Heretic, Hexen, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D — I played these hits of the past in the late 90s in the editorial offices of St. Petersburg newspapers. In free time, and often during working hours. Then there was a wild hobby Quake III Arena And Unreal Tournament, years later – Painkiller, Doom 3, DOOM, and then my muscle reflexes (strafe, shoot, strafe again, press a button, run to the first aid kit, jump and shoot the bastard at his feet!) went into deep hibernation. Solid RPGs, strategies, quests… But after seeing the screenshots and reading the description Amid Evil, I felt something stir in my soul, in that area that is responsible for nostalgia, and asked for the game to review. But I launched it not without skepticism: what kind of retro shooter do I need now?? I still need Super Neptunia RPG must watch!
Those who have already played Amid Evil, can easily imagine what’s next. I woke up about two hours later, looking at the carcass of the first defeated boss, clutching in my trembling hands a staff smoking from shots, with five units of health and only one silent question: what the hell is “Neptunia”?
Reenactors
Of course, for those who followed the genre, the current success Amid Evil, having almost 100% positive reviews on Steam, did not come as a surprise. Its authors have already made a popular mod Return of the Triad For Rise of the Triad (1994 shooter from 3D Realms), and then produced a retro-FPS that was also extremely positively rated on Steam DUSK.
But even they were probably amazed at how powerful the game was. Although it would seem that it’s easier – you take familiar formulas Heretic And Hexen, all this fantasy theme, axes, swords and staves, you deliberately make the monsters as “pixelated” as possible – and voila, a nostalgic “meat” stew for old people is ready!
However, the authors approached the development much more thoroughly. They came up with seven truly different worlds. Our Champion, the only mortal in many years who has passed the test of the Black Labyrinth, got the sacred ax into his weary hands and is now ready to save everyone from the forces of evil, goes there through the portals located in the hub location. Each of these worlds has its own atmosphere, design, architecture and unique enemies.
World Travelers Club
You can run around a classic castle, shoot flying cacodemons (even if they are called differently here), periodically jump into the water from the bridge, climb high steps to the center of the hall, where you will meet the boss, descend on platforms from open areas where the moon hangs over the castle walls, into dark casemates. And in general, feel familiar – the familiar “heretical” Middle Ages all around.
But in the next world Independentcasinosites.co.uk you may find yourself on strange island-castles hanging in the void – they are decorated with multi-colored stained glass windows and connected by long bridges. And among the enemies here appear spiders, snakes and very nimble samurai, who, unlike their counterparts from other dimensions, know how to somersault, avoiding an attack.
Different colors of pain
The developers implemented in Amid Evil really cool weapon. In addition to the already mentioned ax, there is a staff, classic for such games, that shoots charges of magic; a sword that is not used to chop, but is thrown at enemies; a trident that attacks with lightning; a mace from which fragments of stars fly out and hurt painfully.
Yes, every weapon has an interesting story. For example, the local analogue of a rocket launcher, according to the description, actually shoots at enemies… with planets, which it pulls out of their dimensions and reduces to the size of a projectile. It also has its own BFG – a big fancy cannon that fires huge spheres that discharge into everyone around.
So, as in Heretic, every weapon in Amid Evil In addition to the main one, there is also an enhanced version. The fact is that all the way we collect the souls of defeated enemies. And when enough of them accumulate, it will be possible to turn on the local rage mode. And here the weapon changes its properties. The ax turns almost into a chainsaw, the staff floods enemies with water, the charged sword blade begins to ricochet off walls and enemies, the rocket launcher no longer shoots planets, but the sun. And the analogue of BFG (called The Aeturnum) sucks opponents into a real black hole.
For each weapon you need to collect your own charges (actually ammunition) of different colors, and each is especially useful in its own situations. There is, of course, a more powerful one – but there are also fewer charges for it. Each of you will have your favorites (for me it’s the sword), but to say that some weapons in Amid Evil frankly superfluous, impossible. But a crossbow from Heretic really not enough.
From corridors to arenas
I often remember Heretic, and it’s easy to explain. Amid Evil, as a retro shooter about fantasy, the Middle Ages, battles involving axes/staffs and about the main character, who was once called a heretic, it’s clear where it’s heading. Here, as I already said, the situation is similar with weapons, and with the collection of multi-colored “mana” – some charges lying around on the levels even look similar in appearance to what we saw in the 1994 game.
But purely in terms of dynamics and level structure, this is already more similar to the first ones Quake And DOOM 2016. That is, there are practically no “heretical” corridors here – instead there are arenas, many open spaces, where there is more dynamics, space and vertical gameplay. IN Amid Evil we constantly ride up and down on platforms, climb long branching stairs to the very ceiling, along the way shooting enemies crawling out from everywhere with a staff, and from there somewhere we can jump down – into the water to find new spheres of health and charges at the bottom.
And the game itself, despite the fact that enemies and all objects are specially covered with defiantly “pixelated” textures, looks gorgeous in dynamics – beautiful, stylish and quite modern: there are cool effects, colors, attention to detail, interesting architecture and sometimes breathtaking views. This is not surprising, because it was done Amid Evil on Unreal Engine 4.
Along the waves of memory
This combination of “old school” and modernity produces a game that, I’m sure, will captivate even those who have never heard of Heretic And Hexen. Swallowing a nostalgic tear, we run, fight, strafe, collect gold and silver gate keys, health spheres, charges, power-ups (like increased health, invisibility, invulnerability or the ability to fly), overcome traps, accumulate souls and wisely use rage mode. The latter is especially useful in fights with bosses, which are very colorful and have their own characteristics.
Everything is dynamic, beautiful and sometimes even modern: the graphics do not hurt the eyes, as in the same DUSK, – on the contrary, I constantly want to take screenshots. Although most often there is no time: enemies even at the normal difficulty level let you light a cigarette. Well, based on the results of completing each level, in the good old tradition, we are given statistics, forcing us to rack our brains: where did I miss another secret?.
Amid Evil is a portal to the past. Just as the hero goes through portals to different worlds to defeat evil, so we ourselves go through the game to return to 20 years old, when the trees were big, every new game surprised you, when you still dreamed of plans to conquer the world, and in the evenings after work you stayed late, watched the editor shoot cacodemons at his work computer, and waited for his turn. And even if this portal doesn’t take you that far personally, I still advise you to try the game – this is the best retro action game to date that is able to convey the spirit of “meat” shooters without hurting your sense of beauty.
Pros: addictive gameplay at the edge Heretic, Hexen And Quake; The spirit of “old school” shooters is perfectly captured; various locations, enemies and weapons; good balance of difficulty; excellent level design; beautiful picture; powerful music and sound accompaniment.
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