Everybody knows what Doom means when it comes to FPS games – but how does a stunningly colourful pixel art take on Doom where you blast aliens across a range of sci-fi inspired environments sound? Personally, we think just a few seconds looking at Mala Petaka should be enough to sell you on its premise: using all the sorts of classic weapons you’d expect of a game built in the GZDoom engine such as a shotgun, grenade launcher, plasma rifle, and more to demolish your foes in frantic combat.
Mala Petaka, which translates roughly to ‘bad luck’ or ‘catastrophe’ from Indonesian, puts you in the shoes of “an angry amnesiac that just wants to kill every ugly green alien and annoying drone he encounters while trying to restore his memories.” It comes from solo Indonesian indie developer Sanditio Bayu, and features a bopping chiptune soundtrack from several Indonesian chiptunes composers including Remedmatika, Shakaboyd, and Son of a Bit.
Along with its smooth, fast-paced first-person shooter gameplay, Mala Petaka includes a range of useful power-ups for players to collect such as time freeze, rampage, and invulnerability. Every weapon has an alternate fire mode, giving you even more options in combat as you take on the waves of opponents that stand between you and your precious memories.
The levels are non-linear, too, branching out from a central hub that lets you warp to each level in the order of your choosing. You can also pick from a total of six different difficulty levels to match your personal tastes, ranging from super easy up to an instakill mode that should really prove a test of your reflexes.
You can check out Mala Petaka in action below:
Previously made available through Sanditio’s Itch.io page, Mala Petaka is now on Steam, and you can download a demo to play it right now while you wait for the full game to arrive.
If this is up your alley, perhaps a Doom-inspired Half-Life “sequel” might tickle your fancy. If you want to branch out more, the remake of 2009 classic PC game Solium Infernum looks like a beautiful crossover of Doom meets Civilization. We’d also recommend checking out our picks of the best free games on PC if you’re looking for something to play without spending any money.