Only Lead Can Stop Them Review Summary

A Wolfenstein 3D-style shooter with great music, clever levels and secrets, though flamethrower self-damage, wall-clipping enemies and janky weapon switching hurt the fun.

Excellent soundtrack and music: The soundtrack and music are repeatedly described as great, top-notch, and even rivaling classic tracks from Rise of the Triad. Many players consider the music a standout feature.

Well-designed levels and secrets: Level design is praised for being excellent, interesting, and mature, with many secrets and replayability. Players enjoy the variety and challenges offered by the levels.

Wolfenstein 3D spiritual successor: Many reviewers describe the game as a modern iteration or spiritual successor to classic shooters like Wolfenstein 3D and Rise of the Triad. It successfully captures the old-school feel while adding innovations.

Weapon and enemy variety praised: Players consistently highlight the wide and diverse selection of weapons and enemy types, noting they are fun to use and experiment with. The variety is considered a major strength of the game.

Unique Spanish Civil War setting: The Spanish Civil War setting is frequently praised as fascinating, intriguing, and unique, helping the game stand out from other shooters. It adds a distinct historical flavor that players appreciate.

Flamethrower self-damage issues: The flamethrower frequently damages or kills the player instead of enemies, especially when used near doors or with fast enemies around. Many consider it a failed weapon due to excessive self-damage.

Enemies clip through walls: Players report that enemies can pass through or become stuck in walls, sometimes even attacking through them. This breaks combat fairness and immersion.

Weapon switching is janky: Mouse wheel weapon swapping is delayed, inaccurate, and only works a fraction of the time. This leads to frustrating input registration issues.

Mouse sensitivity inconsistencies: Mouse sensitivity is reported as inconsistent across scenes, resetting or flicking unpredictably. This makes aiming and looking around unreliable.

Poor level and map design: Level design is mediocre with too many meaningless areas, empty rooms, and unfilled spaces. Maps feel bare bones and not well thought out.

Retro Wolfenstein 3D style shooter: Many reviewers describe the game as a retro first-person shooter inspired by Wolfenstein 3D and Rise of the Triad. It closely follows that classic formula with a 1990s-style presentation.

Varied classic weapon arsenal: The game offers a wide selection of weapons, including pistol, submachine gun, shotgun, rifle, flamethrower, machine gun, dynamite, and more. Reviewers note the weapons feel powerful and add to the classic shooter experience.

Boomer shooter label common: Reviewers often categorize it as a boomer shooter, throwback shooter, or classic FPS. The term highlights its intentional retro design and appeal to fans of 90s shooters.

Three independent episodes: The game is structured into three separate episodes, each with its own set of levels. This episodic format provides a sense of progression and variety.

Shooter gameplay focus: The core gameplay revolves around first-person shooting and gunplay. Reviewers emphasize the shooting mechanics as the main draw.

Framerate stutters and jitter: Many players report inconsistent, jerky framerates and stuttering during gameplay. This includes jittery performance, frame-pacing problems, and choppy frame rates.

Poor optimization on capable hardware: The game struggles to run well even on an RTX 4050, and players note it seems unoptimized for high refresh rate monitors. This indicates widespread optimization issues.

Freezes and crashes: Players experienced occasional freezes, mostly in early levels, and multiple crashes during playthroughs. These stability issues disrupt the experience.

V-Sync and performance issues: V-Sync causes framerate problems and aiming issues, and some players fixed stuttering by disabling V-Sync and capping FPS. This suggests V-Sync is a common cause of performance problems.

Enemy AI pathfinding bugs: Enemies walk through walls and get stuck out of bounds, breaking immersion and gameplay. These AI bugs are clearly noticeable.

High recommendation for boomer shooter fans: A large number of reviews highly recommend the game to fans of boomer shooters and retro FPS, calling it a must-play and absolutely worth the time. Positive feedback emphasizes its appeal to those who enjoy classic-style shooters.

Niche appeal for retro fans: Many reviews highlight that the game is not for everyone and appeals to a specific subset of old-school shooter enthusiasts, especially fans of Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, and similar classics. It is often recommended to try the demo or adjust expectations before purchasing.

Comparisons to classic shooters: Reviewers frequently compare the game to classic shooters like Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, and Rise of the Triad, recommending it to fans of those titles. Some suggest alternatives like Cultist or Warlock for a proper retro experience.

Technical issues hinder recommendation: Several reviewers cannot recommend the game due to unresolved technical issues, severe bugs, and lack of developer support or polish. They suggest waiting for future patches before considering a purchase.

Worth buying on discount: Many users recommend purchasing the game only on sale or at a discount, as they feel the full price is not justified given its flaws or short length. Some suggest trying the demo first.

Community fair range: $5.00 - $10.00.

Game completion: 3.0h.

Session length: 0.3h.

Players report early enjoyment and liked map progression, but fun erodes by level 6 and episode 3 into a slog due to repetitive enemies, pacing issues, bugs, and underwhelming threats.

Friction: Weapons feel like they're shooting pellets; weapon sounds are boring and flat; items could not be picked up; awkward pacing as all weapons are given too quickly; bugs, graphical glitches, and frame-pacing issues.

Wolfenstein 3D Nostalgic Veteran: Explores levels at their own pace, toggles mouse look and FPS caps, and values secrets and old-school map design. Motivation: Relive classic Wolfenstein 3D and Doom-style old-school FPS action. Stance: buy.

Achievement Completionist: Replays episodes via level select, hunts secrets, and targets specific weapon or difficulty achievements. Motivation: Unlock all achievements and find every secret. Stance: sale.

Critical Boomer Shooter Veteran: Compares weapons, enemies, map design, and overall polish against established genre standards. Motivation: Find a polished, original boomer shooter that stands out in a crowded genre. Stance: no buy.

Steam Deck: The audit finds no launcher, anti-cheat, or crash blockers in the filtered feedback, but the Steam Deck/Linux experience is far from seamless. The most impactful problem is broken controller support, including missing Y-axis behavior and generally poor input implementation. Proton compatibility is also flagged for possible performance issues, and Linux users are warned they may want to pass on the game. The result is a playable but caveat-heavy Deck experience requiring lowered expectations or workarounds.

Linux and Proton: The available feedback is a Linux-focused warning that playing through Proton caused performance issues and that Linux users may want to avoid the game. There is no evidence of launch failure, anti-cheat blocking, or specific required tweaks, so the report indicates notable but not catastrophic Linux compatibility friction.

Wolfenstein 3D inspiration and comparisons: Many players note strong similarities to Wolfenstein 3D, often calling it a clone or spiritual successor. Some feel it lacks innovation compared to the original, while others praise it as one of the best clones.

Unique Spanish Civil War setting: The game's Spanish Civil War setting is widely highlighted as a standout feature, providing a fresh backdrop rarely seen in FPS games. It adds historical flavor and helps the game stand out.

Comparison to HROT, Cultic, and DUSK: The game is often compared to HROT, Cultic, and DUSK in terms of style and themes. Some see it as a fusion of Wolf 3D and Cultic, though others consider those games superior.

Positive reception and quality: Players generally enjoy the game, praising its fun factor, detailed levels, and ambition despite some flaws. It is considered a solid addition to the boomer shooter genre.

Unfavorable comparisons to other shooters: Some reviewers find it mediocre compared to similar games like Ion Fury, Amid Evil, DUSK, and HROT. They cite limited replay value and note that many better boomer shooters exist.