Painkiller Hell & Damnation Hordes of demons, heavy metal, no mercy

This is a shooter from the era when levels were arenas and the only plan was to keep moving. You sprint through 15 adrenaline-filled levels, four of them boss fights, and every corridor empties another wave of hell's nastiest creatures at you. There is no auto-heal to bail you out and no kill-streak rewards, just your reflexes and a healthy dose of .666 calibre weapons. The remake runs on Unreal Engine 3, so the classic Painkiller and Battle Out Of Hell levels look sharper while playing exactly as fast as you remember. A special Halloween level rounds it off.

Forget military rifles: the weapons here are strange, devastating and very much their own thing. You get a shotgun that clears a room in one pull, a soul catcher that rips souls out of enemies, and guns that shred, burn and dismember. The gore is the point: creatures come apart in pieces, and the violence is loud, fast and unapologetic. Over 30 dark creatures stand in your way, from shambling zombies to towering demons, and each fight asks the same question: which tool empties this room quickest? The heavy metal soundtrack is forged in the same furnace as the weapons, and it shows.

The whole campaign can be played in co-op, online or in split screen on the couch, spread across four chapters. Clearing an arena is fun alone; clearing it while a friend gets cornered by demons and screams for help is better. Beyond the campaign there are PvP and PvE multiplayer modes, so the same lobby that fights demons together can turn its guns on each other between rounds. Sessions are easy to set up and built for short, loud bursts: jump in, survive the wave, argue about who took the shotgun, queue the next one.