AMID EVIL

What a fantastic game. Runs great, plays great, feels great. Fast, clever usage of weapons, variety of enemies This game has it all. And the price is a steal! Instant classic, Must have

Over the course of a few months, I played through Dusk, Ion Fury, Project Warlock and Amid Evil. All very good games, but Amid Evil takes the crown. The level design is really interesting to look at - especially in a couple standout episodes in the middle of the game. Don't spoil the game by looking at gameplay on Youtube! I also really loved the music and the overall atmosphere the game conjures up. Another really cool thing is that every episode has a new selection of unique enemies. Each episode is short enough that you feel like you keep seeing interesting new stuff, while there's enough episodes that the game is quite substantial. The gameplay is pretty simple, but it focuses on exactly the best parts of old school shooters, so I wouldn't have it any other way. My only complaint is that the bosses weren't that great. I guess you could say the same of any 90's first person shooter, so... oh well. Either way: A modern classic in my humble opinon.

I know the title seems like bait, but let's be honest: people play this game and usually mistake obtuse level design with GOOD level design. At first I was even getting some Heretic vibes, the free demo level is the best one this game has to offer(heh), together with its first Episode. The first chapters kind of follow a solid medieval/fantasy style, but then everything starts looking like an acid trip. Not a single corridor, bridge or platform make any sense whatsoever and are just there to look "cool", and it actually does! The textures are beautiful, the lighting overall are very well balanced (except the forges, which is your run of the mill unreal engine tech level where everything is always dark, but with lens flare, if that makes sense). Although it looks very cool in screenshots, the game is a chore to play, not fun at all and a pain to navigate as you progress through levels. Arcane Expanse, for instance, is so uninspired that you can feel the smell of a rushed Episode just to finish the game and reach 1.0. Again, I don't understand how this game gets praised by its level design, when as a matter of fact it has the worst levels I've ever played in a FPS. If the developers could stand by its initial style and go from there, it would be different. Another thing: almost every enemy follows the same color pallete from its respective Episode/level design; in other words, they BLEND IN the environment, how... I mean, how does that even happens during development and no one notice a thing like that? If you could inter change every enemy between levels except their home Episodes, it would be way better. By the end the game was just forgettable at best, leaving zero interest to be played again. Of course I won't touch the DLC Black Labyrinth.

This is the way you do a "retro-style" FPS in this day and age. Nice blending of old-school low-res, low-poly graphics with some modern lighting/effects flair, cool and inventive weapons, huge enemy variety, masterfully-crafted map design, and perfectly honed fast-paced classic-style FPS gameplay all come together for a practically perfect package for PC gamers like me who grew up on the 90s shooter scene.

Amid Evil is up there with DUSK when it comes to must-play classic FPS revival games. Personally, I enjoy it more than DUSK. One of the first things that blew me away was the weapon sprites, they look so god damn good. All the PBR sprites in the world don't matter if the level design sucks but Amid Evil nails on that front too. The map flow is consistently intuitive and interesting and each weapon is a blast to use.