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AMID EVIL - Heretic/Hexen-inspired FPS from the creators of Return of the Triad mod

RatTower

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Messages
468
Got both this and Dusk.

They're fun. I've only had time to play through the first world though.
Amid Evil seems more like Quake rather than Hexen. Which is fine too, cause Quake is fucking fantastic.
 

Curratum

Guest
Amid Evil seems more like Quake rather than Hexen. Which is fine too, cause Quake is fucking fantastic.

I think all those prayers I said, hoping there will never be another game like Hexen, are paying off.
 

Lutte

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck
Joined
Aug 24, 2017
Messages
1,967
Location
DU's mom
Oh, I didn't underestimate the axe. I just didn't feel very safe using it when I had less room to keep moving. Last EP has a lot of tighter moments.
 

Lutte

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck
Joined
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Messages
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Location
DU's mom
>complaining about ratings on the codex
that always gives you away as a cuck whose manhood can't stand it

anyway since you've asked : because you're one of those buttblasted nostalgia glasses types. Amid Evil enemies aren't perfection but they have a wider variety of moves than in many of the classics, it's not that bad. Some worlds are more alike in concept, while others like the Forge really spiced up the variety when one of the first things you meet is those laser spouting things.
 

luj1

You're all shills
Vatnik
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
12,869
Location
Eastern block
I wasn't complaining, ember-butted one. I was genuinely interested because I like this game but I can't go deciphering shit ratings of every poster on the Codex.

Yes, enemy design is between poor and average. I said some of the moves were pretty cool (the stick & burn spears, the chain turret). Other than that, the design is pretty horrendous. Flying balls that shoot discs? That's... uninspiring. Spiky rolling balls? Why not make them detonate? Instead of... doing nothing? Stone golems that throw... *drumroll* rocks? Most of the time though, you can't even identify what you're fighting. Suits of armor? Bunch of polygons? Vectorman? It's not a matter of graphics but functionality and making enemies more interesting. Sorry that inflames your glutes.
 

Lutte

Dumbfuck!
Dumbfuck
Joined
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Messages
1,967
Location
DU's mom
Spiky rolling balls? Why not make them detonate?

I'm not going to do a quote by quote answer to everything but while some enemies are visually uninspiring, they're not bad FPS enemies. Case in point, the balls. They're playing the same role the Pinky did in doom. Except they're far more threatening and have very strong pathfinding AI I find.
Did you also dissect Doom in the way you're dissecting Amid?

Sorry that inflames your glutes.

You infer that much from a rating? you are the one who's going into a verbal diarrhea over a shit rating and you think the one who rated you shit, pressing an easy button, is the one who's butt inflamed? I just don't have an interest in arguing with someone who very likely won't ever change his position because it's all built on edgy nostalgia that doesn't even have the ability to apply pattern recognition
you are a brainlet just like a lot of people who have these instant dermabrasions when someone release something that isn't just another doom wad
 

Curratum

Guest
I can dissect Doom. I can break it down for you real quick. Doom was great, then half of episode 2 and almost all of episode 3 was absolute bollocks because they let Sandy Petersen do the maps.

As a complete package of levels, Doom 1 can't hold a candle to Amid Evil.

The only reason people, myself included, hold games like Blood and Doom and Quake in such high regard all those years later, is because no other comparable game, executed in the same style and with the same sensibilities had come out.

Now those games are out, 2 of them are done, another is just around the corner and another one is coming next year.

People need to stop burning incense to the classics because we have, miraculously, modern classics. Those games are a product of digesting the originals for two decades, then producing something modern around the same design principles.

I said it once and I'll say it again - I do believe Amid Evil, as a complete package, is better than Doom 1. It's not as groundbreaking, but as a product it's better. Time to let go of those old icons. Leon Zawada is the new Romero.
 

Israfael

Arcane
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Messages
3,580
I was doing episodes in a random fashion (i think the quake-ish one is supposed to be the second last, and I did it 3rd), game really opens up after the first two - levels get much larger, more enemies, more challenge, some environmental puzzles (that can be ignored with well-placed rocket jumps, thankfully). Onto last two episodes, hopefully they'll be even better. :salute:
 

luj1

You're all shills
Vatnik
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
12,869
Location
Eastern block
I said it once and I'll say it again - I do believe Amid Evil, as a complete package, is better than Doom 1. It's not as groundbreaking, but as a product it's better.

It's also a better product than Pong and Tetris.
 
Last edited:

Kitchen Utensil

Guest
The SSG alone makes Doom better than Dusk and Amid Evil combined.
Doom 2's enemy roster is unparalleled and the gampelay is just perfect.

Amid Evil looks like vomit and Dusk is a poor man's Quake, which does movement and level design much better.

They're good games but just can't hold a candle to the classics.
Still glad we have them. They seem to sell well enough, which might help making more games like them viable to develop.
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
14,118
Location
New Vegas
Played another hour or so of this and I think it looks amazing, you're all fucking retarded. Playing with zero AA too, game doesn't need it and has a lovely gritty look. When the colors and darkness mix well on a high contrast monitor... delicious.
 

Israfael

Arcane
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Messages
3,580
I'm not 100% sure (as I did not find any secret levels (or maybe I did, but did not notice it was a secret level), but it's fairly short - it says 12 hours on steam for me, I'd like to have more :(
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
14,118
Location
New Vegas
Yuck. There's shimmering all over the place without TAA on.

TAA is blur and ghosting city, I'd rather have some relatively minor aliasing that fits with the gritty look. I pretty much never turn post-process AA on though, so whatever. Obviously people like it or every console game wouldn't have it turned to 11. Enjoy your blur.
 

Israfael

Arcane
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Messages
3,580
Well, I don't think anyone argues this adds to authenticity, but it also adds an urge to vomit and just go lie down with all this headbob, shimmering and weird FOV
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
7,306
Enjoy your blur.

Oh I will. I will always pick blur over dancing textures. Not that there is that much blur in the first place, only very slight softening. If I was bothered by it, which I'm not, I would just add a tiny bit of sharpening with sweetfx. Cannot notice any ghosting either but I'll take your word for it.
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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Messages
14,118
Location
New Vegas
If I was bothered by it, which I'm not, I would just add a tiny bit of sharpening with sweetfx.

Post-processing on top of post-processing, what fun!

Cannot notice any ghosting either but I'll take your word for it.

Ghosting and blur are both inherent to the TAA process, which takes previous frames and mixes them with the current one. You might not notice it, but it's objectively there. I despise it.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
7,306
Post-processing on top of post-processing, what fun!

Dude, I don't give a shit what's on top of what. If it looks worse to me without it - I'll enable it. You don't have to understand it, same as I will never attempt to understand people who prefer a jaggy mess over a smooth image.
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
14,118
Location
New Vegas
Dude, I don't give a shit what's on top of what. If it looks worse to me without it - I'll enable it. You don't have to understand it, same as I will never attempt to understand people who prefer a jaggy mess over a smooth image.

Like I said above, you're far from alone. Most people hate jaggies and want them gone at any cost, so with the death of MSAA they've turned to these blur filters. Console games all use them, even combined with resolution scalers and reconstruction techniques, resulting in a blur-pocalypse. To most people though it's better than the dreaded jaggies I guess. Same reason 2D sprite emulators have tons of shitty filters.

Like yourself though, all I can do is speak to my own preferences. That blur annoys the shit out of me, way more than jaggies do at a higher res like 1440p. One reason we're PC gamers is we can choose what we want, rather than being forced to use one or the other. :obviously:
 

luj1

You're all shills
Vatnik
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
12,869
Location
Eastern block
Just finished the game. The final boss was pretty shit. I expected some mechanism linked to the braziers he draws power from or something, but no you just keep shooting at the boss. You can kill him pretty quickly with the staff and don't even need the invulnerability or mana refills from the braziers. Unless you move around he uses only the blue burst attack which can't hit shit. When he gets low he goes into a spasm and starts throwing black holes at you while everything around collapses. These were tricky to dodge because they have massive hitboxes but for some reason don't instakill you like the Aeternum weapon. Note that if you rocket jump onto the ledge and crouch they can't hit you.

Overall this is how I would rank the episodes,


E1 and E4. The Lunar/Solar thing. For me this is the core visual style I identify with Amid Evil. Not to everyone's taste but at least it's consistent.

:4/5:

E2. The worst episode IMO. Shitty enemies and shitty environments. Looks and feels very low budget, I know some cheap Russian Quake clones that are better.

:2/5:

E3. The "stony" episode. Brings back flashbacks of Powerslave and Serious Sam. Enemies are a little shit (golems, flying stone heads, whatever those little green shits are) but cool environments with pools and narrow stone corridors and passageways. I think the Journeyman's Way is possible the best level in the entire game.

:5/5:

E5. The Forge. Very Quake-like episode. Has its own distinct style. I liked the opening level more than latter ones though where you encounter some really mundane and banal enemy design like flying balls (again).

:4/5:

E6 and E7. The harlequin longhouses or whatever have a Christmas vibe going on with too many colors, dangling lanterns and tasteless wood textures everywhere mixed with stained glass. Just looks like shit. As for E7, clearly at this point the devs said fuck it let's go over the top and do EVERYTHING. I mean I guess it's fun and some ideas were cool, but it's all a little wild and uncontrolled and slapdash.

:3/5:


In conclusion,


Level design - :4/5:

Weapon design - :4/5:

Enemy design - :2/5:

Music - :4/5:

Sound - :1/5:


For the end just let me say there is definitely something wrong with the visuals. The shimmering effect or gloss maps or w/e are literally everywhere from beginning to end and are objectively shit. It makes the game look like shit, run like shit and diverts your attention from more important things. On top of that, the whole design approach lacks a sense of measure and seems to not have matured yet (as evidenced by the planet gun).

Also the cryptic messages e.g. "you are doomed" , "they are coming" seem to have been created by a child and add very little to the overall atmosphere.

I know the circumstances are dire but I give this game a B or B-.
 
Last edited:

Curratum

Guest
Please, stick to writing reviews for RPGs where you actually have some reasonable degree of competence.
 

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