New Steam Speedrunning FPS Has One Thing Most Modern Shooters Are Missing

Upcoming Steam releases look pretty good for December, ranging from strategy titles and cozy simulators to action-packed open-world jaunts and an FPS called Beautiful Freaks of the Desert. An FPS created by A Trip by Daniel Bock, Beautiful Freaks of the Desert is an indie title that fits that “boomer shooter” aesthetic, mimicking that fast-paced arcade style of FPS that me and many 90s gamers grew up on. Think titles like Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem 3D, games with tons of personality that defined the FPS genre.

Beautiful Freaks of the Desert launches on Steam on December 10 and has thoroughly piqued my interest because of how different it is in contrast to the modern FPS. The genre is seemingly oversaturated with titles that play and look the same, adopting uniform mechanics and missions meant to appeal to a wider audience. It is time that FPS developers embraced the weird and wonderful aspects that once defined the genre, taking a page from Beautiful Freaks of the Desert in an effort to create something unique.

Beautiful Freaks of the Desert Breaks the FPS Mold, Offering Fans of the Genre Something New

Beautiful Freaks of the Desert is a wholly unique FPS that imbues the genre with something exciting, relieving fatigue by embracing wild, fast-paced retro aesthetics and gameplay à la a “boomer shooter.” The game has a distinct identity and a mission that is quite timely, playing upon the frustrations with AI that many people share. In Beautiful Freaks of the Desert, data centers serve as the primary enemy. Set in the future, players are thrust into the middle of the Data Center Wars on Day 666, where tech giants RECO INC and ALPTEK INDUSTRIES are fighting over ever-decreasing water supplies and undeveloped land.

The masses living in Megacities are growing weary of this war, their resources being used and abused by these massive tech companies. As one could imagine, these folks have had enough. The Miracle, boss of the construction workers’ union called Beautiful Freaks, declares war on these massive tech companies, urging the Beautiful Freaks to blow up these data centers and anyone who stands in their way. Players are tasked with taking out these data centers, the warehouses that surround them, and even their former co-workers if necessary. Already, this assignment is vastly different from your typical FPS hostage retrieval, defending a base, or tracking down a high-value target missions.

Gameplay is stylish and brutal, with blood splatter that explodes out of unsuspecting parties in colorful displays. It is cartoonishly violent, harkening back to 90s shooters that took gore to the next level. The game is retro-inspired with low-poly 3D models and vibrant, psychedelic colors utilized across all 50 bite-sized stages. Character models are chunky, while the surrounding landscapes are geometric and blocky, imparting something very charming and nostalgic. Flat desert landscapes give way to neon signage and equally vibrant weaponry that looks more like high-tech water guns thanks to their flashy coloring.

The desert surrounding every data center serves as an open world that connects each stage, so once a stage is finished, players are urged to explore their surroundings, getting around on a bike. Even combat is unique, forcing players to react quickly to their environment and make a plan in order to tackle a stage without getting knocked. Enemies will come at players fast, so it is up to them to react accordingly. Beautiful Freaks of the Desert plays sort of like ULTRAKILL or Blood, retro titles that require discipline, speed, and planning to perform. Players have six different weapons to choose from, including what looks like a grenade or rocket launcher, a shotgun, an SMG, and more. Each weapon serves to aid in strategizing a plan of action, helping players decide how to best dispatch enemies and those pesky data centers.

The goal is to blast through anyone who gets in the way of destroying these data centers for good. The world is counting on the Beautiful Freaks to reset and dethrone these tech giants, putting resources back into the hands of those who need them most. The game is a refreshing take on the FPS genre, and the plot is extremely poignant, touching on real-world fears of AI cheekily. Beautiful Freaks of the Desert is bringing literal color into a genre that has felt more muted for me in the past few years. I can finally say that I am excited about playing an FPS again.

Beautiful Freaks of the Desert Breaks Up FPS Monotony

The larger question that FPS developers need to ask themselves is: how can they make their FPS titles stand out? Monotony has become a real issue in the genre, creating fatigue that has fans clamoring for older FPS titles just to get the fix they need. AAA FPS games usually utilize a formula, falling back on mechanics that worked time and time again. Previously utilized combat mechanics, such as stamina-based sprints or flashy slides, and/or missions reworked slightly. It is a sure-fire way to get a game to sell regardless, since aspects are taken from already successful FPS games. FPS cost lots of money to make, and big developers want to make sure they get the return they desire by doing what works and tweaking it just a hair.

Companies also tend to standardize combat in general, which can make FPS games feel uninspired. That means developers will often strip away complex or niche movement tech to make the game easy to jump into on a player’s first go-around. It is a retention choice that companies use in hopes of capturing the largest possible player base. Based on what we’ve learned from Beautiful Freaks of the Desert, the best way for companies to make their FPS games more exciting is by taking more risks. Now, that’s a lot to ask, especially when money is on the line, but major publishers can and should take this risk if they want to make something with an identity.

Introduce new combat mechanics, or, if they want to recreate what has worked in the past, take notes from retro titles that have stood the test of time. Create a compelling mission that gets players involved and wanting to know more, instead of your standard militaristic shooter. Players want a good story just as much as they want to blow things up. Diversify weapon selections by creating a new gun or even adding something unique to the build of a specific gun that makes it stand out, like a funky skin, funny and unpredictable projectiles, or a futuristic-looking scope. This doesn’t mean developers should abandon what they know about the FPS genre. Beautiful Freaks of the Desert is still visibly an FPS, but tweaks were made to make the title fantastical.

The look of a game is part of its identity, so concentrating on a style that uniquely pertains to the plot or characters is important. If a game is set in the future, create a futuristic world and characters based on a specific and unexplored vision of the future. If the characters in a world are fish fighters, make an immersive aquatic world that is unique to the characters and the story the developers are trying to tell. My message to developers is this. Games are meant to be out of the box and strange. So embrace the weird in FPS and make it something in its own league with a soul like Beautiful Freaks of the Desert.

Beautiful Freaks of the Desert is slated to release on December 10 via Steam.