Yeah, after parsing through the breathless “it’s the FEAR 4 we’ve all been waiting for (H)(H)(H)” reviews and getting to some more objective ones, Trepang2 definitely looks like a miss for me, at least until it gets cheap or gets Humble Bundled.
What killed it for me is that it sounds more like an extended tech demo than a fully realized game. It’s short, the story (such as it is) is all over the place, and that there generally appears to be a lack of concern about anything but the core shootery. If I want face-melting FPS action with only a shred of story, I’ll play Superhot.
Disappointing for a title that’s been cooking for so long. Here’s hoping that Selaco doesn’t go the same way.
Just to poke my head in here and say there’s a demo out for this. Only had a quick dabble and while I struggled with the movement and controls (no invert Y option either, the dev on the forums says you have to use the console or enter a negative value in the box… wat), the weapons felt great and I loved the presentation, from the environments to the voice work and cutscenes. The wall jumping and mantling were a lot more technical than I was expecting (apparently old-school like Half-Life and Quake, but I never did any of that as a kid). Thankfully there’s an ‘EZ Mode’ to make all that stuff EZier. Definitely worth a look. I’m hoping to give this a proper spin over the weekend.
I also gave the Hands of Necromancy demo a very quick go as well. This was one of John Walker’s games of 2022, a Hexen or Heretic-like. I played neither as a kid but I wonder whether I just don’t click with first-person sorcery because I didn’t really enjoy the actual ‘shooting’ in this. The level 1 music was pretty cool though, and I thought the visuals were decent too. Bizarrely, picking up items was quite piercing to me with a sharp sound and white flash, and you do a lot of that while zipping about the level. I may pick this up, it’s only 2 quid.
I’m looking to pick up Hedon and Exhumed at some point. Curious about both of those.
We would like to use this opportunity to apologize for our lack of communication regarding the full release date of WRATH: Aeon of Ruin. The past year has been extremely difficult for the team; we have managed to reinforce it with some very talented new members however, and as you can see from our regular bi-weekly updates, progress is being made. Even though development is now moving forward at a steady pace, due to those past difficulties, we are behind our original schedule and unable to catch up.
We are sorry, but the game will not leave early access in 2023. We know this is a disappointment for all of our fans, and we have been trying our best to make it happen earlier than next year - in the end we could not, not without compromising the quality of the final version of the game.
While 3D Realms alternate between being purposefully obtuse or denying it, basically most of the Wrath team first excitedly teased back in late 2018 (!!!) have long left the project and scrabbling to find other Quake-vets familiar with their specific fork of Dark Places is a tall task.
Those that remain have to split their time between contributing to one of 3DR’s million other games in development, including its fellow early access title Graven which for sure won’t make 2023. I doubt Phantom Fury will either despite this desperate, post-Embracer shares falling job posting.
I recall they’re all under the 3D Realms / Slipgate Ironworks label, and owned by the Embracer Group. Who just noticed that their business model has a few unexpected faults, like not making money. Or maybe “not making ENOUGH money”, the metrics in those circles are more crooked than my grandmother’s spine.
I picked up Hedon during the sale and, shit, this really is my cup of tea. Thanks @TurinTur for the write-up a while back.
I never played Heretic or Hexen, and not much Arx Fatalis either, so I’ll just have to say it’s like the Doom/Thief/big mystical orc lady mash-up I didn’t realise I wanted. It even has an oxygen bubble bar underwater. The big labyrinthine environments are awesome and, while huge, they make sense and feel lived in and detailed. Some places feel downright cosy. I’m surprised how much I’m being drawn in by the story too and how well considered the environmental storytelling and notes/journals are. It all just feels very confident and punchy.
From the trailers and screenshots I always thought the weapons looked a bit limp but they feel and sound great, whether it’s throwing an axe, kicking, flaming or launching explosive cross bolts. Today I found out that the ‘deadly gas potion’ launcher is actually launching deadly explosive gas potions so it’s great for bunching enemies up into coughing clumps ready to ignite the cloud. This was the moment I realised:
This is fast becoming my favourite retro shooter just because it feels like it combines a lot of elements I love while still being refreshingly different. Alexander Brandon even does the music and it’s so bloody good. I miss this sound:
Wanted to say thanks to @MrTibbs for turning us on to the Force Engine! Dark Forces ran so well, I went ahead and played through the whole thing and had a great time.
The ability to play DF with mouse+keyboard, with the familiar WASD layout, is pure joy. It’s been a while but I recall this game being keyboard-only when it came out in '95. That just seems crazy now.
Dark Forces has never looked so glorious, and with quicksaves to boot!
Does anybody know offhand the best visual/QOL upgrade for Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II / Mysteries Of The Sith? I had something on my last rig, but can’t remember what I used. And I had an occasional severe stutter with whatever it was, so I never really got to play it for that reason.
EDIT: I ended up using OpenJKDF2, and it works great so far, both on Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II and Mysteries Of The Sith, so I’m happy.
There are even further upgrades you can put on top of that to make it look even better and more modern, and I may try those later.
It’s so awesome that these dudes work so hard getting these creaky old games to play nice on modern systems, right? DF’s just so snappy! Like you, I’m really keen to playthrough Outlaws again. I bought a GOG copy awhile back but after booting it up I think my distaste for tedious ini file editing, finding and applying some obscure fan patch, and inability to settle for weird aspect ratios and modern mouse support, is wholly inconsistent with my penchant to experience old-school console games faithfully. For first person shooters I need things to feel super snappy in order to immerse myself and enjoy the experience.
For Jedi Knight, I went with this mod, which includes OpenJKDF2 and other enhancements like upscaled textures. Looks and plays quite nicely so far. It’s interesting to play DF and DF2 back to back and noting the obvious engine improvements (much much larger maps!).
Ah, thank you. I think I may have used that last time, and had stutter. According to the notes, it looks like they incorporated a fix for that recently. I just installed it, and it looks great, and the stutter is now gone. Woot!
Really looking forward to experiencing DF2’s extreme vertigo once again. Also wind effects!
