Painkiller (2025) Leans Into Co-op Chaos — Can This Reboot Stick the Landing?

Painkiller is back, faster and louder – but with a co-op twist

This caught my attention because Painkiller isn’t just another shooter name to dust off. The 2004 original from People Can Fly was pure kinetic heresy: bunnyhopping through gothic cathedrals, pinning demons to walls with the stakegun, blasting bosses to a Doom 2016 drumline years before Doom 2016 existed. Now 3D Realms and Anshar Studios are reimagining the series for 2025 with a fresh gameplay trailer and a clear pitch: fast, brutal action you can experience with up to two friends online.

On paper, Painkiller (2025) ticks a lot of the right boxes for fans: “new and classic” weapons, tarot-based upgrades, grotesque enemies like Azazel’s Nephilim, and frantic movement with jumps, dashes, and a hook. It also adds a separate roguelike “Rogue Angel” mode for repeatable runs. The question is whether a co-op-first approach and modern monetization won’t sand down what made Painkiller special: speed, precision, and that mean streak.

Key Takeaways

• Three-player online co-op is the headline – unusual in a genre that typically defaults to four.
• Tarot cards return as a progression layer, plus a separate roguelike mode for replayability.
• “New and classic” weapons implies the stakegun and other icons are back – it needs them.
• Deluxe Edition includes a Season Pass focused on skins; pre-order bonuses are cosmetic-heavy.

Breaking down the announcement

Revealed during the Horror Game Awards Halloween Showcase, Painkiller launches October 21, 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam). The trailer leans into campy demonic narration and shows the new movement toolkit in big, sprawling arenas. Purgatory is your playground again, and that’s the right call — the series shines when it gives you space to strafe, circle, and style on hordes.

Character choice is new for the franchise: four playable heroes — Ink, Void, Sol, and Roch — each with perks leaning into energy, health, power, or damage. If this is more than stat tweaks, it could meaningfully change how a squad comp approaches encounters. Pair that with tarot upgrades and rank-based arsenal expansion and it starts to sound like a modernized loop: smash through a level, earn cards, slot perks, push higher difficulties.

“Rogue Angel” is a separate roguelike mode with procedurally generated arenas, collectable cards, items, and boss gauntlets. That could be Painkiller’s answer to the “what do I do after credits?” question. If the arenas remix classic tilesets with escalating modifiers and meaningful meta progress, it might hook the same crowd that lives in Hades runs or Vampire Survivors sessions — but with a shotgun that freezes demons and a hook that pulls you across a blood-slick cathedral.

Why this matters now

The retro-FPS revival has split into two schools: single-player purists (DUSK, AMID EVIL, Boltgun) and co-op horde smashers (Ripout, Warhammer: Darktide). Painkiller always lived in the arena-puzzle space — speedrunning routes, enemy priority, ammo discipline — so bringing co-op into that DNA is both risky and interesting. If Anshar preserves the razor feel of strafing and bunnyhop rhythm while making room for team synergies, this could be a rare hybrid that pleases both styles.

It helps that 3D Realms has become a steward of modern retro sensibilities, publishing the likes of Ion Fury and CULTIC. Anshar’s background is different — narrative-centric projects like Gamedec and work on Layers of Fear/Observer: System Redux — which makes me curious. Sometimes an outside perspective reinvigorates a formula; sometimes it misses the intangible feel. The movement shown here looks punchy, but I want to know if it supports the classic Painkiller “air control” that let skilled players break fights wide open.

What has me excited

First, the arsenal. The press materials say “new and classic Painkiller weapons,” which better mean the stakegun is back — it’s the series’ soul. A hook-based traversal option suggests we’ll chain grapple-dash-shotgun loops, and that’s exactly the kind of motion-combat fusion that made DOOM Eternal sing. Tarot cards returning is also a win; the best Painkiller builds felt like you were gaming the underworld’s rules to become an unstoppable blender.

Second, the roguelike mode being carved out as its own thing is smart. Keep the campaign focused and authored, then let the roguelike scratch the “one more run” itch with procedural arenas and boss ladders. If they get the pacing right — short, lethal runs with interesting card synergies — it could be the long tail this reboot needs.

Red flags and open questions

The Deluxe Edition ships with a Season Pass and a cosmetic DLC (“Night Watch”) day one, plus pre-order skin packs. If the monetization stays purely cosmetic, fine. But front-loading skins and a pass before we’ve touched a weapon feels like priorities are skewed. Painkiller’s loop should be about skill expression and mastery, not FOMO. At minimum, communicate clearly: no gameplay in the pass, no XP boosters, no stat gear. Say it loud.

Three-player co-op is also an eyebrow-raiser. Why three, not four? Is it a technical call (enemy counts, network load) or a design constraint (arena readability, enemy AI)? If the design genuinely sings with three — tighter revive economy, unique trio synergies — I’m on board. But please don’t let “team play” become bullet sponge health bars; Painkiller’s lethality should remain viciously high.

Other basics I want answered before launch: Is solo fully supported with the same pacing and enemy density? Is there offline play? Will the campaign be replayable with mutators and chapter select? And crucially for a movement shooter: are consoles targeting a locked 60fps with responsive input curves? If you can’t nail framerate, the rest doesn’t matter.

Finally, history matters. The last big attempt to modernize Painkiller — Hell & Damnation (2012) — had co-op and a glossy sheen but lost the feel. This reboot looks closer to the original’s arena intensity. Keep it there. Celebrate excess, lean into speed, and let the stakegun sing.

Release details and the odd pre-order mix

Painkiller launches October 21, 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Digital pre-orders are pushing the Deluxe Edition across platforms, while physical pre-orders exist for the Standard Edition on consoles. It’s a bit of a weird split that makes it harder to understand baseline value. If the Deluxe is mainly a cosmetic pass, most players will want clarity on the Standard’s content, campaign length, and post-launch plans before committing.

TL;DR

Painkiller (2025) aims to fuse the series’ arena-speed carnage with three-player co-op and a separate roguelike mode. The movement and arsenal look promising, and tarot upgrades returning is a smart nod to the classic. But pre-launch talk of passes and skins, plus the unusual three-player cap, raises questions. Nail the feel — fast, lethal, skill-forward — and this could be the rare reboot that actually earns its resurrection.