The FPS genre has struggled to find new ways of innovating in recent years. Since the golden era of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 & 2, Halo 1-3 and other classics of the time, little has really changed in the genre as the two weapon, regenerating health and twin stick action seemingly perfected the formula. Though, there is unquestionably some fatigue in the shooter space and studios have faced challenges of launching new titles into a saturated genre.

What most developers didn’t think to do was look in the past, to create a contemporary title for the now. The gaming community has been pining for a new Quake, classic stye Doom or other boomer shooter from the 2000s for some time, in terms of both look and feel. Bucket loads of guns with no reloads unloading magazine after magazine of bullets into blocky character models, that implode into PlayStation 2-like blood and guts. No realism, just unfiltered, mature chaos.

SPRAWL zero is a new ‘Y2K shooter’ from indie developer Maeth and sequel to their prior title, SPRAWL. Featuring over 40 weapons, rapid movement and a swathe of abilities to shred enemies across a crumbling, oppressive cyberpunk world. Should this FPS have left the 00s in the antiquated cupboard, or was it right to bring the classic style to modern audiences? Our spoiler-lite review of SPRAWL zero.

Up Your Arsenal

SPRAWL zero is all about the weaponry, and it wants you to be fiercely aggressive with its arsenal. Featuring over 40 disposable guns and some really fun melee weapons, almost every encounter feels fresh. Including all types of guns with so many variations, you’re given everything from miniguns, to hand cannons, to grenade launchers to end your enemies. Early on, burst fire pistols and small shotguns feature regularly, but as your journey into the Sprawl deepens, you’ll be given much more powerful, exciting firearms.

You can only carry one gun at a time and each has a small, finite number of rounds that once expelled the weapon becomes useless and you’ll need your gravity glove to pull in another. But, rather than toss it away, you can launch it in the way of an enemies face to stagger them. 30 assault rifle rounds, 8 shotgun shells or 6 sniper bullets are about the upper limit of clip size, just enough to chow through 2-3 bad guys in a few seconds. But, as there are so many enemies, they drop many guns to pickup and the rotation of them is rapid, but not annoyingly so. Pick up, aim (with bullet time, if you’d like), unload, repeat, the gunplay loop is excellent.

Like the boomer shooters that inspired SPRAWL zero, this is not a precision shooter. The game gives you an endless supply of weaponry and wants you to use every last round of it. Miss some shots? Not a problem, just grab another gun and start firing again. Approaching firefights passively or defensively will leave you low on non-regenerating health (more on that as we come to abilities) as there are benefits from killing quickly and efficiently. You can line up shots with ADS, but during my ~6-hour runtime, I barely used the left trigger to aim except when using a sniper as it doesn’t offer any tangible accuracy benefits – and that’s fine, I came for the Y2K hip fire feel SPRAWL wants to rekindle.

Although all guns are deadly, there is a light touch colour-coded tier system to weapons – green, weakest; red, most powerful – to help you identify the most effective weaponry from fallen corpses. Some of the late-game red tier weapons are splendidly brilliant and I’ll leave the surprise of those to you. Also, sprinkled throughout the world are Call of Duty Zombies-inspired crates too, which when opened will offer a colourful gun lottery.

Guns are not just different types of firearms either as many have different munitions including some electric, explosive and pyro. The highlight being the flame round shotgun which, once unloaded into enemies, will leave them screaming in a burst of flames whilst you dispatch their comrades with the rest of your shells.

Bring a Katana to a Gunfight

Much you will read about the game talks about the guns. But, some of the best weapons in SPRAWL zero are the melee ones. There is a Halo 3-like gravity hammer which enemies charge at you with. Once taken out and in your hands, you will smash the living daylights out of your foes, each smash feeling as satisfying as the previous.

The melee saw that you acquire around halfway through the game gets you up close and personal, with anything in your reach being torn to shreds. But, the best melee weapon is the katana which you will start to see later in the game. The katana has the ability to deflect bullets Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance style as you charge at the Imago Dei’s soldiers before slicing them to tiny chunks.

Bullet Time

If 40 weapons were not enough, Five’s Reaper Core offers them several abilities that are equal parts offensive and defensive. They aren’t really anything new, with ideas you’ll have seen in other titles but they compliment Five’s repertoire of death dealing perfectly. What I really liked is how the game necessitates ability use, as killing enemies with your powers will make them drop health, which is essential to refilling your HP. This means there is no gun-only meta in the game, it wants to use both guns and abilities hand in hand.

You will begin with your gravity fistwhich allows you to catch grenades and other projectiles, then launch them back to their sender. Five can even pickup turrets and carry them around as they pummel enemies with led. The fist also offers a last resort heavy right-handed punch when you’ve run out of ammo. Frequently throughout the Sprawl, you’ll be attacked from above by Imago Dei airships, returning their rockets to them creates wonderful Y2K graphic explosions

The ability you will likely use the most is slow motion, which completely turns down the pace of the action giving you more time to pick your shots in a Matrix-style bullet time. When using slow-mo, your enemies will act as magnets for your bullets enabling you to easily target fast-moving foes, allowing you to enjoy their death at a pace your eyes can digest. My favourite of the ability powers enables Five to cast a bullet deflecting shield that will catch enemy fire and launch it straight back, obliterating them in the process..

Story

Beneath the chaotic gunning down of all your adversaries is a competent story. Located in the Sprawl, a cyberpunk city that is falling apart, you play as Five, a cybernetically modified soldier who must take down the evil, sinister leader of the Imago Dei, Silas. The Imago Dei are a techno-religious group that want complete control of the city and are willing to fulfil any means to make that happen. With vibes of the film adaptation of Orwell’s dystopian 1984, the oppressive, cyberpunk city of the Sprawl is bleak and daunting.

Whilst Five lacks any real character, Silas and other NPCs including our guide, Laeta certainly do. Silas in particular has some gravitas, he sees himself as a vessel of God’s will and uses that narrative to pursue his unholy ventures and secure absolute power over the Sprawl. Silas is voice acted very well indeed, capturing the malevolent, evil nature of their character.

Without getting into spoiler territory, there are several plot twists throughout that open up the narrative. For those who may wish to seek it, there is plenty of lore about the city available from an abundant number of collectibles.

Not Quite Sprawling

SPRAWL zero is a mission-based shooter. Missions are broadly similar, but there is some variety in there to keep the game fresh throughout its run time. Included are missions where you’re seeking keys for a nuclear bomb; one navigating a toxic space where your health is in constant decline; and another more dreamlike, creative chapter I particularly enjoyed.

The game tells you that you can approach missions in your own way, however I didn’t actually find that to be the case. There is plenty of flexibility in gunplay and moment-to-moment action gameplay, however I didn’t see much agency to tackle missions in different ways as objectives are linear. This in itself is fine, it just isn’t exactly what is pitched to players.

Missions are rather comprehensive, each taking at least 20-minutes to get through. Before you launch into the mission there’s a detailed breakdown from Laeta and other NPCs of what your objectives are, which gives more cause than simply ‘go here, kill x’. Because of their longer than expected length, missions are afforded time to tie in with the broader narrative of the game.

NOW, That’s What I Call 2001!

Rounding out the Y2K feel of SPRAWL zero is its early 2000s soundtrack. With backing music you would expect to hear in a movie trailer of the era, the techno tunes are perfectly fitting for this shooter and I do recommend wearing a headset with the volume dialled high to get the most immersive feeling.

The tunes blend wonderfully with the fluid, fast-paced movement of Five and villains of the game. Sliding around whilst pumping shotgun shells into kneecaps, or rinsing through an assault rifle magazine whilst bunny hopping around, it all helps the game secure the nostalgic feeling its aiming for. Meanwhile, weapons sound great with their own distinct audio effects whilst you deplete your ammunition, particularly during bullet time.

Final Thoughts

Reminding me of some of the finest boomer shooters, SPRAWL zero is a gift direct from 2001. Some of the most satisfying FPS gunplay and movement of the year, as well as an entertaining range of powers make this explosive title a blast from start to finish. Capturing the visual and audio style of the Y2K era wonderfully, on top of a better than expected story, Maeth’s shooter is more than a trip down shooter memory lane.

SPRAWL zero releases September 8, 2026 on XBOX Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. This review was played on XBOX Series X. Thank you to the developer and publisher for the code provided for review.

If you’re eager to try SPRAWL zero before hitting the buy button, there is a demo available on Steam with an ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ rating.