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It's already Throwback Thursday! In this week's episode, we're continuing to focus on the games that recently received exclusive free goodies, including concept arts, thanks to the The Video Game History Foundation. So let's talk for a bit about a gem that never got the attention it truly deserves: Anachronox!


Because today we've got two people willing to let you know about this sci-fi RPG, set on an abandoned alien planet, and featuring a cast of odd heroes on a quest to prevent an immense threat only they believe in, let's just jump straight into it. And to experience the game with them, check out their streams of Anachronox, on Friday, 9pm CST by Kilg0re_Tr0ut, and Saturday 9pm CST by Flaose.



Recommended by Kilg0re and Flaose, Stream Team


Anachronox is truly an underrated unique classic. What other game has a planet as a character? It's part narrative driven adventure, and part JRPG. Even if the JRPG style combat is not your thing, don't let that put you off. You can just drop the game difficulty down to easy, treat it as an exploration style adventure and enjoy one of the most well written, hilarious (and sometimes moving) stories ever put in a video game. It's amazing what Tom Hall and his crew did with the Quake II engine, as it's a beautiful game graphically. It's a massive game, and one of my all time favorites.


The creative director of Commander Keen developing a game with his supergroup team at the freshly-minted Ion Storm? When I first heard of Anachronox, I was all in. It's an American take on the JRPG genre, but Tom Hall's zany sense of humour ensures that the tongue remains planted firmly in cheek throughout. Sure, you have a team of three that engages in turn-based battles, but your magic and shields are powered by Neutron-Radiated Glodents (NRG), you explore places in search of hidden TACOs (Totally Arbitrary Collectable Objects), and you fight alongside a freaking planet! It's a colorfull adventure with well-directed cutscenes and a fast-paced story that isn't afraid to change the setting or introduce new gameplay mechanics. Anachronox is a unique CRPG that too many people missed and I love that GOG gives gamers, new and old, another opportunity to experience this incredible gem.

The Throwback Thursday series is done in cooperation with The Video Games History Foundation – a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games. If you want to support them, we encourage you to check their donation page. And if you'd like to see all the games in this ongoing series, go to its dedicated page.
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ChadMRogers: I bought the game back when it came out in 2001, but every time I tried playing I would get nauseous within minutes.. so I couldn’t play it. (Had the exact same issue with SHOGO back in the day too.)

Didn’t have any issues with other 3D games though so never figured out why.
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Cavalary: Quick search result of a possible explanation: "There's continual stream of small cutscenes where people ride elevators, etc. that hide little level transistions, where the camera flies around, swooping, soaring, circling, rotating, showing the chatacters from under, over, behind, in front, even flipping to show them upside down; all, in a word, to dizzying effect."
Also mentioned on here.
Interesting..

I always kinda assumed that it had to do with what FoV setting they used for the screen in the game.. back then, I remember games tended to differ in what FoV setting they used.. haven’t really had that type of nausea issue in 3D games in recent years… mostly the older ones. Back when 3D engines were still relatively new.
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GOG.com: The Throwback Thursday series is done in cooperation with The Video Games History Foundation – a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games. If you want to support them, we encourage you to check their donation page. And if you'd like to see all the games in this ongoing series, go to its dedicated page.
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tfishell: This remains neat. weren't there some bundles here people could buy to support VGHF? Or was that for a limited time?
Yes, there was a support pack. However, it was time-limited during Winter Sale :)
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Walburga71: Interesting..

I always kinda assumed that it had to do with what FoV setting they used for the screen in the game.. back then, I remember games tended to differ in what FoV setting they used.. haven’t really had that type of nausea issue in 3D games in recent years… mostly the older ones. Back when 3D engines were still relatively new.
Saw that mentioned as well, the struggle between pointing the character where you want to go and pointing the camera to be able to see, in a review on a site I haven't heard of before and which led to a redirect and a popup when I tried to click to copy the text, so won't link to it.
Everyone in this thread is just yammering.
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tfishell: This remains neat. weren't there some bundles here people could buy to support VGHF? Or was that for a limited time?
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SmollestLight: Yes, there was a support pack. However, it was time-limited during Winter Sale :)
thanks for the info. I'd encourage bringing that back.

Obviously not everyone here likes the same charities, but maybe there are some others most of the community can rally behind, and that GOG could do support packs for.
I know enough from various reviews and retrospectives that I am going to love Anachronox when I finally get around to playing it!
Ion Storm is such a fascinating piece of video game development history. ALL of the games made by Ion Storm are interesting (except Dominion - the only one that's just average without any remarkable traits or personality, and it's funny that it's actually the first one). I've come across opinions - from people who were only partially informed (but clearly thought they knew enough) - saying that Ion Storm was worth it just for Deus Ex - OK so strictly speaking it was, but said opinions generally imply (when not explicitly stating so) that the other titles made by the developer were not worth it. Even when people show they have knowledge of Ion Storm being 2 studios, they often forget - when speaking of the first Ion Storm studio, the Dallas one - that it actually did create one game that was well-received critically and that is Anachronox, and I could say Ion Storm Dallas was worth it just for that.
Damn, I need to play it this year...
Ahh Anachronox, great game back then-
Gee I can't remember if I ever finished it though.