Borrowing heavily from fantasy shooters like Hexen/Heretic, Amid Evil is a fairly basic and yet well-crafted FPS game. It is extremely straightforward and takes no risk with the boomer shooter formula: you run at ludicrous speeds, look for keys and switches, and blast enemies in the face with weapons that you never need to reload. It’s simple fun: the movement feels good, you don’t get lost, and the projectile-based combat is exciting. However, several levels force you to fight and dodge enemies while navigating on tight beams and small platforms, which can be frustrating.
To me, the high point of Amid Evil is its aesthetics. The environments consist of ancient castles and eldritch ruins, all of which have unique architectures, fantastic atmosphere, and are so expertly designed and gorgeous that it’s easy to forget that you’re looking at low-res, low-poly graphics. The visuals are different from what you’ve seen before in FPS games: it’s highly stylized and colorful, almost abstract and psychedelic, and very nice to look at.
Overall, the game goes to great lengths to keep you engaged up until the end. Each of its seven episodes has its own monster roster, visual themes, and level design philosophy: you get constantly introduced to new brutal enemies to fight and gorgeous levels to explore, and never know what the game has in store for you next!
In the end, the worst thing I have to say about Amid Evil is that from a gameplay standpoint, it’s good at everything it tries to achieve but does not really excel at any of it either. The mechanics could be deeper, the weapons could feel more satisfying, the level design could be more interesting… It’s all very competent but you’ve seen it all done better elsewhere. You’ll have a lot of fun, but probably not a blast.
Still, Amid Evil is solid and unique. It’s not my favorite retro-inspired shooter, but it has more than enough style and satisfying combat to keep you hooked for a few hours and remain memorable after that.
