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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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.
4 Likes, Who?
Linux_Rocks 8 Jan 2024
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.But I like comical tags though... That said, I noticed this tag the other day and thought it was cool.
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Also, hi to dpanter who's wishlisted this game and has kind of photobombed the screenshot that was used in this article. 
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Anybody else confused about whats happening? What's the difference between "boomer" shooters and normal(?) shooters?
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walther von stolzing 8 Jan 2024
... 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 walther von stolzing on 8 Jan 2024 at 3:15 pm UTC
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 walther von stolzing on 8 Jan 2024 at 3:15 pm UTC
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Anybody 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.
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Anybody 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.
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R Daneel Olivaw 8 Jan 2024
damn - I was really hoping that the genre would be renamed since it makes zero sense. As @tuubi said - not made nor played by boomers. I think it's hilarious that if I tried explaining this genre to my 80 yr old father who IS a boomer, he'd be so confused he'd want to immediately change the topic of conversation.
But alas, now that steam has done this, I feel its doomed to forever be stuck.
But alas, now that steam has done this, I feel its doomed to forever be stuck.
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The term "boomer shooter" refers to the "30 year old boomer" meme who likes to drink Monster Energy Zero Ultra White and playing old shooters like Doom or Duke Nukem 3D. It's not directly related to Baby Boomers
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walther von stolzing 8 Jan 2024
The term "boomer shooter" refers to the "30 year old boomer" meme who likes to drink Monster Energy Zero Ultra White and playing old shooters like Doom or Duke Nukem 3D. It's not directly related to Baby Boomers
The point is that 'boomer' isn't the right term to describe a 30yr old, unless you're diluting it to mean 'idk, older than 25, so basically half-dead or something lol'.
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As much as I like that game I could be talked into erasing Dusk from existence if it meant erasing "boomer shooter" along with it.
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The term "boomer shooter" refers to the "30 year old boomer" meme who likes to drink Monster Energy Zero Ultra White and playing old shooters like Doom or Duke Nukem 3D. It's not directly related to Baby Boomers
The point is that 'boomer' isn't the right term to describe a 30yr old, unless you're diluting it to mean 'idk, older than 25, so basically half-dead or something lol'.
yes that's the joke of the meme
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No word of a lie, when I first saw the term, I thought it was about some obscure subgenre where you use guns that fire explosives. 
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For people taking the "boomer"-term too literally/technically: While I agree it doesn't make sense, you know that it comes from the whole "OK, boomer!" expression, which basically means "OK, old person.", generally uttered by some kid. - So it's based on that, combined with that "boomer shooter" works well as a term.
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Can we now have "Zoomer Shooter" as well then?... That is, for 'Fortnite' and anything like it.
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Luke_Nukem 8 Jan 2024
Should have called them "Doom clones" like they were actually called in the 90s. Fucking hate that "boomer shooter" term.
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No word of a lie, when I first saw the term, I thought it was about some obscure subgenre where you use guns that fire explosives.God damn...... You really are a Boomer Bot........
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