Recent reviews by ⛧RETRODEATH ⛧

An absolute masterpiece of a game FINALLY released the way it should've been!

TLDR This is an incredible remaster like all of Nightdive's other stuff, and if you're a fan of Turok 1 or 2, then this is ESSENTIAL to play! It concludes the full trilogy and it outclasses the original N64 release as the best way to play it. Go grab it! For those that've never played Turok 3 and/or want to know about what this remaster does, continue reading.

This is more of a review on this remaster specifically, not the game itself, though I'll talk about it briefly here for the newcomers that haven't played this one yet. If you are familiar with the incredible Turok series, this is the true final conclusion to the games. The only game we got after this one was Evolution, and that was a prequel to the first one. Alot of people didn't give this one a chance because they either didn't even know about it, it ran too poorly (this was one of the most advanced games on the N64), or they just thought it was a dumbed down game compared to the others which it absolutely was not. This game is more linear which can be a good or a bad thing depending on preference. But it has much larger levels. Each chapter takes roughly an hour or two with full exploration on a first playthrough. The weapons are all just as amazing as normal Turok fare. The atmosphere is much more prominent, and this one feels even darker and more apocalyptic than even Turok 2 did, with a much heavier lovecraftian/sci fi feel. The game also feels alot more like Half Life 1 than Turok 1 or 2 with its linearity and similairities. (such as lots of npcs dying, the focus of a research military facility, etc). It's an incredible game imo, a solid closing to one of the best trilogies of all time. The Turok series (reboot game excluded) of games and comics is an all time top 5 favorite franchise for me. So seeing this remaster was a HUGE deal to me.

Alright, moving on to the remaster itself. How does this play compared to the original, what's new here, etc?
Well, Man the amount of work they've put into this is jaw dropping. It seems like they almost redid the entire thing and only used the original assets. I don't know how much is ground up or reused in specific, but they did such an incredible job with this remaster. This and Shadowman, I think are the peak of all of the Nightdive remasters so far. They take the original games and just add multiple extra layers of goodness. This seems like it had much more work done for it than Turok 1 or 2 did. Those two games had PC ports, so I'm assuming those were the base for those remasters. 3 was EXCLUSIVE to the N64, and it ran pretty badly. Typically in the 20fps range unless more than 3 enemies were on the screen at once. With the high res mode enabled it typically ran around 15fps and dropped to the single digits when multiple things happened at once. It was that poor and I can see why it would throw some people off. But thankfully, this remaster was done so that it everything runs at a silky smooth 60+ fps at all times. This is the biggest addition to the game as well as the now keyboard and mouse controls that feel just as good as Turok 1/2 remasters. The performance is so much better that it automatically makes this the new essential way to play the game. Textures and models have all been solidly upscaled and look just like their originals got loving facelifts.

Okay, other than performance and visuals, what else was updated?
Well, now there's an added difficulty selection, and achievements. N64 Turok 3 had despawning corpses as a means to try to help conserve memory for the game to run better, but it didn't seem to help much. Here, they thankfully kept the dead enemy corpses. (I think there's an option to despawn them too). Like Turok 2, there is some added gore effects to give the game an even more violent and darker feeling than before. This game was the darkest game in the series imo, but I think it was almost hard to see it with the slighly less gore and the despawning corpses. So those being updated really helps sell the game to have its more serious tone which I very happily welcome. There's an updated HUD you can use if you want. The save system is changed slightly. On N64 it basically saved your checkpoint at the start of a level, but you had to manually save the file to a Controller Pak to actually save your progress. In here there is no option to save, it just automatically saves at the level start and you can quit and come back at any time. Sadly there's no multiplayer... (a shame, since this and Rage Wars had the best Multiplayer in the entire series. I really hope Rage Wars gets the same treatment next... that with Steam workshop, online, and keyboard mouse controls would be heaven for me.) Hopefully, MP will be developed later on in a future update with all of its crazy features, maps, and characters intact.

And there's some other things I missed. Still, this is very well deserving of its 30 price tag, the amount of work this must've taken to make I imagine was way more than what the normal remaster needs. So please buy this and support the devs for their hard work. I got this for free, but that in no way helped shape my opinion of this remaster. And I'm even going to get it AGAIN for GOG and Switch. Go grab it! *especially* if you're a big Turok fan!

Wow, seriously can't believe this got rereleased! Don't let my Steam time fool you, I've spent lots of hours in this game over the years. This is a great rerelease, as it functions perfectly fine on modern systems. Only downside right now seems to be alt+tab seems to completely crash the game for some reason. Also, there's the lack of the D3D video options which is a shame, but I've never gotten that to work on newer hardware. This game and Mageslayer had some of the coolest and most vibrant dynamic colored lighting I've ever seen. But they're only fully properly shown off when displayed in D3D mode. Hopefully one day this will get updated. I hope one day there's also an update that allows multiplayer over the internet, I'd imagine it was chaotic as heck.

As for the game itself, this is an INSANELY good game, like way more than its obscurity would lead you to believe. It plays almost like a Sci Fi post apocalyptic Hexen in a top down perspective. That's the best way I could describe it. There are multiple ways to complete your objectives and the game is essentially an interconnected world with levels that require revisitng. Very ahead of its time. Atmosphere, soundtrack, combat, etc is all perfect. Sadly there are two issues with the game though. The first one is that the mouse feels very strange and awkward to move around. I had to get used to it, but it seems like this is always how it was, even playing it on my Windows 98. The other issue which could easily turn people off, is that the game can be a bit confusing. The level design is *VERY* reminicent of Hexen. Same developers, so that would make sense. But if you don't know what you're doing it can take some trial and error, progression always feels like a puzzle. But it's more fair in this game I think, since it actually will give you some sort of hint where or what has been affected by whatever you just did. All in all, if you're a fan of gory shooters and Raven Software, you should absolutely pick this up on here and GOG!

Wow.. okay, so first off I have been keeping an eye on this ever since it was revealed at Realms Deep.
So I've been eagerly anticipating this for a while now. And to say this, from what little I've gotten to play so far, has by far exceeded my expectations.

Literally the moment the game loaded into the first level, my jaw was dropping at the atmosphere. The snowy mountains, the music, the way you feel like a 40k Space marine with every step you take making a loud ting. It was awesome. Then the gameplay came in, and it plays alot like classic FPS games which is something I'm thankful of. I was wondering it it was gonna be like the newer doom games (which I do like), and force lock you into little arenas, and so far it doesn't seem like it does. You can explore levels at your own leisure and there are plenty of enemies to slaughter should you so choose to.
I have to go to work and will update this review as I play through it. I will also one day make a nice beefy review on Youtube when I can. :P But if you're seeing this and wondering if you should buy it, here are my pros and cons:

Pros:
+ Solid very polished gameplay
+ Combat is incredibly satisfying, as all throwback shooters should
+ Atmoshere is incredible, one of the most atmospheric games I've played all year along with System Shock remake!
+ Very faithful worldbuilding/lore to Warhammer 40K, you can tell the devs genuinely cared about this franchise.
+ Level design has a very smooth progression flow to it, also something that shows the signs of a great throwback fps
+ Music, sound design, and all audio is great! Fits both the game as well as the world very well.
+ One liners are actually great and also fit everything really well. Not a single one I've heard made me cringe, and they're more serious/bad@ss than the games these one liners take influence from.
+ Strong replay value
+ The cutscenes also have strong pixelated art direction and it looks incredible.

Cons:
Actually, so far nothing. There is not a single bad thing I can say about this game right now. You need to go play this!

Wow... for some reason they decided to make a crappy emulation port of the PS1 version and release it on here, while there is an actual PC port that was made. Devs - if you are reading this just redo this using the actual files from the PC version. I will literally help you because I like this game (and the first one) alot.

Great game, awful port.

This game is the LOTR trilogy equivalent of video games. The worst thing about them is that we'll never get to experience them again for the first time.

I would say the same for the first two games to make it a statement about the trilogy, but man this one blows those two out of the water even if the story was still great in them.
Also don't let the playtime hours fool you. I've purchased this game 5 times. Once the standard edition and played over 200 hours in GOG. Then I bought the PC Collector's edition. Then I bought the PS4 version to bring it over to friends (then gave that to my best friend). Then again the complete edition on GOG. Then AGAIN the complete edition on here. This is seriously one of the best games of all time, and quite honestly game of the decade without a shadow of a doubt. If you haven't played this, you are doing yourself a MASSIVE disservice by not playing it. GO PLAY IT RIGHT NOW!!! Don't even wait for the game to go on sale. Go support them by paying the full price. Say what you want about Cyberpunk, but they deserved every single penny earned for this game.

Hey pilgrims
Happy thanksgiving, pilgrims

While the game itself is an immediate recommend from me (See my review) I gotta say this DLC is wayyyyy too overpriced. It should be 5, maybe 10 at the ABSOLUTE most!

The art book and soundtrack are locked behind an application, meaning you need to launch the game through the "DLC launcher" lol. You can't take the art or music anywhere with you, which would be the main reason to get this in the first place. It also includes some costumes but uh... pretty much all of the costumes are only tiny changes... like Klonoa wearing a hat or a mask. What in the world is going on here??? The base game is crammed with super high quality while this DLC is a pretty much butchered cash grab. Bandai/Monkeycraft please update this DLC and make costumes with more effort please... That or lower the price going forward. The only reason I got this was purely for support. And while I am happy with the altogether 60$ I spent on full package, had I cared any less for the game and got this DLC seperately, I would have felt severely ripped off from buying this.

YES YES YES ITS FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!

This is one of those few releases I've been anticipating on having pretty much daily since announcement. The only others of that kind for me are the System Shock remake and Wrath Aeon of Ruin.

ANYWAYS
Yeah so this is a review specifically on the remaster itself, instead of the game. There's tons of reviews out there on the game you can watch or read. Though I will say that I personally really love this game and have since I first played it a year or two ago. I have no nostalgia attached to the game. And don't let its cutsey nature fool you! This game is extremely solid despite its simplicity. Story is great, and the characters are all lovable. The ending shocked me at first and without spoiling any plot details, I'd have to say it's one of the most depressing endings to any game I've ever seen. At least the first one - I haven't finished the 2nd one yet.

Moving on to the remaster. You're probably immediately wondering about that price tag. That is quite pricey for a remaster. 40 dollars for a 25 year old game is pretty steep. Though it is a remaster of TWO games and not one, but that's still pretty high. And there's a dlc that should be maybe 5-10 dollars, but for some reason it's 20 here. So it's 60 for the full package, the price of a normal brand new game. Which is kinda horrible. But I bought the full thing anyways to show the devs there are people out there that really care. The first game is one that's been needing a proper rerelease for a long time, as it, since the early 2000s, has been the most expensive game on PS1 physically. Not sure if it got a PS3 digital rerelease but it did get a remakster thing on the Wii and a Sequel on the PS2. Neither of those which have been rereleased, but that WII version of 1 and the ps2 game are both of what have actually been remastered and included here.

The visuals are very crisp, colorful, smooth, and fluid, and yes, better and more refined than their original counterparts. All the polish with today's tech, while keeping all the charm that played a big part of making the originals so lovable. The movement and mechanics are solid as they always have been and are pretty much untouched. Luckily on PC I have a 240hz monitor, so being able to play these games at that framerate has been an absolute treat to say the least. Not a ton of customization options, but that's pretty much expected as far as remasters go. The levels so far seems to be the same without anything new added, though this version does have extra costumes and achievements and whatnot, even though alot of the costumes are part of that expensive dlc. This version has local splitscreen which is awesome, though I haven't tried it yet nor do I know how it works. The music seems uncompressed which is awesome, though in a strange move they kept the original compressed PS1 audio. I'm not sure if that was intentional to keep the spirit of the og game, or it was an oversight but it's definitely a bit strange. Not necessarily a good or bad thing to me. Personally I loved the audio, it's just weird hearing that with the newer crispier visuals.

And don't let my hours fool you either, I've played the original for at least a hundred or so hours (which is alot considering it's a short game), so I noticed the changes immediately.

TLDR; If you enjoyed the original games, this is a great remaster and probably the best way to play the games now. If you want to show the devs that people still care about this series, I'd suggest buying this too and playing the crap out of it. If you've never played these games before, you're missing out! And if you haven't played them but want to try them out before dropping the cash, you can just emulate the originals and see what you think. Despite the price, it was worth it in my opinion. So happy to finally be playing these!

This is quite literally Shadow Tower but more user friendly and with music. Despite only being in early access right now, this is awesome. Totally reccomend to fans of FromSoft's earlier first person dungeon crawler titles (King's Field, Shadow Tower, Eternal Ring)

I seriously wish we got PC ports of those games, but if not then this seems like it will do when it fully releases!

One of the best games of the 90s finally gets the proper remaster it deserves. Now for the DOS version...
This is easily some of Nightdive's best work along with Shadowman and Turok. Their work is always great, but these 3 games I think they did the best job with. Little to no noticable or major bugs, keeping everything identical to the original experience just with modern visual options like higher resolutions/controls/framerates, etc. Tiny, light quality of life improvements that DO NOT change the gameplay itself and instead help make the game more accessible.

That's what's here, it just got a great nightdive treatment. All 3 versions of Powerslave are different experiences, but I generally seperate it between DOS Powerslave and console Powerslave. This remaster is a hybrid of both console versions (PSX/Sega Saturn).
If you've never played it; this is basically Egyptian Hexenvania. GO PLAY IT RIGHT THIS INSTANT. pls do. More people need to experience this gem.

For those that are wondering what's different aside from running on KEX with its modern enhancements:
- CRT Filter
- Uses the Spiders (PSX/DOS) + Scorpions (PSX) for the cannon fodder jumping bug enemies.
- Levels are from both console versions, and some areas from the Saturn version levels are implimented in here, while some PSX areas are replaced with some Saturn ones and vice versa.
- ENEMIES DONT INSTAGIB! The console versions had this and it made it feel kinda artificial. Taken from the DOS version (woah!) are enemies death sprites. Enemies now only gib when they get overkilled, like they're SUPPOSED to. Piranahs still do though sadly ):
- Checkpoints (Scarab beetles) taken from the DOS version are in here!
- New difficulty levels! Normal is the standard, Hard is, well hard. And Pharoah is essentially a nightmare mode for die hards and veterans.
- Full Controller support with modern controls, unlike the now aged console controls.
- Artifact acquisition has the Saturn animations, where the items are a bunch of sand falling into place. Super satisfying to watch.

There's more, but these are the main differences I picked up on immediately. Go check this out. Made a video review on the tube as well :)