/vr/ - Retro Games

Obviously all of these games are derivative to some degree by definition, but Dusk feels especially "safe," like it's some mishmash of people's memories of old school FPSs - a little bit of Quake here, a little bit of Blood there, a little bit of Redneck Rampage here, on and on through the game. Though there are little moments of truly unique ideas (the levels everyone knows), the rest is almost insultingly "retro", like it's trying to hide behind your memories and mimic their voices so you think you're really back home again instead of just playing the shooter equivalent of a plate of leftovers.

On the flipside, Ion Maiden seems like it's actually trying to stand on its own feet. It's using Build, but it's approach to level design is bigger and bolder than its predecessors, and its combat feels like Blood doing FEAR with lots of diving and dodging but with deathmatch-like loops and alternate paths to interpret fights differently.

I only played a bit of Amid Evil, but it was alright. I really like the look more than Dusk, the combat was fine, and it felt like a kind of weirder Heretic, but with a feeling that is still its own.

In the Digital Foundry interview, the IM producer said something like "we aren't making retro games. We are making new games on old tools," and that's almost exactly what I want. I want something that uses the design and ideas of what makes the old shit great and try to move forward with it instead of just trying to remind me how good the old shit was.