PowerSlave Exhumed - remaster of console versions by Nightdive Studios

[LESS T_T]

https://af.gog.com/game/powerslave_exhumed?as=1649904300

PowerSlave: Exhumed is a KEX Engine port of the classic console game perfectly blending both the PlayStation & Saturn versions.

Destination: The ancient Egyptian city of Karnak. Alien forces possessing horrifying powers have sealed off the once thriving community from all outside contact. As a covert operations specialist, you have been trained for all forms of contingencies. Nothing can prepare you, however, for the nightmare you are about to enter...
New Features:

• Widescreen / HD Display
• Modern gamepad support
• SMAA Antialiasing
• Anisotropic texture filtering
• Achievements
• Vulkan / DirectX 11 graphics API
• Smooth object interpolation for high refresh rate monitors
• Both versions of the original game combined to bring the best of both worlds

Aiming for a definitive edition combining "the best" of both console versions.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Description

PowerSlave: Exhumed is a KEX Engine port of the classic console game perfectly blending both the PlayStation & Saturn versions.

Destination: The ancient Egyptian city of Karnak. Alien forces possessing horrifying powers have sealed off the once thriving community from all outside contact. As a covert operations specialist, you have been trained for all forms of contingencies. Nothing can prepare you, however, for the nightmare you are about to enter...
New Features:

• Widescreen / HD Display
• Modern gamepad support
• SMAA Antialiasing
• Anisotropic texture filtering
• Achievements
• Vulkan / DirectX 11 graphics API
• Smooth object interpolation for high refresh rate monitors
• Both versions of the original game combined to bring the best of both worlds

 

[Bad Sector]

Nice, though i found this amusing:

• Anisotropic texture filtering

...this is something you get for free from the GPU since 2 decades ago :-P

 

[SharkClub]

PowerSlave: Exhumed is a pretty clever thing to name it, from like three different angles.

Where's the DOS version...

 

[Bad Sector]

Where's the DOS version...

Already released, for some reason there is a different company on it.

 

[SharkClub]

I meant the remaster of the DOS version, that is supposedly a thing that is in the works.

 

[Bad Sector]

I meant the remaster of the DOS version, that is supposedly a thing that is in the works.

There is a DOS version remaster? I was under the impression that only the PS1/Saturn version was in development.

 

[SharkClub]

Well from earlier on this thread. They intend to do Kex ports for both PC and console versions.

 

[Bad Sector]

Nark interesting, weird that it was released under another publisher recently though. I hope it isn't a case of them losing the license as i do not think Throwback does any advanced work on their releases.

 

[LESS T_T]

Nark interesting, weird that it was released under another publisher recently though. I hope it isn't a case of them losing the license as i do not think Throwback does any advanced work on their releases.

Throwback is the owner of IP.

 

[LESS T_T]

Steam, it says this year.

 

[Netch]

Really looking forward to playing this, I've heard it's very good.

 

[Jenkem]

what about the original PC version of the game?

 

[LESS T_T]

They've been said they intended to remaster both PC and console versions. Well, at least until last year. But who knows. Maybe releasing an emulated DOS version last month on Steam signified a change of the plan. Or maybe labeling it "Classic Edition" signifies there will be a non-classic edition. Or the label was just to differentiate it from the EX console remaster.

(Also consider how SVKaiser despised reverse-engineering build engine games.)

 

[schru]

The original PS1 footage looks so much better.

 

[fork]

The original PS1 footage looks so much better.

Absolutely!

Holy shit what have they done to the game, lol. This is one of my favourite single-player FPSs of all time, and let me tell you, you're better off playing the Playstation version on an emulator! What have they done to the blue scorpions, they're red crabs now? In the desert? What happened to the lighting? It looks like utter shit. And they butchered the beautiful map. It looks like a shitty cartoon right out of 2021 California now.

And I was looking forward to this, lol.
I should've known better!

 

[fork]

Coincidentally I am replaying the game just now (on original hardware) and funny enough I'm stuck at the Sunken Palace of Khnum again. I remember being stuck there in the past, in every single playthrough actually, and I pray to god I may find the way to the Symbol of Power soon. Fuck!

Edit: Jesus, I found it, and of course I drowned, again!
Edit2: Meh, it's a 2 minute level if you know thw way -.-

 

[Lemming42]

Excellent game. It's like if Hexen was fun. I wonder how this will differ from the existing PowerSlave EX fan project, hopefully Nightdive really polish it up, rather than just buying the license to a currently-free game and making it harder to access, a la GoG.

The PC version isn't really worth a remaster honestly, it's not a bad game but it's just relentlessly dull.

 

[fork]

Oh man, just finished Deserted Slave Camp, what a smooth ride. The game is really good at making you feel like a genius if you know the way, but it's also good at making you feel like a retard. Pretty sure Selkis Path holds a relatively easy boss fight now, before granting me access to the final couple of Kilmaat levels.
Not looking forward to the final boss, which is a bit shit iirc.

Oh shit I was wrong, damnit.
Edit: Selkis Burrow now \o/

Guys, play the game now! Playstation version is easy to find and emulate, and it's great.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

A rare thing, when the console versions of the FPS game are much more interesting than on PC.

So far there are two ways of playing Ehxumed PC version (excluding emulation and Dosbox):

1)PcExhumed (needs Eduke 32, works without any problems. I finished it myself. Probably works with Raze as well, which is a source port of Eduke32, and from what I've read, it supports Exhumed, and is much better platform).
https://lerppu.net/wannabethesis/pcexhumed/
https://raze.zdoom.org/about

2)BuildGdx, which can be used for DOS version of the game like other Build engine games. Just copy it into Exhumed directory and you can play it.

https://www.moddb.com/games/powerslave/addons/powerslaveexhumed-upscale-pack-v11
Cool upscale project for better looking sprites. Works without any problems with BuildGdx.

 

[fork]

I must say the game is a bit on the easy side, even with original Playstation controls, i.e. tank controls + strafe on the shoulder buttons. But not every game needs to be ultra-difficult. I'm afraid that this remaster will not only rob the game of its atmosphere, but make it utterly banal on top. As I said, the game is super easy on a PS1 controller with the original control scheme, which most people would probably describe as unplayable nowadays (not me though, I love the controls!); if I imagine having wasd and a mouse for this, it'd be beyond trivial.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Holy shit part 2. First Severance Remaster and now this?!?!?

 

[AndyS]

Excellent game. It's like if Hexen was fun. I wonder how this will differ from the existing PowerSlave EX fan project, hopefully Nightdive really polish it up, rather than just buying the license to a currently-free game and making it harder to access, a la GoG.

Nightdive literally hired the guy who made Powerslave EX. He's behind most of their classic FPS re-releases and I think created the Kex engine for them. I think the main difference between Powerslave EX and this new/final version is the talk of using the Saturn version, which is considered the better of the console versions but he based Powerslave EX on the Playstation's.

 

[Btan0]

Excellent game. It's like if Hexen was fun. I wonder how this will differ from the existing PowerSlave EX fan project, hopefully Nightdive really polish it up, rather than just buying the license to a currently-free game and making it harder to access, a la GoG.

Nightdive literally hired the guy who made Powerslave EX. He's behind most of their classic FPS re-releases and I think created the Kex engine for them. I think the main difference between Powerslave EX and this new/final version is the talk of using the Saturn version, which is considered the better of the console versions but he based Powerslave EX on the Playstation's.

I really hope they're referring to the level design and not the different sprite colours, because the Saturn version had much larger levels compared to the Playstation.

 

[LESS T_T]