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Valve have finally done it, they've actually gone and made Boomer Shooter an official category on Steam. Since there's quite a lot of them now, and more releasing every day, it makes a lot of sense.

From sound designer Andrew Hulshult on X (formerly Twitter) who posted:

The term "boomer shooter" was a lovingly cheeky term we saw used once when developing Dusk as a description for Doom. So we ran with it because it was funny. It would go on to be associated with a entire genre of shooters. Today it's a category on steam. I love this reality.


Pictured - the Boomer Shooter category, the top rotating banner.

From Dusk to ULTRAKILL, there's according to Steam 107 games in this category, with only 24 having Native Linux support but no doubt most if not all will work with Steam Play Proton. Looks like a few I missed too so I can't wait to dive in and get discovering a potential new favourite.

Go check out the Boomer Shooter category.

What's your current favourite Boomer Shooter? Let me now in the comments.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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24 comments
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Tori Jan 8
Isn't this just a tag from the community? I don't see it as a category in neither Top-Level genres, Genres nor Sub-Genres categories. Same as the "Psychological Horror" tag that the community loves to overuse and tag unrelated games with.
RTheren Jan 8
Civvie11 is probably very (un)happy :D
Quoting: ToriIsn't this just a tag from the community? I don't see it as a category in neither Top-Level genres, Genres nor Sub-Genres categories. Same as the "Psychological Horror" tag that the community loves to overuse and tag unrelated games with.
But I like comical tags though... That said, I noticed this tag the other day and thought it was cool.
Pengling Jan 8
Also, hi to dpanter who's wishlisted this game and has kind of photobombed the screenshot that was used in this article.
dpanter Jan 8
I approve of this wishlist!
Trias Jan 8
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Anybody else confused about whats happening? What's the difference between "boomer" shooters and normal(?) shooters?
... I guess 'boomer' at this point has lost all connection to its original usage in 'baby boomer', to designate the post-WW II generation in the US.

The people who *made* Doom were all born in late 60s/early 70s -- definitely not 'baby boomers'. To be sure, it was 'baby boomers' who started the 'micro' revolution in the late 70s, & kicked off the games industry; but then again there were no free-movement/free-look 3d shooters back then.


Last edited by wvstolzing on 8 January 2024 at 3:15 pm UTC
tuubi Jan 8
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Quoting: TriasAnybody else confused about whats happening? What's the difference between "boomer" shooters and normal(?) shooters?
Boomer shooters are FPS games from the nineties that weren't made by boomers or played by them. Makes total sense. I suppose Generation X shooters doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

The genre includes modern shooters with gameplay (and often style) inspired by these oldies.
nat-works Jan 8
Quoting: TriasAnybody else confused about whats happening? What's the difference between "boomer" shooters and normal(?) shooters?

Generally boomer shooters are fps games inspired by stuff like the classic Doom games, quake, duke nukem, ect from the 90s and early 2000s. Usually they just follow more of the conventions from that era of fps games rather than newer stuff. Or more loosely just games that look like those games.

Tbh I wouldn't really call ultrakill a boomer shooter though, at least in regards to its gameplay, since I think it takes more inspiration from character action games than anything else.
Trias Jan 8
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O. K, thanks everyone.
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