Boomer shooter

A boomer shooter is a first-person shooter that plays like the PC classics of the 1990s: fast movement, maze-like levels, keys and secrets, often with pixel or voxel art. The label covers old games such as Doom and new ones built in their style, such as Dusk and Ultrakill.

Where the name comes from

The earliest use found is from December 2018, in a video by the YouTuber Civvie 11 about Bethesda’s Terminator games, as reported by Video Game Canon in January 2025; Civvie says he did not coin it and thinks he first saw it on Discord. Dave Oshry of New Blood, which published Dusk (2018), says Dusk’s fans came up with the name. The game’s composer, Andrew Hulshult, calls it a “lovingly cheeky term” the team used for Doom.

Where the edges are

When Steam made boomer shooter an official tag, PC Gamer asked: “Can we call them something else now?” The joke itself is debatable, since Doom’s first players were mostly Generation X, not baby boomers. Writers disagree on whether big-budget revivals like Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal count or only small retro games.

Key boomer shooter games

Each game links to its article; the last column links to the source that puts it in the genre.

Related genres: Immersive sim, Hero shooter, Looter shooter.

At a glance

Parent genre

First-person shooter

Name first found

December 2018, Civvie 11 (reported 2025)

Also called

Retro FPS

Sources

Checked November 3, 2026.

1. OK Boomer Shooter: The Etymology of a Subgenre – Video Game Canon — Video Game Canon
2. Boomer Shooter meaning: How indie developers revived an aging game genre — Inverse
3. Okay, 'Boomer Shooter' is now an official genre on Steam — PC Gamer
4. Boomer Shooters are now an official genre on Steam, as classic Doom inspires more and more FPS gems — GamesRadar+
5. Shooter game — Wikipedia
6. What's a boomer shooter – and is it even the right term? — Creative Bloq