A cult classic, retro-style FPS is being reimagined as a turn-based RPG, and it's both fascinating and jarring

Even though the first-person shooter genre has evolved so much, there's always a steady stream of games aiming to emulate the feel of boomer shooter royalty like Doom, Quake, and Blood. I'd argue some of the best FPS games of recent years lean on the retro visual style, ludicrous weapons, and gliding movement of their '90s forefathers. Dusk is one such example. A cult classic from David Szymanski, it's a grimy and slick boomer shooter that feels like the icons of decades past - right up until the moment you pull off a sweet backflip. Now, it's getting a new spinoff called Dungeons of Dusk that fills in the gaps between its episodes. However, it's absolutely not the kind of game I expected.

If you were to glance at a screenshot of Dungeons of Dusk, you may think it's just another FPS - and to an extent, you're correct. But in truth, it's a turn-based RPG. Instead of moving around, aiming, and firing freely, you'll have to strategically navigate a tiled dungeon filled with enemies and pickups, carefully selecting attacks as you go. As well as health and ammo counters like you'd expect to see in any FPS, you've also got a morale meter and technique points to limit how many actions you can perform in a given turn.

The new trailer also shows off a decently sized skill tree, and points to several different game modes that you can play across five difficulty settings. There is a 30-level campaign, a survival mode with "permadeath and randomly generated dungeons," an arena mode, and a boss rush that chains together all the campaign's toughest enemies.

As mentioned, this is narratively positioned between the episodes of Dusk and explores a buried world beneath where the main game takes place. As well as new enemy types and bosses, you may stumble across familiar faces too if you're an existing fan.

It's super intriguing to see a retro FPS get transformed into a turn-based game, even if it does look a bit jarring. I see the aesthetics, and I immediately feel like I should be zipping around and dodging enemies while blasting away to my heart's content. Instead, it's all sharp, 90-degree turns and disciplined attacking. At the very least, the pace still seems to be pretty fast - turns aren't going to be mega drawn out, if the gameplay from the trailer is anything to go by.

Just like the boomer shooter it was born from, New Blood Interactive is publishing this one, but Szymanski isn't making this spinoff. Instead, 68k Studios, a developer that specializes in grid-based RPGs, is at the helm - a logical choice, looking at its portfolio. You can wishlist the game here if it sounds like your idea of a dream genre mashup.

Dungeons of Dusk has a broad 2026 release window at the moment, but I'll be keeping a close eye out for that specific date next year. Oh, and I wouldn't worry about checking your specs on this one - in true Megabonk style, 68k has listed some humorous system requirements on its Steam page. Don't believe me? "Anything that turns on" is the minimum recommended processor…