The one and only thing that should matter for a game is if it's fun or not, and Prodeus is undoubtedly fun.

• Gunplay: every weapon is pleasant to use, the shooting sounds are unique and satisfying, and reloading is pure ASMR goodness
  
• Gameplay: it feels similar to classic Doom; level progress is locked behind door keycards that you have to find, and when there's an enemy horde you have to stay in the move and switch weapons constantly to survive, exploiting enemy weaknesses
  
• Graphics: the game has an intentional retro aesthetic with low res/pixelated textures, which in my opinion fit really well with the game vibe
  
• Level design: I am by no means close to finishing the game (33%), but so far from what I've seen in about a dozen levels, each one is unique in their own way; it doesn't feel monotonous and there's always something to do, a new route, a secret to uncover, etc.

• Soundtrack: I gave the game a chance and let it handle the music, but the soundtrack is undoubtedly mid and has weird timing; the music is calm mid combat and then the "aggressiveness" kicks in when you're nearly done killing everyone. It's not a game-breaking experience but I opted to mute the music and play my own
  
• Difficulty: I haven't tried the max difficulty yet, but from what I've seen, more difficulty doesn't necessarily equal more enemies, it just means you take more damage, which is a bit disappointing

Checkpoint system: this is arguably the worst part about the game. As you progress in each level, you will find checkpoints (that sometimes trigger enemies to spawn)... the problem is, if you die, you respawn with 100% health and no penalty whatsoever. Whoever you killed, stays dead, so there is no such thing as a revenge system in place. For a game of this type, it's really anticlimatic. I understand catering to more casual players who don't want to have a hard time progressing, but why not make it an option? If you want things to be a bit more challenging, you're out of luck.

Despite its flaws, like I said at the beginning of this review, Prodeus is undoubtedly fun. In a landscape where most AAA games are just creatively bankrupt slop, endlessly milking established franchises and pretending to sell us the same thing every year, or worse, release an incomplete/broken mess of a game and promise to fix it along the way? Prodeus is a breath of fresh air, and it definitely deserves a chance.