Amid Evil: Full Release

Yes I am an Amid Evil shill, and even worse, I am not even a paid shill. But I thought I would make this edit because Amid Evil is now fully released. It is now $16 on discount and rumor has it that there will be a bundle with Dusk at some point. You can get it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/673130/AMID_EVIL/ or GOG: https://www.gog.com/game/amid_evil

I have enjoyed playing it in early access since I liked Heretic a lot. This game kind of feels like if Hexen 2 was more inspired by Heretic rather than puzzles. Here's its release trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBlTTW3RRtw
 

I have enjoyed playing it and it has gotten me into modern-retro FPS games.

I should probably get around to playing the episode they released before this. I started on it, then realized they had made some pretty significant updates to the game and combat in general, so I figured I'd replay all the episodes. Then I got distracted by other things when I hit episode 3. But it is coming along quite nicely.

Nice to know it's one episode away from completion. I've been trying to hold off until the entire thing is finished, so it sounds like that time is near.

In the meantime, I need to get back to starting Dusk.. which I still haven't done yet. So many games to play, so little time..

2 hours ago, amackert said:

In the meantime, I need to get back to starting Dusk.. which I still haven't done yet.

Yes, yes you do. Fantastic game. I do kind of regret playing through the first two episodes so many times before the third one was released; but I had quite a bit of fun doing it. The third episode is just fantastic, they really stepped up their game with it. So now they need to go back and spruce up the first two. Which playing through them again, they kind of did. Fixed some things here and there, but the level design in the third episode really shines.

I do remember hearing him say that he got better with level design as the episodes progressed. Either that or someone commented that before for Dusk. I guess it makes a nice progression!

Here's an update, the final episode is coming out this month! Here's a preview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h58BpLGz5Ic

Really hyped for this, im replay all again and the new optimization and enemy are really welcoming.

Just updating for those who don't know! The full release of Amid Evil is out now today. And if you want the soundtrack you can get it from Andrew Hulshult's bandcamp: https://andrewhulshult.bandcamp.com/

Jumped in on this tonight. I dunno, but I think I might like this better than DUSK. Gameplay is as tight as a gnat's arse and it looks incredibly pretty in places. It's almost like Hexen, but without the baggage. Never thought I'd ever see state-of-the-art tech like Unreal 4 being used for a game like this. The Monkey Magic sound effect when you cancel a projectile is just the icing on the cake.

This game is pretty fucking ebin. Even my mum is playing it and that says a lot.

Good game just a little shorter than what I would like.

10 minutes ago, Classicgamer6 said:

Good game just a little shorter than what I would like.

Ya I have been playing it episode by episode on early access so I didn't get a feel for the length. I am going to try some of its horde mode since it brings all of the enemies together.

Glad I held off for the full release. Plowed through two episodes the other day and loved every second of it. Well worth it people, definitely snap it up.

I updated the main topic with Civvie's review (I tend to side with him the most). He's like me in that he isn't great at platforming with the Forges episode, but likes the atmosphere of it a lot. Oh and according to New Blood, Amid Evil has been their most successful release so far, so good news for the modern retro FPS genre!

So I finished it on Medium last night and now I'm sad because I really didn't want it to end. While the game's mechanics are no more complex than the original Quake, there are just enough modern touches to set it apart. For one, the 90's level geometry juxtaposed with UE4's little flourishes give the game a really unique look and atmosphere. I would actually like to disable the HUD and weapon sprites simply because I want to have the cliffside from the start of E4M1 as my desktop (still can't believe those are SPRITES, but still).

I loved that each episode has its own unique bestiary, meaning that you constantly have to evolve your playstyle to deal with each threat. That said, every world had at least ONE total bastard who would eat my lunch if not outright splatter me. The flamethrowing heads from E3, the MK-Scorpion-kunai arseholes from E5 and those weird white teleport-ball-spewing thingies from the final episode all had me loding my shit at one point.

The music is another strong point - E6M1 being the point where I just absolutely fell in love. Hulshult has now cemented his place with the likes of Gordon, Hodges, Kyd and Koshiro in the pantheon of game soundtrack maestros, demonstrating that he is by no means a one-trick-pony.

What I wasn't a fan of, though, were some of the traps/puzzles. E5 was a particular offender here, but there were some pretty nasty platforming segments that relied on multiple timed switches to navigate which ran the gauntlet from irritating to outright obnoxious. I won't spoil them, but you have been warned.

I'm also still not entirely sure how I beat the final boss. My first few tries, I barely tickled him, then I got his health down halfway and couldn't do any more damage, and then I just sort of emptied the guy. The E6 boss was way more of a pain in the arse.

But yeah, loved it overall and glad to hear that the game is doing well. Here's to a mission pack or a sequel ;)

E: Oops, delete this, it was already posted.

18 hours ago, scalliano said:

What I wasn't a fan of, though, were some of the traps/puzzles. E5 was a particular offender here, but there were some pretty nasty platforming segments that relied on multiple timed switches to navigate which ran the gauntlet from irritating to outright obnoxious. I won't spoil them, but you have been warned.

The fog, the thunder, the scream of steel behind the smoke made E5 my favorite atmospherically. But since Turok 1 days I have sucked at platforming, so for E5 I ended up quicksaving more than a sierra point and click haha. I usually think it's because I am not the best at gaming. But I have heard others have similar difficulty with E5 as well. I only played a little of Portal, but I wonder if Portal fans would enjoy it a bit more than us since it has more FPS platforming in it?

First things first: I haven't played Amid Evil because I'm waiting for the Linux release, but I have played Portal, Portal 2 and the Turok 1 remaster (although I haven't finished it because of the platforming).

I hate FPS platforming – IMO platforming only works in 2d side-scrolling games. But the portal gun is one of the best cheating devices to get around the tediousness of it.

I've been avoiding specific spoilers for everything but the first episode of Amid Evil and all the talk about platforming makes me wonder if I should bother at all.

The platforming in this game is handled very well. It's about in-line with the sort of platforming you see in Quake--it's there, it can be dangerous, but it's not particularly challenging if you are paying attention. There are some sections where the endless pits are just there to intimidate, but once you fall in you are whisked right back up to safety. Platforming is implemented in creative ways in this game and it's fun to experience.

6 hours ago, Manuel-K said:

First things first: I haven't played Amid Evil because I'm waiting for the Linux release, but I have played Portal, Portal 2 and the Turok 1 remaster (although I haven't finished it because of the platforming).

 

I hate FPS platforming – IMO platforming only works in 2d side-scrolling games. But the portal gun is one of the best cheating devices to get around the tediousness of it.

 

I've been avoiding specific spoilers for everything but the first episode of Amid Evil and all the talk about platforming makes me wonder if I should bother at all.

I haven't really had any problems with it. Yeah I've fallen a few times, but it does seem more like Quake. There are very few lengthy platforming sections that I've seen. Although I haven't played the last two episodes yet. 

But I've always kind of enjoyed platforming and jumping around in 3D games, probably comes from Quake. I even enjoyed Turok, although the area right before you fight the Longhunter is fucking bullshit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6NNed291X4

There's a link if you haven't actually gotten to that point. Or maybe that's the part you got to and said fuck it. It's at around 8:00 minutes in.

Thanks. I wonder how long the Linux version will take.

On 7/4/2019 at 4:35 PM, Manuel-K said:

Thanks. I wonder how long the Linux version will take.

I am hoping since the game sold better than expectations that the Linux version won't take long. I heard that steam's windows emulator runs Amid Evil fine (from their discord), but I think there's a slight performance cost with that.

All right, I have to rescind my previous comment about the platforming. At the time I had only completed a couple of episodes and apparently they were some of the least platform-focused. There's a lot more in the rest of the game I was unaware of. It's not bad per-se, there's just a ton of it. It can be tedious and I think it hurts the flow of some of the maps, i.e., sections with platforms where there should probably have just been stairs, lots of moments like that.

Anyway, I finished the game this morning and overall I do think it's pretty good. Definitely worth playing. Some of the episodes were more key hunting oriented and less combat focused which was a bit of a downer. I may warm up to those when I do a second playthrough but as a first run I found myself running around in circles aimlessly for quite a while and not being particularly entertained.

That last episode is trippy as hell. Pretty cool but I can't say I really enjoyed my first run with that. The enemies are fast and strong and the maps are large and confusing. The final boss is pretty solid though.

Has anyone messed with the survival mode? Looks like it could be fun but I haven't fired it up yet.

A new interview has come out where the Amid Evil devs discuss how it started as a Doom mod

I ran through the game a second time last week and it was nice getting into a better flow with the maps. That final set of stages was still a buzzkill though. I kept running around in circles on that small teleporter maze part, again.

Discovered where the Nightma.... *cough* EVIL mode is. Hopefully going to run through that sometime soon and see how it compares.

At first I wasn't entirely sold on this game, with the incoherent storyline, and the rather generic enemy and level design in the first episode. However, now I'm in the third episode, and this game is really fucking good when it gets rolling. Each episode brings not just enemies with new appearances, but different threat profiles and weaknesses, encouraging different play styles. There seems to be a weapon for every situation (except the Whisper's Edge, which is distinctly meh), and all of them are memorable. The level design in E3 is clearly done by people who are veterans of retro FPS level design and know what makes a good level (unlike, for example, the ROTT remake). I swear I've played a Quake level that's almost exactly like E3M3 before, though...

And

might be the best gaming moment I've had all year.

On 2/8/2019 at 11:23 AM, Immorpher said:

I have enjoyed playing it in early access since I liked Heretic a lot. This game kind of feels like if Hexen 2 was more inspired by Heretic rather than puzzles.

Is that so? That is excellent news then!

I really was not convinced by the Hexen Shareware and the longplay videos of the full game, so I am glad to hear that there is a Heretic 3 out there - hopefully, without the flaws of the original! I see the game even has a demo, so I look forward to giving Amid Evil a try!

It's a pretty game too.

44 minutes ago, D4NUK1 said:

It's a pretty game too.

Does it run well, though?

58 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

Does it run well, though?

 Very well, I played time ago in medium-low in an intel HD 4000