Do you live for boomer shooters? Then Captain Wayne: Vacation Desperation should be on your radar—it’s got gloriously over-the-top gunfights and a fresh certified badass as its hero. And now we know exactly when Captain Wayne will set sai… start cranking out meat mountains.

Captain Wayne: Vacation Desperation is slated to hit PC via Steam on November 25, confirmed by the freshly released Release Date Trailer (see below). The press release from September 23 didn’t mention a GOG launch (which, for a retro shooter, should be basically mandatory if you ask me).

That said, the DRM-free storefront is picky as hell with its curation. Even standout games don’t always make the cut there, and only the gatekeepers know why. Publisher Silver Lining also kept quiet about any console release.

Shotgun arm instead of peg leg

Maybe this is your first time hearing about Captain Wayne: Vacation Desperation. At its core, this is a homage to classic FPS greats like Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior—right down to the lead. He’s a gloriously loud pirate captain rocking:

• a “charming” horsey grin
• blindingly pink threads
• a shotgun arm instead of a peg leg

Personally, I’d have given the guy a peg leg on top, just so he could stomp enemies’ big square feet into the deck (now picture their faces up close), but hey—at least the shotgun’s double-barreled.🙂

Of course, Wayne’s shotgun arm isn’t the only way to puree bad guys. He also packs the trusty chain gun, assorted explosive toys, and weapon-based abilities like “Chain-Gun Finger” and “Boom Brew.”

Like a 90s shooter on a new engine

Another neat quirk: the game uses hand-drawn comic art that’s then pixelated and presented in 2.5D. Veterans know the drill: the world is more or less 3D while enemies and NPCs are rendered as 2D sprites.

The Ciaran Games blaster runs fast—Unreal-fast. Combined with the ridiculously smooth gameplay, Vacation Desperation feels like a 90s shooter running on a modern engine port, which, at least for me, is extremely tasty.

The campaign features eight levels (the press text swears they’re big). That’s the main course anyway, because the “story” is genre-typical tissue-thin. There’s also an endless mode where you fend off incoming waves as long as you can.

Want a taste? Here’s that trailer from the top:

If the gore-heavy scenes make you go “hell yes,” the playable demo on Steam might just seal the deal.