“FLESHCANCER” Review: A Grotesque, Chaotic Boomer Shooter That Delivers the Mayhem Coming Out May 27, 2026
Anyone who plays games knows boomer shooters: fast, loud, unapologetically violent throwbacks that revel in pure mayhem. The game is quite literally an homage to an era of surrealist environmental biome maps and a ton of choose-your-torment old-school violence. The game touts itself as a cannibal cultist murdering terrorist clobbering game with grotesque aberrations.
Empires of the Cake isn’t wrong. “FLESHCANCER” is all of the above and more. Before we journey into the breakdown of the good, the bad, and the downright ugly, I want to thank the publishers, NoQuarter and Joeveno, and the developer, Empires of the Cake, for “FLESHCANCER.” I was blessed with a key to try out the game before it releases on Early Access on May 27, 2026, for the incredibly low price of $2.99.
Why “FLESHCANCER” Feels Like a True Boomer Shooter
I went in not knowing exactly what I’d find. It claimed the boomer‑shooter label, and I’ve both played and seen my fair share of those, but I was curious to see how this one would fit into the experience. Grew up with “DOOM” and “Wolfenstein,” but found my way to the nostalgic classics, “Quake,” and eventually “DUSK.” “FLESHCANCER” does the Boomer-Shooter title proud; it’s very boomery, with all the shootery.
The maps are unique with twists, turns, and corridors you can get lost in. If you do get lost, know that you can eventually figure a way out, unless you’re completely directionally challenged and have no sense of placement or understanding of where you already have been versus where you haven’t gone yet. I definitely fall into the latter category, but somehow managed to make it to level 3, or maybe it was 4, before dying for what felt like the billionth time in a span of 3 hours.
You’ll want to warm up on the easier settings first; jumping straight into Nightmare is a quick way to get turned into pixel paste. You can tell that “FLESHCANCER” is an homage to the boomer-shooter stylings, and Empires of the Cake is no slouch. From the self-made monsters to the absolute abominations they made and the soundtrack to boot, time was lovingly put into crafting this almost eldritch horror of a game.
Enemy Design: Eldritch Horrors and Cannibal Cultists
After putting about an hour into the game, curiosity struck on the fact that it felt very “Quake”esk, possibly even very “DUSK”-like. Don’t fret, it wasn’t my imagination, the creator actually was very much inspired by the stylings of these amazing games and utilized the Quake engine itself, id Tech 2. The secret rooms with goodies and boons were a very nice touch, but figuring out how to get to the key to open the door almost drove me insane!
Honestly, maybe a sixth of my three hours’ worth of gameplay was probably being lost and amazed by the abstract geometric insanity of some of the levels. Empires of the Cake built some humblingly beautiful environments with a mesh of flying demonic Cthulhu-like eyes, weird floating abominations, big guys with big guns, and then a throng of different humanoids. Strangely, there are some sort of normal monsters like wolves, but also mechanical spiders that made me think of the mechanical bosses from “Terraria.”
Fast-Paced Mayhem: Movement, Combat, and Frustrations
However, while the game shines with its amazing skyboxes, creepy enemies, and variety of humanoid abominations coupled with possible eldritch horrors, there are some nitpicks that may have caused my brain to implode. The movement speed was so fast that, in the beginning, to the point of getting stuck on practically every doorway or crashing into a wall. Like a lumbering beast on steroids, except there’s no crashing through the wall to create your own doorway.
While boomer shooters are typically fast-paced, in-your-face, shoot’em up, constant enemies trying to absolutely murder you without a second thought and with no break in between, this one felt like navigating through broken glass at high speeds. Going down the hallways at breakneck speeds that could give you whiplash, no big deal. For areas with multiple doorways and enemies to kill, and loot you need, it was frustrating, and I found myself dead rather frequently because it was incredibly easy to get stuck on things.
Some maps had machine gun guys and grenade launcher guys, but they both looked remarkably similar, or maybe it was too dark, and they were just indistinguishable from one another. Either way, that became a ticking time bomb of will they explode me or gun me down before I can attack? While there are some incredibly good and creepy enemies, some end up looking too much alike, particularly the gun-toting soldiers, which affects how the player approaches them.
Technical Nitpicks and Balance Issues
While the maps are thoughtfully laid out and visually appealing, I did encounter occasional clipping issues that disrupt an otherwise chaotic bullet-hell experience. Items seemed to be out of bounds, and I couldn’t reach them without some hinky maneuvering. If memory serves, the first instance of such an encounter was the cultist area, where on the left was a potion that gave a 100 HP buff. Mashing keys a few times finally got me through to the buff, but getting back out and proceeding the rest of the level was a bit of key mashing once again.
This might be more of a personal issue than anything; maybe I’m just really terrible at gun management, but the further into the game I got, the fewer bullets I found to replenish my stock. By the time I found the three floating Zigurds, the ammo was depleted, and I found myself dead yet again. Not entirely sure if that was a personal skill issue or if the ammo really was that sparse towards the end, but it certainly ended on a beautiful skybox.
Overall Verdict: Should You Play FLESHCANCER?
Overall, I would say “FLESHCANCER” is definitely a promising game. As it enters Early Access on May 27, 2026, consider adding it to your wishlist on Steam. Then, monitoring Empires of the Cake and NoQuarter for updates and information. If he can “flesh” out the game some more and maybe find a way to drop the movement speed by 5, maybe 10 percent at most, maybe add some kind of flair or dramatic skin tone for different enemies to differentiate, and for the love of all that is holy, give me some sweet, sweet bullets to shoot with.
I have high hopes for this game and do plan to purchase it at Early Access.
