‘Hell and Damnation’ is the kind of exclamation that I imagine might escape the rarely unpursed lips of a country vicar as he stubs his toe on the rector’s boot-scraper when arriving for afternoon tea. Tacked on the end of Painkiller’s colon, it’s probably not intended to sound as quaint as all that but rather to convey the gurgling, catarrh-trembling roar of a heavy metalist. John has already played the opening levels of this remake of the original kill ‘em up, which comes out on Halloween.

The Halloween release, so close to Doom 3: BFG Edition, is an altogether correct confluence of events as Painkiller always felt much Doomier than Doom 3. The video below contains loud music and giant boss monsters.

I pressed ‘mute’ after about six seconds so I hope there’s not a really important voiceover at any point. It’s been a long time since I played a game that asks nothing more of me than the killing of baddies and there’s an appeal in that simplicity right now.

And some of those bosses are bigger than, like, six cyberdemons standing on each others’ shoulders, wearing an oversized trenchcoat and trying to buy a ticket for erotic theatrical production, The Rector’s Boot-Scraper.