Every First-Person Shooter Crammed Into One

Bedlam (not to be confused with that otherBedlam) is a loving tribute to pretty much every first-person shooter since the dawn of time. Or at least, you know, the dawn of video games.

It is, functionally speaking, a whole bunch of different styles of first-person shooter, all in one game. There are levels themed after old-school Quake, Unreal Tournament, Call of Duty, and everything in between. I do mean everything, too; there are levels that look like this:

And this:

On top of, you know, this stuff:

Certainly, um, quite a mix.

Bedlam‘s main inspiration, meanwhile, is not the games that appear to inspire it, per se. Rather, it’s set in the universe of a novel also called Bedlam, by cult Scottish author Christopher Brookmyre. So I guess that makes it The Game Of The Novel Of The Hit Game(s) Of… yeah, I don’t want to go any further down this rabbit hole.

Here’s the basic plot:

“In the game you play Heather Quinn (aka Athena) a colleague of Ross Baker (aka Bedlam). Heather is an overworked and underpaid scientist developing medical technology for corporate giant Neurosphere. One rainy Monday morning Heather volunteers as a test candidate for the new Neurosphere brain scanning tech – anything to get out of the office for a few hours.”

“But when she gets out of the scanner she discovers she’s not only escaped the office, but possibly escaped real life for good! Heather finds herself trapped in Starfire – the violent sci-fi game she spent her teenage years playing – with no explanation, no backup and, most terrifyingly, no way out!”

Not gonna lie: it looks kinda rough-around-the-edges. But for one thing, it’s still in Early Access, and for another it doesn’t seem like the biggest budget game ever. Sometimes, though, janky, quirky, creative things can be good too. Bedlam certainly seems to have heart, guts, and quite a mouth. Here’s hoping it can back them up.