Lyric Suite
Converting to Islam
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2006
- Messages
- 56,515
This shit doesn't work when you are fighting waves of AI monsters. They really didn't think this through.
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AMID EVIL - Heretic/Hexen-inspired FPS from the creators of Return of the Triad mod
- Thread starter LESS T_T
- Start date
This shit doesn't work when you are fighting waves of AI monsters. They really didn't think this through.
rohand
Cipher
Well SW does have a (modern) sequel
unfairlight
Self-Ejected
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2017
- Messages
- 4,092
Woohoo more retro throwback shit by mongoloids who have too much time and unity engine.
Why do these brainlets still buy this garbage, it's everywhere, Strafe, Dusk, this, Ion Maiden. It's just retards aping off 20 year old games that they probably only played the shareware versions of one time.
Why do these brainlets still buy this garbage, it's everywhere, Strafe, Dusk, this, Ion Maiden. It's just retards aping off 20 year old games that they probably only played the shareware versions of one time.
Boleskine
Arcane
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2013
- Messages
- 4,045
So now that the Early Access version is out, I can talk a bit about Amid Evil. I played a test branch of the Early Access version a week or so ago. I've always been critical of the visual style of the game (didn't really like the color usage that much) and thought the game looked garish and not that great. I got a key because of a semi-rant on Twitter about it, and promptly booted the game to see for myself.
Honestly, the videos really don't do the game justice because a whole lot of detail is lost to video compression. The game looks pretty good in motion, especially the third episode that reminded me of the first Tomb Raider a lot. My only problem with color is found in early Episode 1, the rest of the game looks good for the most part, with some great style at times (E1M2 comes to mind, this map is a real beast and one I wish I had made cause it's brilliant at times). The weapon viewmodels are apparently lightmapped sprites, which is pretty amazing considering how good they look.
The level design ranges from good to very good. There was not a single bad level in the version I played. E1M1 is very tame/simple but things get serious as soon as E1M2, which is very open and has vertical layers serpenting around. The game uses very little enclosed, Painkiller-like arenas which is very welcome. The third Episode has a lot of exploration gameplay too which I liked a lot (especially in E3M1). The Episodes only have three main levels and one boss each, but there are 7 Episodes planned total, each with its own style.
The game itself is a lot of fun. All the weapons are great to use and pack a punch. Even the base axe feels very powerful. My favorite weapons are the trident thing and the Mace of Torment which I find extremely fun. The weapons have an alternative, even more powerful attack once you gain enough souls from fallen enemies. It acts exactly as the Tome of Power from Heretic/Hexen, but I find it more interesting in Amid Evil since you actually have to fight to trigger it a vast majority of the time (and you can chain it with greater soul pickups). In the version I played the enemies didn't bleed much and had almost no pain frames; I wonder if that was changed because it was a bit distracting and it was hard to tell whether I was actually hurting them at times.
Overall, Amid Evil is a cool game. It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel but it's a solid Heretic-like in some aspects. It runs well, has cool level design, great weaponry and feels good to play.
Honestly, the videos really don't do the game justice because a whole lot of detail is lost to video compression. The game looks pretty good in motion, especially the third episode that reminded me of the first Tomb Raider a lot. My only problem with color is found in early Episode 1, the rest of the game looks good for the most part, with some great style at times (E1M2 comes to mind, this map is a real beast and one I wish I had made cause it's brilliant at times). The weapon viewmodels are apparently lightmapped sprites, which is pretty amazing considering how good they look.
The level design ranges from good to very good. There was not a single bad level in the version I played. E1M1 is very tame/simple but things get serious as soon as E1M2, which is very open and has vertical layers serpenting around. The game uses very little enclosed, Painkiller-like arenas which is very welcome. The third Episode has a lot of exploration gameplay too which I liked a lot (especially in E3M1). The Episodes only have three main levels and one boss each, but there are 7 Episodes planned total, each with its own style.
The game itself is a lot of fun. All the weapons are great to use and pack a punch. Even the base axe feels very powerful. My favorite weapons are the trident thing and the Mace of Torment which I find extremely fun. The weapons have an alternative, even more powerful attack once you gain enough souls from fallen enemies. It acts exactly as the Tome of Power from Heretic/Hexen, but I find it more interesting in Amid Evil since you actually have to fight to trigger it a vast majority of the time (and you can chain it with greater soul pickups). In the version I played the enemies didn't bleed much and had almost no pain frames; I wonder if that was changed because it was a bit distracting and it was hard to tell whether I was actually hurting them at times.
Overall, Amid Evil is a cool game. It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel but it's a solid Heretic-like in some aspects. It runs well, has cool level design, great weaponry and feels good to play.
PrettyDeadman
Guest
Bought it....
It seems okay.
It seems okay.
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Is it better than Ion Maiden or Dusk?
PrettyDeadman
Guest
It's on par.
They all seem kinda week at first glance as weapons lack punch (compared to Duke Nukem \ Blood \ Hexen ), but it starts to be okay once you get used to it.
I'd say its level design is closer to Ion Maiden than to Dusk (which is very simplistic, at least in first part). There isn't as much destructible environment or secrets as in Ion Maide, but the game has a lot of verticality, a combination of open spaces where you can see other parts of level which are not easily reachable and closed off environments: smaller rooms, tunnels, corridors, elevators and etc. For some reason it reminds me about first Unreal Tournament.
Last edited by a moderator:
Great Deceiver
Arcane
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2012
- Messages
- 5,894
For my money, this is the only retro-inspired FPS that's actually decent. Great weapons, cool levels, looks nice - although a little too "dirty" for my taste. I like the point-filtered textures and all, but there's a certain granularity to the image that I don't really like.
You get used to it, though. Definitely buying this one.
edit: game is really good. The weapons are definitely the highlight for me, but the levels are pretty good as well - they're big but not huge.
Nice enemy variety, too. This is on another league compared to all these faux-retro FPS of late.
You get used to it, though. Definitely buying this one.
edit: game is really good. The weapons are definitely the highlight for me, but the levels are pretty good as well - they're big but not huge.
Nice enemy variety, too. This is on another league compared to all these faux-retro FPS of late.
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LESS T_T
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
- Messages
- 13,582
https://steamcommunity.com/games/673130/announcements/detail/2894038190189035867
The End Draws Near...
Champions!
The seventh and final episode of AMID EVIL is nearly upon us.
You've already had your first look at The Void...
https://steamcommunity.com/games/673130/announcements/detail/1636405987619998841
But that's not all we've been working on as we come toward the finale of your journey...
You may have noticed we've recently started updating previous episodes of AMID EVIL
Episode 3: The Sacred Path just received a major overhaul that added several tweaks...
- NEW lore
- NEW enemies
- NEW gameplay elements
- and more...
We believe the increased enemy variety along with more situational use of your arsenal against them...
Makes for an overall stronger experience - something we're going to be bringing to other episodes as well!
One of the few complaints we've received during Early Access is that weapons don't feel situational enough in certain scenarios or against certain enemy types. And while that's not entirely true - we're going to be going back and updating the levels so that certain enemies and scenarios are definitely appropriate for distinct weapons.
You'll already notice that in Episode 3, explosive weapons now destroy rock enemies easily, the water staff douses fire enemies, the axe rips through plant life and the trident electrifies underwater enemies (because that all kind of makes sense!)
We'll be making these sort of changes to each episode so keep an eye out - and when in doubt - USE THE AXE OF THE BLACK LABYRINTH. (it's not just some weak default axe, okay?)
But I digress...
We've also been adding more story, lore and environmental storytelling to the game. And not JUST new voice overs, and not JUST new lore written on the walls...
The gateway will now change depending on what episode you've finished.
You may now notice the night stars will come out after defeating the Moon Guardian of Episode 1
Or it's now a foggy afternoon as you head toward Episode 3
Or it's become dark as midnight after defeating the Solar Saint of Episode 4
Or that something seems EVIL as you prepare to enter The Void...
What we're aiming to do with this is create a continuously engaging and varied experience throughout these seven distinct worlds as you're guided along by the Voice of the Ancients in order to defeat this cursed evil and save their lands...
Speaking of the voice of the Ancients: please give a virtual round of applause to our VA, Tamara Ryan - she's been incredible to work with and you should hire her to work on your projects, too! http://www.tamararyanvo.com/
Thank you to everyone who've helped us build AMID EVIL into the game it is today! And thank you to everyone who has spread the good word of New Blood! Thanks to you, AMID EVIL is now the highest rated FPS on Steam. Now it's time to finish off this evil once and for all...
The end draws near, champions... are you prepared?!
LESS T_T
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
- Messages
- 13,582
Final episode, June 20th (or 19th): https://steamcommunity.com/games/673130/announcements/detail/1599255098313266039
The FINAL Test.
Champions! One FINAL test awaits you...
The EVIL has found us...
SOON it will be too late...
The moment you've been waiting for has arrived...
The FINAL Episode of AMID EVIL (Episode 7: The Void)
Will be released on June 20th, 2019
But TRUE champions who already own the game in Early Access?
You may take the descent into darkness
one day earlier on June 19th
Yes, it has been a long and arduous journey, and you have made it this far...
But this final test... shall be your hardest yet.
GOOD LUCK.
luj1
You're all shills
I dunno what happened but thankfully there has been an influx of genuinely inclined FPS games... Amid Evil, Dusk, Project Warlock, Ion Maiden (and that engine rewrite of Blood)
Wunderbar
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2015
- Messages
- 8,816
also Wrath
luj1
You're all shills
Right I forgot. That one is a little too cloned from Q1 for my taste, even the enemies are the same but w/e
Curratum
Guest
Now out of early access and fully released a day early for everyone, not just EA buyers! Enjoy!
It just came out of Early Access including the new seventh episode. And all I can say about it is...
...is that it's right boring.
It follows the Unreal school of level design where enemy placement and level layout don't make much of a difference for combat encounters because every enemy will beeline straight towards you to claw your face off or beeline straight towards you while shooting something that's always circlestrafeable, because no enemy in this game leads their shots. Nor is any enemy in AMID EVIL remotely as capable or threatening as the Skaarj. The end result is that a lot of enemy encounters just bleed together.
It wouldn't be quite accurate to say that the level design is shit. There are rarely any problems with navigability, and visually AMID EVIL is likely one of the most visually creative and impressive shooters of the boomer shooter lineage, and complex are the layouts themselves for exploration. But the enemy encounters are just flaccid, and the biggest reason for this is that the enemy cast is effectively hamstrung because of the pants-on-head
decision that every enemy type is locked to its own 4-level episode for all seven episodes. That means that in total there are quite a lot of enemies in AMID EVIL, however it also means that only a seventh of the enemy cast can be used at any given point, which greatly restricts the potential for enemy encounters through combining different enemy types, even though said fusing of enemy types is what makes games like Quake, DOOM and Serious Sam so strong. This also means that the cooler enemies will never return. A knight with a shield which can deflect your attack? Appears in only one episode. A wizard which can actually dodgeroll your shit like the Skaarj did? Appears in only one episode. An enemy which grapples you towards him? Appears in only one episode.
Because every episode can only have like 4-5 enemy types, diversity in enemies in encounters overall is fairly low, meaning the need to switch between weapons during encounters isn't that high, so you can just stick to the single best weapon for the situation. This is further compounded by the fact that some enemies have weapon-specific weaknesses and resistances, so often there's only one highly recommended weapon you'd even want to use against said enemy instead of using one most suitable for the situation, removing a lot of the decision-making and tension that game from having to briefly stop firing and switch to a more suitable weapon. Frequently you'll be using the Axe which can oneshot the weaker melee rusher enemies which almost universally appear across episodes (even though prior enemies get flushed down the toilet each episode some basic archetypes do often come back to life as reskins), and the game spams these homogeneous melee rusher encounters way too often which just involves holding down your attack button to swing axe and kill everything that runs into your range. It also would be nice for a change for there to be a ranged attack enemy whose projectiles can't be dodged by simply strafing, even though the game tries to make the projectiles look visually unique per enemy when they're all functionally identical.
The Soul Mode power is also just a poorly realized mechanic. It's basically a Tome of Power from Heretic on-demand which is activated by picking up souls of the fallen like in Painkiller. Once you have enough souls, the next time you press Fire Soul Mode is automatically activated. Meaning you don't have much control over when to use it unless you want to abstain from using your weapons for as long as possible. This leads to often wasting your Soul Mode power against a small heap of enemies against which it was plain overkill, while you don't have enough souls for the moments where you would need the extra firepower. Thankfully there is an option in the option menu to allow you to activate Soul Mode with the alternate fire button instead of the main fire button, so you can use your Soul Mode where you see fit. Though the option subtext still implies that doing it the original way is the best way because the levels were designed around having your Soul Mode activate at certain points, in which case I retort that you could just sidestep the ambiguity of when to activate Soul Mode by just placing a Quad Damage-like power-up before the situations which are designed around it. Which I might add, the game already has and uses in the form of instant Full Soul Bar pick-ups. As it is AMID EVIL is just being different for the sake of being different when it comes to integrating Quad Damage/Tome of Power-like power-ups in their game, as they're relying on the problematic Painkiller implementation of grabbing souls where you have to waste time doing another lap around a battlefield to pick up the hard-to-see souls from the enemies you just killed, whereas they could've just as well spared me the discomfort and have my Soul Bar automatically fill on killing enemies.
I would also add that this is one of the few games where the verticality in levels becomes a headache, because this game isn't shy of some first-person platforming and falling off ledges is always likely. Meaning several levels will have you walking up the same stretch over and over, which can become downright ridiculous or lengthy in some of the taller levels. The main culprit behind this is a lack of vertical shortcuts to save you the travel time, which are sorely lacking in AMID EVIL. Though at least you can planetjump.
It also doesn't help that the game is on the easier side even on the highest difficulty with warrior mode (this game's pistol start) enabled, as enemies largely seem to deal only chip damage while health pick-ups are plentiful. Only Episode 6 proved to be a sharp increase in difficulty.
If I were to compare this game to DUSK, DUSK was an ugly game with about as incompetently realized enemy encounters, but it had some creative gameplay gimmicks that made individual levels and setpieces stand out more, and at least DUSKMARE difficulty provided a worthy challenge. Whereas AMID EVIL looks visually pleasing (save for the color vomit most of the time) and the level layouts are highly varied, the enemy encounters are just as incompetently realized, but without a good baseline difficulty or some interesting gimmicks to keep things fresh. Andrew Hulshult did the soundtrack for both games, where AMID EVIL's is decidedly the weaker one as I guess he doesn't have too much experience in creating fantasy-themed scores, as a good deal of it sounds bland and generic, though at least ambient themes can be decent.
If I had to sum it up, expect some pretty and pretty complex levels with very basic repetitive combat. Don't expect too much of the boss fights either. I hear talk of a game mode in development where enemies of one episode will also appear in others, but who knows when we're going to get that.
I give it 0.8 DUSKs. And for the love of god, turn on Temporal Anti-Aliasing in the options menu or else your eyes will dry to a crisp.
More extended thoughts will follow in the future.
...is that it's right boring.
It follows the Unreal school of level design where enemy placement and level layout don't make much of a difference for combat encounters because every enemy will beeline straight towards you to claw your face off or beeline straight towards you while shooting something that's always circlestrafeable, because no enemy in this game leads their shots. Nor is any enemy in AMID EVIL remotely as capable or threatening as the Skaarj. The end result is that a lot of enemy encounters just bleed together.
It wouldn't be quite accurate to say that the level design is shit. There are rarely any problems with navigability, and visually AMID EVIL is likely one of the most visually creative and impressive shooters of the boomer shooter lineage, and complex are the layouts themselves for exploration. But the enemy encounters are just flaccid, and the biggest reason for this is that the enemy cast is effectively hamstrung because of the pants-on-head
decision that every enemy type is locked to its own 4-level episode for all seven episodes. That means that in total there are quite a lot of enemies in AMID EVIL, however it also means that only a seventh of the enemy cast can be used at any given point, which greatly restricts the potential for enemy encounters through combining different enemy types, even though said fusing of enemy types is what makes games like Quake, DOOM and Serious Sam so strong. This also means that the cooler enemies will never return. A knight with a shield which can deflect your attack? Appears in only one episode. A wizard which can actually dodgeroll your shit like the Skaarj did? Appears in only one episode. An enemy which grapples you towards him? Appears in only one episode. Because every episode can only have like 4-5 enemy types, diversity in enemies in encounters overall is fairly low, meaning the need to switch between weapons during encounters isn't that high, so you can just stick to the single best weapon for the situation. This is further compounded by the fact that some enemies have weapon-specific weaknesses and resistances, so often there's only one highly recommended weapon you'd even want to use against said enemy instead of using one most suitable for the situation, removing a lot of the decision-making and tension that game from having to briefly stop firing and switch to a more suitable weapon. Frequently you'll be using the Axe which can oneshot the weaker melee rusher enemies which almost universally appear across episodes (even though prior enemies get flushed down the toilet each episode some basic archetypes do often come back to life as reskins), and the game spams these homogeneous melee rusher encounters way too often which just involves holding down your attack button to swing axe and kill everything that runs into your range. It also would be nice for a change for there to be a ranged attack enemy whose projectiles can't be dodged by simply strafing, even though the game tries to make the projectiles look visually unique per enemy when they're all functionally identical.
The Soul Mode power is also just a poorly realized mechanic. It's basically a Tome of Power from Heretic on-demand which is activated by picking up souls of the fallen like in Painkiller. Once you have enough souls, the next time you press Fire Soul Mode is automatically activated. Meaning you don't have much control over when to use it unless you want to abstain from using your weapons for as long as possible. This leads to often wasting your Soul Mode power against a small heap of enemies against which it was plain overkill, while you don't have enough souls for the moments where you would need the extra firepower. Thankfully there is an option in the option menu to allow you to activate Soul Mode with the alternate fire button instead of the main fire button, so you can use your Soul Mode where you see fit. Though the option subtext still implies that doing it the original way is the best way because the levels were designed around having your Soul Mode activate at certain points, in which case I retort that you could just sidestep the ambiguity of when to activate Soul Mode by just placing a Quad Damage-like power-up before the situations which are designed around it. Which I might add, the game already has and uses in the form of instant Full Soul Bar pick-ups. As it is AMID EVIL is just being different for the sake of being different when it comes to integrating Quad Damage/Tome of Power-like power-ups in their game, as they're relying on the problematic Painkiller implementation of grabbing souls where you have to waste time doing another lap around a battlefield to pick up the hard-to-see souls from the enemies you just killed, whereas they could've just as well spared me the discomfort and have my Soul Bar automatically fill on killing enemies.
I would also add that this is one of the few games where the verticality in levels becomes a headache, because this game isn't shy of some first-person platforming and falling off ledges is always likely. Meaning several levels will have you walking up the same stretch over and over, which can become downright ridiculous or lengthy in some of the taller levels. The main culprit behind this is a lack of vertical shortcuts to save you the travel time, which are sorely lacking in AMID EVIL. Though at least you can planetjump.
It also doesn't help that the game is on the easier side even on the highest difficulty with warrior mode (this game's pistol start) enabled, as enemies largely seem to deal only chip damage while health pick-ups are plentiful. Only Episode 6 proved to be a sharp increase in difficulty.
If I were to compare this game to DUSK, DUSK was an ugly game with about as incompetently realized enemy encounters, but it had some creative gameplay gimmicks that made individual levels and setpieces stand out more, and at least DUSKMARE difficulty provided a worthy challenge. Whereas AMID EVIL looks visually pleasing (save for the color vomit most of the time) and the level layouts are highly varied, the enemy encounters are just as incompetently realized, but without a good baseline difficulty or some interesting gimmicks to keep things fresh. Andrew Hulshult did the soundtrack for both games, where AMID EVIL's is decidedly the weaker one as I guess he doesn't have too much experience in creating fantasy-themed scores, as a good deal of it sounds bland and generic, though at least ambient themes can be decent.
If I had to sum it up, expect some pretty and pretty complex levels with very basic repetitive combat. Don't expect too much of the boss fights either. I hear talk of a game mode in development where enemies of one episode will also appear in others, but who knows when we're going to get that.
I give it 0.8 DUSKs. And for the love of god, turn on Temporal Anti-Aliasing in the options menu or else your eyes will dry to a crisp.
More extended thoughts will follow in the future.
Multi-headed Cow
Arcane
Thanks for the writeup! Even though I wishlisted it and was interested in it I'd been steering clear more than I did with Dusk because the enemies and weapons seemed less interesting to me. Hadn't watched a ton of gameplay but what I did didn't interest me as much as Dusk or hell, even Ion Maiden. Sounds like it will be worth picking up eventually but it's definitely no rush. 
Curratum
Guest
Oh, god, please, spare us! The stupidity you barfed up in that post was quite enough!
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