$19.99Dread Templar Revenge, served retro
Hunt demons through hell with a customizable arsenal, bullet time, and a lot of old-school attitude.
Is Dread Templar worth it?
Dread Templar is worth it if…
- you grew up on 90s shooters and want a new one that takes them seriously
- you like fast movement, dashing and bullet time over careful cover-based play
- you enjoy combing huge levels for secrets and being rewarded with real firepower
- you want a challenge that stays fair, with tough fights and no cheap deaths
Screenshots
An arsenal you build yourself
You carry everything at once: katana, shotguns, a bow, a magnum, a rocket launcher, a gauntlet that hits like a railgun. The real fun starts with the upgrades. Tokens hidden across the levels unlock over 100 skills and weapon mods, and each gun can be turned into an infernal variant that changes how it works entirely. The SMG fires from one big clip so you never reload, the double barrel shoots waves of energy, the rocket launcher spits three homing missiles at once. Bolt the right runes into the right gun and your loadout stops being a borrowed kit and becomes yours. Killing fills a meter that triggers bullet time, so a crowd of fiends can turn into a slow-motion target range the moment you have earned it.
Big levels, buried secrets
The campaign runs across more than 25 enormous levels, from the dark realm of hell to frozen pirate ships, with 19 side areas, over 170 secrets and more than 20 puzzles tucked into their corners. Secrets matter: they hold the tokens that power up your weapons and skills, so poking behind that suspicious wall pays off in firepower. Some are simple caches, others are proper puzzle chains, and a few hide things better left unspoiled. Save points are placed often enough that a death does not send you back across the whole map. Fair warning: a handful of secrets are genuinely obscure, and the upgrades locked behind them mean it pays to search thoroughly, even if you occasionally wonder whether that wall is hiding a cache or just being a wall.
How hard is it, really?
How hard is Dread Templar?
It is a hardcore shooter, but a fair one. The higher difficulties hit hard and resources run scarce, yet enemies rarely cheat: incoming damage is readable and you can sidestep or dash out of the way. Frequent save points keep a death from costing you a whole level, so the pressure comes from the fights themselves, not from losing progress. If you want it gentler, lower difficulties take the edge off without emptying the game.
Can you play it solo?
Yes, it is a singleplayer campaign from start to finish. There is no multiplayer mode to keep up with, just you, the demons and about ten boss fights standing between you and your revenge. It was made by one developer over three years, and the campaign is built to be finished alone at your own pace.
What makes it different from other retro shooters?
The upgrade system. Older classics handed you fixed weapons; here every gun and skill can be modified with over 100 unlocks, including infernal variants that change how a weapon behaves. Combined with bullet time, dashing and levels that hide real rewards in their secrets, it plays like a 90s shooter with the build-crafting depth of a modern one.
What does it look and sound like?
Everything is drawn in a handmade retro pixel-art style, from the weapons to the monsters to the hellscapes, with detail that goes beyond simple nostalgia. If you want to tune the look, five different visual filters change how the whole game reads. The original soundtrack is heavy metal and loud in the best way, built to keep you throwing yourself at the next horde.
