Realms of the Haunting

I got this during the winter sale for a couple bucks, it was the most interesting title on the list to me. I never played this in the 90's (I don't remember ever seeing this for some reason...), so there was no nostalgia attached to affect my bias. Even with the outdated graphics, the storyline and gameplay were enough to hook me. I liked the aspect of a bit of puzzle solving mixed with a horror shooter. My only complaint would have applied during its release as well: offer key binding options! The controls made it clunky to play, but I got used to it after awhile. I feel like a lot of the aspects of this game were ahead of its time, even graphically (when compared to other games released that year). I would definitely recommend this if you ever enjoyed: Lands of Lore series, Heretic/Hexen, Stonekeep, or even 11th hour/7th guest. Great game!

I loved that game when I first played it. It was in so many ways an extraordinary experience. It starts in a classic way and then it pulls you down deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole. Also mechanics and graphics were great for their time!

In it's day this game was a revolutionary combination of FPS and Point-N-Click adventure games. While having an FPS take place in a world where the player can do more than flip switches and kill things is the standard nowadays in 2022 and has been for over a decade, in the 1990s FPS were almost entirely limited to shooting things, flipping switches, and opening doors with very few exceptions. Sadly, like most first-of-their-kind type games, it has a lot of janky aspects which some people will find unbearable. Even though Realms of the Haunting came out in 1997, you're likely to think it came out in 1995 based on the graphics and the controls which tend to feel clunky and obtuse by modern standards. You can't rebind any controls from inside the game, but you can rebind most keys in DOSBOX to make your life easier. You can also use AutoHotKey to create a script for a switchable mouse look. Otherwise you have to hold right and left mouse buttons simultaneously to have mouse look! The story itself, which is actually a very large portion of the game, follows Adam as he takes a taxi to mansion that resembles one in his dreams. This takes place shortly after his estranged father dies and he receives a strange package with what appears to be pottery antiques of some sort. The Mansion quickly reveals itself to have paranormal powers at play and Adam's quest to find out what really happened to his father turns into a battle that could have dire consequences for our world. The world appears to be 3D(or 2.5D) with 2D sprites Stop-Motion-animated of people or models. The cut scenes are all Full-Motion-Video and sadly for this game, given it was released in 1997, are heavily compressed and low resolution. The world would looks fantastic for a game in 1995, but for 1997 it was dated. Despite all of this, the art direction is well done. The Sound and Voice acting are actually generally well done with few things feeling out of place. A quirky 90s FPS with a campy story!

Creepy. Not sure the story makes much sense but the atmosphere is dark gothic. Combat is simple but the graphics are ancient so sometimes its difficult to figure out what is going on.

This game is perfect. The story is great, the theme is amazing, and there are few bad parts. I always return to this.