Hailed as the original FPS-RPG game that spawned countless imitators, The Original Strife: Veteran Edition is a love letter to the classic from 1996. Immerse yourself in this all-consuming epic quest that for the first time combines riveting role-playing adventure with the spectacular Doom 3D engine...
Hailed as the original FPS-RPG game that spawned countless imitators, The Original Strife: Veteran Edition is a love letter to the classic from 1996. Immerse yourself in this all-consuming epic quest that for the first time combines riveting role-playing adventure with the spectacular Doom 3D engine!
An evil presence has implanted itself in the fabric of our world. Play the role of spy, assassin, warrior and thief as you are lured into the darkest and most perilous adventure of your life. You'll have Blackbird on your side - a seductive underground agent that will provide you with clues as you encounter progressively more sinister foes.
Be strong, and trust no one.
FULLY INTERACTIVE WORLD
The elaborate virtual environment offers 28 interconnected levels covering over 200 square miles. Explore medieval towns and industrial complexes filled with pitfalls and perils, ending in a final confrontation that will reveal the planet's darkest secrets.
AN AWESOME ARSENAL
From the silent but lethal crossbow to the breathtaking flame thrower, you'll toast, mince and vaporize your opponents in your search to control the ultimate weapon of mass destruction - the Sigil.
NAIL-BITING NARRATIVE
In your role as resistance fighter, you'll conspire with allies to demolish the fanatical ranks of the order from the inside out. Provides an engaging complex storyline and a multitude of dramatic voice-overs.
New Features Include:
Completion of missing and unfinished options in the original game, such as: the planned "Capture the Chalice” multi-player mode, marking of current objectives on the auto-map, and special HUD for the Torpedo weapon
Support for high resolutions, with proper aspect ratio
OpenGL for video backend to provide portability and support for vertical sync
Dynamic lighting and bloom
Widescreen support
Ability to freely rebind all keyboard, mouse, and gamepad inputs
Achievements
Popular achievements
Lending a Hand
Free the prisoners
common
·
39.39%
Silence is Golden
Complete Rowan's Mission
common
·
62.72%
Goodies
manual
field guide
town map
Strife: the original DOS version
System requirements
Minimum system requirements:
Recommended system requirements:
Multiplayer Notice: Please note that GOG Galaxy is required to access Multiplayer
Multiplayer is available only between GOG users.
The Original Strife: Veteran Edition source code is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2.0 at https://github.com/svkaiser/strife-ve
Mac notice: The game is 32-bit only and will not work on macOS 10.15 and up.
Recommended system requirements:
Multiplayer Notice: Please note that GOG Galaxy is required to access Multiplayer
Multiplayer is available only between GOG users.
The Original Strife: Veteran Edition source code is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2.0 at https://github.com/svkaiser/strife-ve
Mac notice: The game is 32-bit only and will not work on macOS 10.15 and up.
Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
I bought this game from a news agent back in the day. I still have the box! Yes I am biased. But Strife was one for the 1st choice based FPS games that had a really deep story. There is a lot of voice acting. Yes, if you make the wrong choice at the wrong time you can get a Game Over. Or even end up with a end to story where you can still run around in a broken world. But if you get it right, you can be the hero, get the girl and save the world. Play your cards right you can even call in enough reinforcements to start an enormous battle in the middle of the city. This game wasn't buggy and is a must buy.
Strife tries to be more than just generic FPS. Non-linear hubs instead of episodes appeared previously in Hexen, but this time player has different objectives to achieve instead of endless switch hunting across multiple levels. Player can talk to fully-voiced NPCs and obtain quests from them. Some levels require stealth approach - enemies won't fire first, but if you would make too much noise alarm would be turned on and enemies would start firing on sight. RPG-like leveling is introduced, albeit in limited form. And lastly, multiple endings are available to achieve. Truly, Strife was a game like no other at the time, mixing FPS with adventure and role-playing genres. Interesting story setting and comicbook-like art also help the game stand out of the crowd.
Unfortunately, Strife has some flaws. Weapons are hard to use, especially before upgrading accuracy. Hitting anything which is away from you is next to impossible. Grenades are clunky, rockets are ridiculously slow and crossbow quickly becomes obsolete. Level design varies from nicely detailed, realistic maps (village) to bland mazes (sewers). A lot of them are symmetrical, which quickly start to look like a lazy way to extend gameplay. Enemies are mostly either indistinguishable mechs or cloned acolytes. It looks like devs were more focused on uncommon features, while paying less attention to FPS basics.
Nightdive's work on this remake is splendid: lighting effects and bloom do wonders with dated original gfx. Quality of life improvements are also welcome: modern controls are enabled by default, damage indicator shows from which side you are attacked and modified automap now shows indicator where you should go.
Strife is an experiment where not everything went 100% well, and later games extended its basic ideas - but it's still enjoyable game. Personally, I started to enjoy it after defeating Programmer (~1-2 hours of gameplay). It may be not for everyone, so consider downloading shareware version first.
When it released back in 1996, Strife got squeezed between Duke Nukem 3D and Quake, the latter of which in particular instantly made Strife, which still was running on the trusty old Doom engine, look outdated. Beyond the surface, however, Strife is more advanced than either of these games. Not only is there an inventory, but also side quests, dialogues with voiced NPCs, stealth elements, different ammunition types, and even a branching storyline with multiple endings. Some may dislike that the story leaves many questions unanswered, but I would argue this actually adds to its appeal.
At the same time, Strife still retains the core gameplay loop that made Doom so engaging, consisting of fluid and fast movement, responsive shooting, and a nicely varied arsenal of weapons to use. In terms of level design, Strife for the most part avoids key hunting in maze-like environments, and instead approaches the level design typical of late 90s FPS. Whereas Doom's levels were mostly abstract, Strife manages to create an imaginative yet believable world, filled with objects whose level of detail rivals that of Build engine games. I am genuinely impressed by how vast yet detailed some of the environments are.
When it comes to the remaster itself, Nightdive did an excellent job as always. Many of the dead ends and bugs of the original were fixed, and while purists may not like the objective markers, they are very helpful for first-time players. The game runs and looks great, and the excellent soundtrack is reproduced perfectly.
In short, Strife is well worth playing for anyone with a knack for FPS games, and manages to still feel fresh today.
29 January 1996.
Duke Nukem 3D.
This date should have been written on the grave of Strife.
Because being released in May 1996 was the only mistake this game did...
Amazing, isn't it ?
Especially if you consider that Strife was an extraordinary game. A very satisfying blend between rpg, exploration, gun fights and stealth. Supported by a story almost entirely voice acted with beautiful artworks in an interesting universe.
Night Dive did an amazing job and again deserve respect to bring back on our modern computers such incredible titles.
So now it's your turn to resurrect the biggest collateral damage of Duke...
A must buy.
Back when this was released I don't think it got much attention.
What a surprising title of the day, it really deserved to be a much bigger hit at the time. Everyone was still crazy about the recently released Quake, Duke Nukem 3D etc that this based on the aging Doom engine looked already a bit dated when it was released and was adding features that people weren't looking for at the time (RPG in a FPS).
Give it a play and remember it is an actual game from the mid 90's
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