Criminally forgotten and deeply underrated, a real hidden gem.
Being completely honest, it does have its share of jank, but all things considered, for a 20-year-old game it’s still highly enjoyable.
I’ve often seen it described as an Action RPG, but that gives the wrong idea of what kind of game it actually is, in my opinion. This is a melee-focused FPS. The closest comparison I can make is that it’s basically a “medieval fantasy Half-Life 2.”
What I enjoyed about the game:
- The gameplay is brilliant. The varied moveset: kicking enemies into spikes or down pits, throwing barrels in their faces, or cutting their heads off with a slow-motion critical hit; is adrenaline-pumping and extremely satisfying.
- The level design is inspired. Most levels are well crafted both structurally and aesthetically. The game is linear, but it includes just enough side exploration (like secret rooms) to avoid turning into a boring corridor.
- Progression is spot on. The streamlined progression system encourages replayability without hurting balance or pacing.
- The plot is simple but creative. For an action game, even a straightforward good-vs-evil story would have been fine, but there’s something more interesting here.
[spoiler]You are the son of a demon and can choose to reject your lineage and save the world, or embrace it and conquer the world instead. Meanwhile, the antagonists (the necromancers) see death as a natural part of life and are willing to kill countless people “for the greater good”, in order to save the world from you and your father. The line between good and evil ends up being blurred in an interesting way.[/spoiler]
- Even after 20 years, the game is still unique. How many single-player, melee-focused, fantasy FPS games are there? You usually get multiplayer brawlers, traditional FPS games, or first-person RPGs. This game fills a niche that has been mostly ignored for years.
What could have been better:
- The balance on normal difficulty is all over the place. I would strongly suggest new players start on easy. In my opinion, the game shines the most when it lets you enjoy a power fantasy (being a mighty warrior mowing down enemies) while fully engaging with the combat system. On normal difficulty, however, my experience was often frustrating and relied heavily on trial and error. Environmental kills (spikes, pits) are guaranteed one-hit KOs, while standard melee combat often requires four or five fully charged hits to kill most enemies. Some enemies deal absurd damage, sometimes killing you in two hits even with a defense-focused build. On top of that, it’s often unclear when you’re supposed to block attacks, and sometimes blocking doesn’t seem to work at all. The result is enemies that feel both extremely spongy and extremely lethal. Combat ends up being overly dependent on environmental kills just to avoid taking damage. Positioning and environmental awareness are important, but the game is at its best when you can reliably use its entire moveset.
- Bugs and glitches can hurt the experience. I got permanently stuck a few times while using the rope. I also encountered a game-breaking bug during the final fight that forced me to replay it from the beginning, along with a couple of crashes.
- Running the game on modern systems is a hassle. You’ll need to follow guides to get it working, and even then performance can be rough, with frequent FPS drops.
- Various minor annoyances. Things like the shield being unequipped every time you switch to the bow, elemental weapons having annoying lighting and sound effects and occupying too much screen space, the lack of dedicated potion shortcuts, the annoying stealth reticle in the center of the screen, night vision being irritating in multiple ways and not lasting indefinitely despite the game often being very dark, and other small issues all add up.
A revised version of this game, with quality-of-life improvements, better balance, and proper bug fixes, could easily restore it to the masterpiece status it deserves. Even as it is, though, it remains a unique and genuinely enjoyable experience.
