This new FPS game uses your frame rate as your health bar, so I'll brb after I've bought a 240Hz monitor

There’s nothing worse than a stuttering frame rate. Whether you can’t afford a modern graphics card because AI tech bros are hoarding them in data centers, that big new release isn’t quite optimized, or you’re just trying to play Crysis in the year of our lord 2026, poor performance is infuriating. However, it’s something you may have to suffer through while playing FPS Quest, a meta game which uses your frame rate as your health bar. If you want to survive, you’ll have to break the game itself and stutter to victory.

Most of the best FPS games are those from massive studios which have the resources to spend years perfecting graphical fidelity, responsiveness, and gunfeel. However, there are always some indies willing to buck the trend with quirky ideas or great gimmicks.

Last year, It Takes A War won my gong for innovation in the genre. Before that, Umurangi Generation swapped a rifle for a camera. I’m always up for a twist or a gimmick, and FPS Quest could be the next in a long line of great indie shooters.

While I joked in the headline about heading out to buy a better monitor, that’s not quite how the game works. Your actual frame rate doesn’t matter, as the game simulates the effects of a low-fps fantasy world in order to give you the experience of a low frame rate without the discomfort. With a couple of hundred bucks saved, let’s get into how the game actually works.

As you progress through the dungeon, shotgun in hand (don’t ask me why there are modern guns in this fantasy setting because I don’t know), your fram erate dips as you take hits. However, you can improve that in multiple ways. Killing enemies seems to restore it, but you can also head into the game’s ‘settings’ to lower graphical fidelity, destroy walls, and more in order to boost your frame rate back up, and with it heal yourself.

This has more effects, though. Removing walls creates cavernous gaps in the map. Sure, you can kick enemies out of bounds, but you’ve got to avoid falling yourself. Removing doors can also make levels confusing, and the more of these ‘mods’ you apply, the more your PC will heat up. Again, that’s simulated. Unless you’re running this on a Chromebook, in which case, why?

With cheats, glitches, and settings at your disposal, you aim to complete run after run in order to choose new upgrades, obtain new weapons, and side with one of the game’s four factions. With roguelike elements and a blue screen game over message, this looks like mountains of fun.

FPS Quest doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s coming to Steam. You can wishlist it here.

A clever meta-commentary on game optimization and a fun-looking boomer shooter in its own right, I can’t wait to get my hands on FPS Quest, even if I can’t upgrade my setup and pay to win against the Dungeon Lord.