The top 1v1 shooter that’s been generating buzz lately boasts an insane collection of 226 maps.

As behemoth live service shooters struggle to retain audiences with seasonal events and “classic” modes that sometimes just channel nostalgia, one small PvP shooter is simply plugging away adding map after map after map after map. Straftat, the 1v1 online FPS that sees you duke it out with a friendfoe in cramped concrete arenas, has just added another 35 deathpits to its rotating menu of shooty locales. It now has 226 maps on which to kill and be killed. That is beautiful. That is sublime. That is Straftat.

There’s now a map called “Autobahn” where you have to pummel each other with baseball bats while cars rush past and turn you to mush. There’s a new “Aquatic” arena which is like having a fight at the bottom of a fish tank. And one called “Garden_04” which is set in a tranquil garden of trees and trellises, with wind chimes twinkling as you batter your opponent with a huge mace.

This April maps update also adds 15 new hats to the shooter, as well as a few bug fixes, according to the developers’ post on Steam. Normally, having over 200 maps in a shooter might seem gratuitous. But Straftat is all about quickfire rounds of random mayhem. It’s a showdown on shuffle. Sometimes you’ll race through a warren of complex tunnels, looking for a decent pistol. Other times you will occupy the same constricted 2 metres squared as your opponent, a concrete island suspended in a deadly void. Death is certain. Victory, a treat.

It’s a rich delicacy for fans of old-school multiplayer arena shooters in particular (ie. millenials who played too much Quake). The last map update in January saw developers Lemaitre Bros adding a homage to fanmade Counterstrike map Iceworld and Unreal Tournament’s DM_Morbias. More recently, they’ve talked about plans to bring 2v2 battles to the game, and even a 4-player free-for-all mode likely to bring even more tense and comical chaos to the bloodsport.

Its adrenal simplicity made it one of our favourite games of 2024. In our review Rick Lane called it “a wild overcorrection in response to the direction of modern multiplayer gunfests, one that careens straight through retro stations to arrive somewhere new and exciting.” Also: it’s fucking FREE. Absolutely absurd.