Just a quick glance across the PlayStation back catalogue will inform you that the platform is certainly well covered in terms of so-called ‘boomer shooters’ that seek to infuse retro design elements and aesthetics into the FPS genre. The latest of these is Wrath: Aeon of Ruin, an ambitious offering which not only cribs ample influence of the godfathers of the genre such as Quake (Wrath: Aeon of Ruin actually uses the same engine as id Software’s classic), but also draws a little on broader influences from the likes of FROM Software’s Dark Souls games too.
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is a doggedly single-player experience and, on console at least, it sticks to that notion by abandoning multiplayer altogether. In doing so, I can’t say that Wrath: Aeon of Ruin would necessarily be any better with a multiplayer mode, not least because it’s clear that so much effort has been poured into its massive campaign and so the trade off feels more than acceptable from my vantage point.
Wrath: Aeon Of Ruin PS4 Review
A Punishing, Ambitious Retro Shooter For Hardcore Genre Fans
The premise for Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is that the player is thrust into the role of the Outlander, a enigmatic wanderer that finds himself adrift upon the Ageless Sea before arriving on a nearby island. Here, the Outlander discovers a decaying realm whereupon at the behest of the Shepherd of Wayward Souls, he is tasked with tracking down and destroying the Guardians of the Old World – once noble protectors of the realm that have succumbed to corruption and thus the rot that has scoured the realm.
Certainly if that plot outline evokes something of the grim, destroyed beauty that is often synonymous with FROM Software’s legendary series, then you’ll be less surprised to learn that the aesthetic is also something of a halfway tribute as well between the likes of Quake and Dark Souls itself. From sprawling snow-topped landscapes that give way to towering cathedrals set atop rivers of lava, deep swamp-like bogs, gloomy catacombs and more besides, it would be quite false to claim that Wrath: Aeon of Ruin lacks variety in its visual presentation.
Into the meat and spuds of the game itself, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin hews closely to the templates laid down by the likes of Quake, Doom and others but spices up proceedings with some fresh design elements of its own. Though the primary reason behind your agency is to murder just about everything in sight and collect shiny keys to gain access to new areas, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin does spice things up a little more than some of its immediate points of comparison.
The first of these is the level design. Put simply, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin takes place across a frankly gargantuan amount of virtual real estate filled with all manner of twisting corridors, winding towers, numerous secret chambers, chunky amounts of open space and so much more besides. In addition to being wonderfully chunky, these levels are well-designed too, encouraging the player to look in all directions, nooks and crannies as they seek out cheekily concealed caches of hidden treasure and other such secrets. Beyond these prescribed levels, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin actually has a number of hub areas too which naturally unfurl into these specific levels, lending the game a real sense of scale that no other shooter from that era is seemingly able to match.
Of course the upshot of having such sprawling and huge levels is that finding your way around the various levels of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin can be challenging, not least because, for whatever reason, there is no in-game map whatsoever. Honestly, not having a map in a game which has huge levels like this feels like a desperate oversight and while it dovetails (somewhat) into the whole idea of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin being some sort of hardcore, super punishing affair (more on that in a bit, it kind of crosses the line into just being a plain old fashioned annoyance, rather than a badge of pride.
Leaning into that sense of punishment is the general level of difficulty that pervades throughout Wrath: Aeon of Ruin. Not only can you die extremely quickly, but enemies very often spawn very close to your character either resulting in a quick death, or a hasty retreat into an area of the level you haven’t been before – which is easy because did I mention the levels are freaking huge – only to get murdered by something else that you just so happen to stumble across.
It’s a shame that the difficulty level can feel so unbearably high too – especially in the later levels – because Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is a great deal of fun to play. From the variously grotesque weapons that take in things like runic arm blades and nail guns that shoot fangs instead of nails, to a grenade launcher that fires explosive cysts at enemies, it’s fair to say that Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is in the running for having some of the most ugly yet satisfying weapons the genre has seen for a little while. And indeed, in following its Quake design heritage, traversing around the ruined world of Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is a cinch too, thanks in no small part to the buttery smooth framerate and ultra-responsive movement.
That said, there is also logic, albeit a cold logic, that exists behind Wrath: Aeon of Ruin’s soaring difficulty level. Unlike Quake and other similar shooters, many of the enemies that you’ll tangle with in Wrath: Aeon of Ruin often have resistances and weaknesses against particular types of ammo, encouraging you to frequently vary your arsenal and match it to the situation at hand, making Wrath: Aeon of Ruin feel more tactical than it initially does. Adding to this layer of strategy is the artifact system that Wrath: Aeon of Ruin leverages, since the player can equip special limited use items that have neat effects in battle such as being able to deflect enemy projectiles, drain health and so on. It’s not revolutionary stuff for sure, but it adds a welcome morsel of complexity to the proceedings all the same.
Perhaps the most controversial way that Wrath: Aeon of Ruin innovates in its design is in how it handles checkpoints and save points. While the usual autosaves apply whenever you enter a new level, you actually have to collect manual saves (called ‘Soul Tethers’ here) which you can then use whenever you wish. I think it’s a neat system that really requires players to pace themselves and work out when the best time is to spend a save and it feels decently implemented, too – though I am sure that more than a few people will resent not being able to save wherever and whenever they like. Luckily, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin has them covered too, thanks to an ‘infinite save’ toggle that can be switched depending on preference.
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin feels like the hardcore peak of the so-called ‘boomer-shooter’ subgenre. A punishing (sometimes unfairly so), yet rewarding and surprisingly innovative exercise in first-person shooter goodness, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is recommended for anyone looking to test their genre skills within the confines of its grim design and unrelenting onslaught.
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is out now on PS4.
Review code kindly supplied by PR.