videogamescritic
← all games
PO'ed: Definitive Edition

PO'ed: Definitive Edition

Nightdive Studios · released May 16, 2024

Action

PO’ed is an adrenaline-pumping space shooter that features gameplay elements inspired by generational powerhouses DOOM and QUAKE. Play as a chef who crashlands on an alien planet infested with extraterrestrial foes. Using a menu of “household” weapons, PO’ed puts your wits and reflexes to the test.

67
VGC Score
·No trend datalow confidence
71%
At launch
69%
Steam all-time
55%
Press
n/a
Recent sentiment

Screenshots & trailers

Review sentiment over time

Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.

How this score was computed

The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.

ComponentPositiveQuality (0-100)Weight (pseudo-reviews)
Press reviews (OpenCritic)5515
All-time Steam reviews69%6668
Metacritic user ratings0
Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted)0
Calibration prior (typical game)7250

Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 0 reviews sampled · 0 total reviews in window · weighted 0 up / 0 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →

Press & Creators reviews (10)

Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.

  • 40
    trust 78Jul 2, 2024

    The problem is that at its core, PO'ed: Definitive Edition remains an extremely mediocre game with a couple good ideas.

    read full review ↗
  • 70
    trust 76May 16, 2024

    PO'ed Definitive Edition is yet another fine example of Nightdive Studio's excellent work in preserving unique, oddball games of yore while adding some welcome mod cons. With this one, however, the core experience is a little bit too weird to recommend to just any FPS fan. The general premise is odd, the enemy design is unsettling, and the layout of the levels can prove frustrating, especially for newcomers unaccustomed to its old-school ways. Despite this, the jetpack is honestly one of the most fun mechanics we've sampled in gaming, and the bizarre audio design had us in fits of laughter at multiple points. If you've played the original or fancy checking out one of the most unique FPS games from the '90s, it's well worth a punt.

    read full review ↗
  • 60
    trust 75May 16, 2024

    PO’ed: Definitive Edition tries to capture the essence of the original DOOM, but it fails to be as fluid as its inspiration.

    read full review ↗
  • 65
    trust 68May 17, 2024

    PO’ed is a game most people have never heard of, and even those of us that do rarely talk about. It was always relegated to that game where you hit farting butts with a frying pan on the schoolyard, and since nobody (outside of myself) had a 3DO, most people had never even heard of it. Still, I love revisiting these classic shooters, even the ones not so fondly remembered. It was a different time and games like these were an exception instead of a rule, and that made it exciting. Keep doing what you do Nightdive, I will buy and play each and every one of them.

    read full review ↗
  • 50
    trust 63May 16, 2024

    It's commendable work by Nightdive to port this obscure title, but it's no wonder they announced its existence on April Fool's Day. Po'ed: Definitive Edition is a confusing mess of a game to play, but it does leave a lasting impression.

    read full review ↗
  • 40
    trust 60Jun 26, 2024

    I recognize Nightdive Studios’ successful effort in porting PO'ed to modern platforms and I’m sure this game has a fanbase. Sadly, I am not part of that fanbase. I had frankly a miserable experience with the core game. Outside of its jetpack gameplay, the combat was horrid and the level design was headache-inducing. If you have a hankering for classic FPS you’d be wiser to pick up other Nightdive re-releases such as Rise of the Triad. PO'ed: Definitive Edition is the best way to play a game that I wouldn’t recommend anyone play.

    read full review ↗
  • 45
    trust 60May 16, 2024

    Reviewing PO’ed: Definitive Edition is weird because, sure, the game is actually terrible, but it’s not Nightdive’s fault at all. On the contrary, they have done quite a lot of work remastering its visuals and improving its controls. Sadly, the core ideas, the original level design, those haven’t changed at all, and Nightdive wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it.

    read full review ↗
  • 45
    trust 58May 16, 2024

    I also must commend Nightdive Studios for having the guts to remaster a game that can’t even claim a cult following. PO’ed isn’t notoriously bad, but it would probably be better if it was. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it come up in conversation. I might never have played it had it not been for Nightdive, and for that, I’m grateful in a very strange way. Even if a game is obscure or outright bad, I always love seeing them get dusted off and restored to working order. I just never want to play it again.

    read full review ↗
  • 60
    trust 53May 16, 2024

    POed: Definitive Edition is an excellent version of a middling game, with only some of its problems due to it being early days for the FPS. It's hard not to feel affection for what it's trying to do, though, and you can see as you play how it fits into the evolution of its genre. It would have been nice if the game had figured out an identity, either leaning into the weirdness or going for straight sci-fi action, but it's almost thirty years too late to fix that now. POed's legacy was almost nonexistent, that of a kind of ok-ish game that landed right in the middle of the FPS genre figuring itself out, and from a gaming history perspective that's more than a good enough reason to check it out.

    read full review ↗
  • 25
    trust 47Jun 3, 2024

    I’m all for game preservation and am happy to see games like this being revived especially after they were on a failed console that 95% of gamers never touched, let alone saw in person. But PO’ed Definitive Edition is one of those that should have remained in the past. While the premise is unique compared to typical war-themed first person shooters, this is barely playable. I can vouch for a Limited Run Games physical version for all the collectors out there, but buying this digitally to play it is just like setting money on fire. Unless your morbid curiosity gets the better of you, don’t even bother.

    read full review ↗

Patch history