Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is a bloody Quake revival using the original engine

Staring at Wrath: Aeon of Ruin for too long will knock you right back to the mid-'90s. It's a grisly, monster-infested FPS brought to gruesome life by the original Quake engine by 3D Realms and KillPixel. It was teased yesterday, but now we've got a reveal trailer to watch. Check it out above. 

So, that's the developer of Duke Nukem 3D teaming up with Quake modders to create a retro FPS inspired by Quake. It's quite the crossover. It's not 3D Realms' only revival, either, as it's also behind the excellent Ion Maiden, which uses Duke Nukem 3D's Build Engine. 

Wrath will send you to all sorts of gloomy, haunted places, but you'll be able to find nine weapons and ten artefacts to help you survive all the nasty things baying for your blood. You'll get to use the classics, like a good old double-barrelled shotgun, but you'll also be able to murder your way through monsters with more exotic weapons. 

Here's my least favourite item description ever: "The Retcher and the Fangspitter transform the cysts and teeth ripped from the corpses of enemies into death-dealing projectiles."

No. 

Expect to do as much exploring as murder. To progress further than the two realms that unlock at the start, you'll need to hunt down five keys, and then there are all the secrets, ammo and guns that you'll be craving. You can save anywhere, but soul tethers, which you need if you want to save, are a finite resource. 3D Realms warns that it's tricky and the prospect of survival is grim. 

I'm elated that this '90s FPS revival is continuing. The low-poly FPS aesthetic deserves as much of a comeback as 16-bit-inspired pixel art, and clearly the Quake engine still has a lot of bite even after all these years. 

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is due out Summer 2019. 

Fraser Brown
Online Editor

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog. 

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