Well, it’s for the easiest part of any video gamer’s job: the cuts. Over the course of Boomer Shooter December, the list of games I planned to play chopped and changed pretty frequently. The only real goal was to finish the month with Duke Nukem 3D, which I’m happy to say has been reached. Review coming shortly. Everything else in between was basically fair game. This is the rest of the pack. The games that didn’t make it or were started and trashed early on, or were quietly binned along the way. There’s a few reasons why these were cut, but one way or another they didn’t survive the month. Time, momentum or maybe they just didn’t click. It happens. There’s still a few posts to come out of Boomer Shooter December and as expected, it’s spilling into January. I kept the focus pretty firmly on classic ’90s to early-’00s shooters this time around which meant some tough calls had to be made.
I’ll kick off with one that I knew was going to end up cut: The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki. I fired this up purely for a nostalgia-driven laugh. Back in the ’90s, we pulled this game out of a Harvey Norman bargain bin and I’m convinced it was there by mistake, destined for the actual bin instead. The recently released ‘Fancy Edition’ is available on Steam and has regularly been on sale for under five bucks and I wouldn’t recommend paying a cent more than that. Technically, the re-release makes the game more accessible but I’m not convinced it’s something that anyone actually needs to access. Even with added controller support, the mechanics are clunky as all hell. Reloading your weapon is done manually, movement feels stiff, awkward and the maze-like levels make navigation overly frustrating. Outside of a few cheesy catchphrases, there’s very little here that’s aged into anything resembling value unless you’re a fan of expired milk. The developer is fully aware of all of this and makes absolutely no apologies for it, which is genuinely hilarious. Actually playing the game though? It’s a cult classic for all the wrong reasons. The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki absolutely stinks.
3D Realms released a follow up to Duke Nukem 3D with Shadow Warrior in 1997. Running on the same engine, it carries a pretty solid reputation with it. I’ve been genuinely keen to finally play this one, but outside of a few Lo Wang moments and quotes I was actually pretty disappointed. Combat is actually pretty great and it has that familiar Duke Nukem 3D feeling which is instantly inviting, but the difficulty quickly became my biggest issue. Even after dropping the difficulty down, enemies hit HARD and dealing with more than one at a time turns ugly fast. The puzzles aren’t a big help either, with even the simplest ones feeling like busywork that just acts to drag the pacing down to a crawl. I’ve read plenty of praise and positive comments for Shadow Warrior, with a lot saying it takes some time to really click. I’ve never been big on playing myself into liking a game. “Who wanta some Wang!?” was the highlight before it joined the cuts. Maybe I’ll come back to it one day. Maybe.
Hexen’s recent resurgence thanks to Nightdive Studios’ remaster has been difficult to ignore, especially as an upgrade was handed out for free if you already owned it on Steam. After finally pushing through the opening few levels all these years later, I understand exactly why I never finished it as a kid and will not be continuing with it now. If Nightdive opted to re-launch this under a different name I’d suggest Switch Hunter ’95. That’s all you’ll be doing for the vast majority of your time. Look, there are some positives here too, don’t get me wrong. The environments look great, the three class system is pretty interesting and the weapons and spells have a solid personality to them. Movement feels good and inventory management is also surprisingly solid. Unfortunately, none of those positives make up for how relentlessly dull the core experience is. For every moment of atmosphere or potential, there’s another aimless switch hunt that kills your momentum before you even get started. Hexen’s remaster came out of nowhere to the joy of the fans, but it still doesn’t fix its fundamental flaws. Hexen, you’re cut.
Alright, yes. Doom and Doom II are pretty obvious omissions to Boomer Shooter December. They weren’t cut because I don’t like them, they’re deadset classics, but they’re very fresh in my mind after I finished them fairly recently. I wanted to focus on some other titles in the genre instead. There are a few others that probably should have made the cut. Blood is another Build engine game that’s fresh off its second remaster. I’ve never actually played it and it very nearly earned a spot. Instead, I donned my rose-tinted glasses and decided to revisit Aliens Versus Predator and uh… well, let’s just say choices were made. Ion Fury, a more modern shooter with old school feel running on the Build engine also came pretty close but ended up cut to make way for Doom 64. Again, choices were made.
I would have liked to cram a few more games in, but time was always going to be a limiting factor. I’m still mostly happy with the mix I managed to rip through. A few others made their way to the cuts pile as well including Heretic, Unreal, SiN, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, Outlaws and Terminator: Future Shock on the classic end. I also considered some other titles like Redneck Rampage, Soldier of Fortune, Strife, Chasm: The Rift and No One Lives Forever but ultimately they didn’t make the cut either. There’s a lot here that you might not consider traditional boomer shooters and you’re probably right, but I still view most of them as linear shooters in the same vein. Feel free to disagree. I’ll be returning to the genre through 2026, that much is a certainty. I already picked up at least one during the Steam Winter Sale and my wishlist never seems to stay free of boomer shooters for long. Selaco is sitting on it right now, watching me, patiently waiting to be added to my cart. I’m keen to explore more modern takes on boomer shooters, especially after how much I enjoyed Prodeus. It’s easily been my favourite entry into the genre in recent years.
Trying to curate a list like this was always going to be a losing battle. There’s too many titles out there and squeezing even a fraction of them into a single month means some games were always going to get cut. Did I make the right choices? They weren’t all hits, but I don’t really care. I had a ripper time working my way through them, even if a few genuine stinkers snuck their way in. Nostalgia glasses are probably best to be locked away, because time hasn’t been kind to some of our old favourites. I guess that’s half the fun of digging through this era. For every classic, there’s something equally rough, weird or just outright awful. Some of these cuts will definitely get a look in down the line, others might not be so lucky. Regardless, Boomer Shooter December did exactly what it was supposed to do and I can’t wait for December 2026.
Dad with a Deck 
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