Back in 1996 I played Quake and hated Duke 3D when we tried it on LAN. I have zero nostalgia for that title or that sprite-infested engine. But in 2019, when I got my hands on a game when you run around at full speed, shoot hordes of enemies, can backtrack not just a room or two, but sometimes a full level... Man, this is new quality in gaming. A game where there are no cutscenes, where door don't close behind you (except briefly for boss fights, and of course between chapters), which has a secret counter, which has satisfying weapons, which has silly one-liners and puns plastered on walls, items, map names, you name it. Not only does it allow backtracking, you actually need to do it, like in a proper game world. It's an actual world, not a series of scenes. You go somewhere, get a keycard, or power up a generator, or flip a switch, or blow something up, then you go back to where there was an obstacle which you can now pass. That's what a game world is supposed to be. It's fast, it's fun, it's satisfying, at normal difficulty it's really forgiving, especially since you have quick save/load available at all times. It's awesome! The only downside of this game is the constant reloading. You stop before every corner to swap between 3 different weapons and reload each one. So the potential breakneck speed of the game is hampered by this, but hey, at least it's ME deciding when to slow down!
