People who play videogames aren't escaping reality, they're simulating having meaningful participation in a society. If anything, gamers crave reality. An example of escaping reality is wearing noise cancelling headphones on the train so no one talks to you. Gamers are trying to simulate a reality where the work they do has tangible meaning. You do this dungeon and you get a new item, which you can use to do new dungeons. In reality, you do a job, and you get a paycheck, which you can only use to continue doing that same job. There are obviously meaningful jobs out there, but many, many people are being denied them, relegated to alienated labor. They are being denied access to community, relegating them to lonliness. The labor in videogames isn't alienating since it's meant to achieve a purpose and meant to advance you and grow your character. Jobs and a lot of what "society" these days has to offer just.... don't do that. It's all about PARTICIPATION.
You're right, those shooters are very tight and specific on how they operate. Move, aim, shoot as the main tools you have. I actually like the boomer shooters because they still have level designs that don't necessarily represent anything. Purely abstract levels that only gesture towards being a Mars base or a Nazi bunker. They weren't always able to create levels that looked like something that makes sense in reality, so they often didn't even try. Nonsense hallways, rooms that only exist to hold a powerup, the whole monster closets. It's neat from a design perspective that the areas in your video game can exist to only serve the game itself and its mechanics rather than be a sensible representation of Earth.
Does Painkiller count as a boomer shooter? That one's my favorite.
Painkiller is a boomer shooter but it's kind of a weird Serious Sam-style "lol just throw a hundred of em at the player" one. Fun game but compared to some of the genre revivals like Dusk, it came off as a little slapdash to me.
Dusk is exactly what you describe when it comes to level design, the first few levels are fine but later on they get really interpretive and creative, real masters of that very specific craft firing on all cylinders.