of multiplayer Death Matches while shaping the codes of the modern shooter. With its revolutionary 3D, fast-paced gameplay and fantastically edgy music, the work of John Romero and John Carmack revolutionized the genre. Doom was thus the starting point for what was called, at the time, Doom-Like, that is to say shooting games in subjective view – which we renamed FPS. And since that time, we have stopped counting the adventures that have been imbued with the codes of this extraordinary game.
In recent years, the Steam platform has seen the emergence of games incorporating all the elements and philosophy of Doom. Generally, these apps mixed a modern approach with a very pleasant vintage look and their success has been confirmed over time. In order to meet an increasingly pronounced demand from fans of the genre, Steam has imagined a new category which brings together games like Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, Unreal and even Half-Life. By going to the “Boomer Shooter” category, Steam users will be able to find all the FPS which use the codes, both visual and playful, of all these emblematic works. From Turbo Overkill to Dusk via Ion Fury, Prodeus or ULTRAKILL, hundreds of hours of gameplay await fans of these titles mixing vintage and modernity. By creating this category, Steam is responding to the stratospheric demand from fans of the first Doom. To date, there are more than 150, so don’t hesitate!