Admittingly I wasn't vibing with Condemned: Criminal Origins during the first couple of hours, because I kept subconsciously making comparisons to the other Monolith Productions game I played earlier this year, F.E.A.R.. That said, once I got over my initial misgivings and let the game speak for itself, I started to really appreciate a lot more of the game's strengths. In a way, they're both brilliantly done to where you know it's Monolith behind the wheel; yet at the same time, it's interesting how the two games are almost antitheses in other regards.
Let's start with the similarities. Both games are incredible at creating these dismal and unsettling atmospheres thanks to how the game constantly manages to keep you on guard. It throws every trick in the book to show that something's up through swinging lights, film grain, fog, quick bursts of enemy movement in the corner of your vision, looming shadows, creaky doors, and so on so forth, painting terror in the environment without any cheap jumpscares. In particular, Condemned's often monotone and washed out condensed hallways and rooms are littered with few sources of light and plenty of signs of urban decay, giving credence to the backstory of the forsaken parts of the city that have since become shelter to those left behind by society, now vindictive and hungry to exact revenge upon anything that moves. The most impressive thing is that not one of these tactics are overused, and in fact the shifting environment when backtracking in certain locations due to altered lighting or displaced barriers further emphasizes the raw danger. The sound design is incredible too, as thanks to the rather intentionally poor lighting throughout the game, I often had to rely on echoing objects crashing to the floor or footsteps behind me to prep myself for incoming combat. To top it all off, Condemned slowly introduces more and more supernatural elements, starting subtly with the central mystery but unveiling more and more as you delve deeper into the rabbit hole, with certain paranormal elements unfolding before your eyes as a honestly pretty effective attempt to instill Thomas as an unreliable narrator and observer; as much as Thomas would love to rely on his lab evidence to pick out the perpetrator, he finds out that he was chosen for a reason, and this internal struggle slowly tears him apart from the inside until you as Thomas begin to question your own judgement. I think this is best represented by the sudden black and white flashbacks interspersed between the investigative elements and combat, putting you in a 3rd person perspective viewing the killer's past actions and leaving Thomas visibly panting as he struggles to make sense of why he's the one burdened with these starkly terrifying visions.
I'll admit it took me a bit to get used to the combat. F.E.A.R.'s combat is flashy and sporadic, just the way that I'd imagine chaotic firefights to be. However, Condemned focuses far less on firefights, and more on improvisational close quarters combat in tightly cramped and dimly lit rooms and corridors with melee weapons. In a way, it's actually more terrifying than F.E.A.R.; F.E.A.R. constantly gives you moments where you feel like a monster, as you can get the jump on enemies and tear them apart with bullet spray in slow-mo while your foes go "He's too fast!". Condemned, on the other hand, is raw and visceral street brawling with whatever weapons you've got on hand; you're constantly in the face of enemies just barely dodging and blocking their attacks while chipping away at them with kicks and swings of your own, and fighting multiple enemies in a horde is extremely difficult, so you're almost always constantly losing ground to even try and survive. If you try and play this like a traditional fighting game and simply wait for them to approach and block, that often doesn't work either, because the AI is a bit smarter than that; they'll often feint or mix up attacks and timing to catch you off guard. As a result, enemies in Condemned feel very real and alive; there's no cheeky quips or over the top weaponry to be found, just snarling and grunting twisted beings doing whatever they can to tear you down so they can survive another day.
I think in this sense, Condemned is great at shocking the player by constantly ripping away any semblance of safety and control. Scattered through the environments are a variety of clues that have to be analyzed and sent to Rosa to further unravel the mystery. But you're not immune to danger while doing so; you often have to be ready for enemy attacks and intrusions while using your tools so you can quickly switch back to weapons to defend yourself, and even if you try and take it upon yourself to clear out enemies before beginning detective work, you can never be too sure that an enemy hasn't already caught on and could be lurking around the corner if you stray too far from the path. Furthermore, the game introduces two elements as a sort of "balance" to help you out with more difficult parts of combat. You can occasionally pick up firearms from exploring or from defeating some enemies to more quickly dispatch foes, and you're also given a taser that can temporarily stun a single enemy and recharges over time. These absolutely have their limitations though; firearms have a limited amount of ammo and cannot be reloaded, turning into what is more or less an inferior blunt object with limited durability once emptied, and tasers can only stun one enemy at a time and may not even provide enough of a gap to effectively finish off the foe. So in a way, combat is this never-ending frenzy of scrambling to find new weapons and keeping a close eye on the taser's energy gauge, further accentuated by the need to pick up certain weapons that can clear overworld obstacles such as a fire axe to break down wooden doors, or a shovel to destroy powered locks. As a final wrinkle to all of this, the last chapter of the game takes away both your flashlight and taser for a truly terrifying conclusion; you must now suddenly adapt to making your way through the dark with your only main source of light a burning 4x4, and any weapons picked up to fend off enemies will rob you of your torch and must be sufficient enough to get past foes without your tried and true stun.
Now this game is not without its faults, many of which become more and more flagrant as the game progresses. There is a lot of classic 2000s jank to be found, as quite a few enemies walked through walls and windows to attack me or suddenly had very strange yardstick disjointed hitboxes, and there's the occasional break-dancing corpse falling through the floors or clipping into barriers that can break the otherwise solid and haunting immersion. There were also a few instances where enemies weren't affected by my bullets immediately after being stunned by the taser despite being shot point-blank by a shotgun, which led to some moments of frustration of my ammo being wasted and taking excess damage when the enemy retaliated. I will also admit that I have some gripes regarding the movement, particularly in how Thomas moves significantly more slowly on any incline or any set of stairs (and holding down sprint does nothing); while I get this is most likely an intentional artistic choice to make combat more deliberate and force players to take more time to soak in the surroundings, I think limiting the movement speed to this degree on every single set of stairs is a bit much and extremely noticeable in slowing the pace of the game down. And finally, I do think that the block active frames window is a bit too small, and lengthening the block window would help combat from feeling like I always had to go on the offensive to proc reactions from enemies. It's fortunately not as much of an issue against standard enemies, where you can often bait and punish, but it does become quite a challenge against the final boss, which provides far less room for error.
I think Condemned nails the grittier crime thriller tone of a harrowing supernatural murder mystery while feeling constantly oppressive in nature thanks to the prevalent sense of danger lurking around every corner and looming premonitions that there's something far bigger at stake and you're just a small piece of the puzzle with no control or grasp on anything. I think it's a tougher sell compared to its flashier and just as batshit crazy cousin F.E.A.R., but if you're willing to put in the time and the toil, it's one genuinely terrifying experience that you'll never forget.
Let's start with the similarities. Both games are incredible at creating these dismal and unsettling atmospheres thanks to how the game constantly manages to keep you on guard. It throws every trick in the book to show that something's up through swinging lights, film grain, fog, quick bursts of enemy movement in the corner of your vision, looming shadows, creaky doors, and so on so forth, painting terror in the environment without any cheap jumpscares. In particular, Condemned's often monotone and washed out condensed hallways and rooms are littered with few sources of light and plenty of signs of urban decay, giving credence to the backstory of the forsaken parts of the city that have since become shelter to those left behind by society, now vindictive and hungry to exact revenge upon anything that moves. The most impressive thing is that not one of these tactics are overused, and in fact the shifting environment when backtracking in certain locations due to altered lighting or displaced barriers further emphasizes the raw danger. The sound design is incredible too, as thanks to the rather intentionally poor lighting throughout the game, I often had to rely on echoing objects crashing to the floor or footsteps behind me to prep myself for incoming combat. To top it all off, Condemned slowly introduces more and more supernatural elements, starting subtly with the central mystery but unveiling more and more as you delve deeper into the rabbit hole, with certain paranormal elements unfolding before your eyes as a honestly pretty effective attempt to instill Thomas as an unreliable narrator and observer; as much as Thomas would love to rely on his lab evidence to pick out the perpetrator, he finds out that he was chosen for a reason, and this internal struggle slowly tears him apart from the inside until you as Thomas begin to question your own judgement. I think this is best represented by the sudden black and white flashbacks interspersed between the investigative elements and combat, putting you in a 3rd person perspective viewing the killer's past actions and leaving Thomas visibly panting as he struggles to make sense of why he's the one burdened with these starkly terrifying visions.
I'll admit it took me a bit to get used to the combat. F.E.A.R.'s combat is flashy and sporadic, just the way that I'd imagine chaotic firefights to be. However, Condemned focuses far less on firefights, and more on improvisational close quarters combat in tightly cramped and dimly lit rooms and corridors with melee weapons. In a way, it's actually more terrifying than F.E.A.R.; F.E.A.R. constantly gives you moments where you feel like a monster, as you can get the jump on enemies and tear them apart with bullet spray in slow-mo while your foes go "He's too fast!". Condemned, on the other hand, is raw and visceral street brawling with whatever weapons you've got on hand; you're constantly in the face of enemies just barely dodging and blocking their attacks while chipping away at them with kicks and swings of your own, and fighting multiple enemies in a horde is extremely difficult, so you're almost always constantly losing ground to even try and survive. If you try and play this like a traditional fighting game and simply wait for them to approach and block, that often doesn't work either, because the AI is a bit smarter than that; they'll often feint or mix up attacks and timing to catch you off guard. As a result, enemies in Condemned feel very real and alive; there's no cheeky quips or over the top weaponry to be found, just snarling and grunting twisted beings doing whatever they can to tear you down so they can survive another day.
I think in this sense, Condemned is great at shocking the player by constantly ripping away any semblance of safety and control. Scattered through the environments are a variety of clues that have to be analyzed and sent to Rosa to further unravel the mystery. But you're not immune to danger while doing so; you often have to be ready for enemy attacks and intrusions while using your tools so you can quickly switch back to weapons to defend yourself, and even if you try and take it upon yourself to clear out enemies before beginning detective work, you can never be too sure that an enemy hasn't already caught on and could be lurking around the corner if you stray too far from the path. Furthermore, the game introduces two elements as a sort of "balance" to help you out with more difficult parts of combat. You can occasionally pick up firearms from exploring or from defeating some enemies to more quickly dispatch foes, and you're also given a taser that can temporarily stun a single enemy and recharges over time. These absolutely have their limitations though; firearms have a limited amount of ammo and cannot be reloaded, turning into what is more or less an inferior blunt object with limited durability once emptied, and tasers can only stun one enemy at a time and may not even provide enough of a gap to effectively finish off the foe. So in a way, combat is this never-ending frenzy of scrambling to find new weapons and keeping a close eye on the taser's energy gauge, further accentuated by the need to pick up certain weapons that can clear overworld obstacles such as a fire axe to break down wooden doors, or a shovel to destroy powered locks. As a final wrinkle to all of this, the last chapter of the game takes away both your flashlight and taser for a truly terrifying conclusion; you must now suddenly adapt to making your way through the dark with your only main source of light a burning 4x4, and any weapons picked up to fend off enemies will rob you of your torch and must be sufficient enough to get past foes without your tried and true stun.
Now this game is not without its faults, many of which become more and more flagrant as the game progresses. There is a lot of classic 2000s jank to be found, as quite a few enemies walked through walls and windows to attack me or suddenly had very strange yardstick disjointed hitboxes, and there's the occasional break-dancing corpse falling through the floors or clipping into barriers that can break the otherwise solid and haunting immersion. There were also a few instances where enemies weren't affected by my bullets immediately after being stunned by the taser despite being shot point-blank by a shotgun, which led to some moments of frustration of my ammo being wasted and taking excess damage when the enemy retaliated. I will also admit that I have some gripes regarding the movement, particularly in how Thomas moves significantly more slowly on any incline or any set of stairs (and holding down sprint does nothing); while I get this is most likely an intentional artistic choice to make combat more deliberate and force players to take more time to soak in the surroundings, I think limiting the movement speed to this degree on every single set of stairs is a bit much and extremely noticeable in slowing the pace of the game down. And finally, I do think that the block active frames window is a bit too small, and lengthening the block window would help combat from feeling like I always had to go on the offensive to proc reactions from enemies. It's fortunately not as much of an issue against standard enemies, where you can often bait and punish, but it does become quite a challenge against the final boss, which provides far less room for error.
I think Condemned nails the grittier crime thriller tone of a harrowing supernatural murder mystery while feeling constantly oppressive in nature thanks to the prevalent sense of danger lurking around every corner and looming premonitions that there's something far bigger at stake and you're just a small piece of the puzzle with no control or grasp on anything. I think it's a tougher sell compared to its flashier and just as batshit crazy cousin F.E.A.R., but if you're willing to put in the time and the toil, it's one genuinely terrifying experience that you'll never forget.
Spooktober 2023
2. Condemned: Criminal Origins
Within seconds I was on-board with basically everything about this game: The dimly-lit, grimy environments, the minimal hud, necessity of the flashlight, heaps of diegesis, and a focus on melee combat with low-ammo single-time-use firearms…
Condemned is a stew of other Conmancore certified favorites, such as Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, various Resident Evils but especially 7 (mc’s name is Ethan?!), Metro: Exodus, Kane & Lynch 2 (I wanted to mention it but please just move past that one) and Far Cry 2.
Diegesis is, I think, of particular note as a staple of many Conmancore games. I turned the aiming reticle off, which was one of the game’s few options, and even Condemned’s relatively weaker aspects like the narrative and the Arkham-style detective stuff try to keep you entrenched in the experience by mostly keeping everything on-screen and in-gameplay. That isn’t to say that gamified design is bad at all, just that videogames can provide more than one type of experience and this is one type I tend to like.
I’ve had Condemned Backloggd™ for forever, so it was satisfying to finally cross it off the list. Also, I don’t even need to look at the scores of people I’m following to know what they’d give this game, and I have a sneaking suspicion y’all could have seen my positive reaction coming from a mile away. But I didn’t know much about this game and was surprised to find it was an instant favorite. I’m totally trying out the sequel as soon as I can.
2. Condemned: Criminal Origins
Within seconds I was on-board with basically everything about this game: The dimly-lit, grimy environments, the minimal hud, necessity of the flashlight, heaps of diegesis, and a focus on melee combat with low-ammo single-time-use firearms…
Condemned is a stew of other Conmancore certified favorites, such as Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, various Resident Evils but especially 7 (mc’s name is Ethan?!), Metro: Exodus, Kane & Lynch 2 (I wanted to mention it but please just move past that one) and Far Cry 2.
Diegesis is, I think, of particular note as a staple of many Conmancore games. I turned the aiming reticle off, which was one of the game’s few options, and even Condemned’s relatively weaker aspects like the narrative and the Arkham-style detective stuff try to keep you entrenched in the experience by mostly keeping everything on-screen and in-gameplay. That isn’t to say that gamified design is bad at all, just that videogames can provide more than one type of experience and this is one type I tend to like.
I’ve had Condemned Backloggd™ for forever, so it was satisfying to finally cross it off the list. Also, I don’t even need to look at the scores of people I’m following to know what they’d give this game, and I have a sneaking suspicion y’all could have seen my positive reaction coming from a mile away. But I didn’t know much about this game and was surprised to find it was an instant favorite. I’m totally trying out the sequel as soon as I can.
The only good piece of cop media, especially because it shows ACAB
𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧
#𝟖 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐞𝐝: 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬
Kinda crazy that Monolith was able to release two banger games in 1 year alone.
I feel conflicted with this game, not in the sense where I’m conflicted with the game’s overall quality. That's not the case at all; it’s a pretty solid game with great look investments and a surprisingly good first person melee system, but what I’m more confused about is what this game what to be.
What I mean is the game is obviously influenced by movies like Seven and Saw. Everything from the game going out of it’s way to have the player hunt down serial killers with a heavy emphasis on the detective side of the game, where you use almost science fiction level tools to uncover the string of on going serial killers and the murder of said serial killers; while also having the setting and gameplay rely heavily on that grungy grotesque hyper violent look and feel that was everywhere in post 9/11 horror movies like Saw or Hostel, and when the game tries going for those influences it succeed with flying colors. Everything from the dilapidated buildings you explore to the cracked out violent denizens that live in these forgotten places really add to a sense of “you don’t belong here, and if you wanna get out alive your going to need to fight for your life”, the melee combat for as simple as it is it does a tremendous job reincorporated the visual themes of the game into the gameplay. It’s not a pretty or stylish system, it's very simple and animalistic; all you do is hit the enemy and block his attacks until he dies and depending on the weapon you grabbed around the environment that might take awhile; resulting in you sometimes beating someone to a point where it’ll feel overkill. Yeah sure you can use guns to shoot your enemies but once a gun runs out of ammo that’s it for it; so what are you just gonna throw it away, fuck that your gonna take the butt of the gun and then beat the shit out of your enemies with the gun itself. The combat is loud, it’s violent, it’s gratuitous, and it perfectly captures the sense of this city going to hell and everything around it decaying in the process.
Now all of that is great and I love it when my video games have intertwined themes that work for both the narrative and gameplay; but once I got to the halfway point of the game stuff starts happening that honestly really bothered me.
So around the point where I hunting the mysterious Serial Killer X I started noticing these weird anorexic pseudo-cenobites looking creatures that scuttle on all fours, at first they seemed really out of place in this somewhat grounded setting but I just kind of assumed it was the game’s addition of a new enemy type of violent crackheads and after that I didn’t really question them. Then the main character started having these strange visions of future events or visions of possible events which I also stupidly didn’t give much thought to. Then the visions of this weird metal jawed ghost…thing started showing up and an underlying supernatural side of the game started showing its ugly head and after that the game just kinda lost me. It’s not that I don’t have a problem with a crime horror game taking a paranormal route but the thing that bothers me so much is that the game never really builds to it. The game is so forced on delivering this gritty setting with this violent combat system and then out of nowhere the game drops this in with no subtle hints that something other than an uprise in crime is going on in this city, that maybe something supernatural is causing this disturbance in people; and honestly I’d like to know that info too because the game never fucking tell you anything about it. I don’t know if I missed an autolog explain it or theres a 100% ending that explains more that I didn’t get but the game just drops all this supernatural ghost crap really half heartedly and expects me to just go along with it even thought it fits into the game’s pre-existing motifs about as well as round peg in a square hole. Nothing about these supernatural visions or the metal chin ghost that follows the main character around really hit into the game’s thematic elements and they fit into the story of the game even less. I don’t think I’d be as harsh towards the supernatural elements of the game if the game didn’t already do a tremendous job locking in this grounded gritty setting and tone all for this supernatural to bum rush in to ruin the suspense, tone, and especially the ending, which after finishing the game and sitting on my overall thoughts I still don’t understand the ending???? Was the finale boss the spirit that was causing the whole city to go crazy? Why did the ending suggest that a cult was behind this demotic entity even though no cults were referenced in the game’s story? How is Ethan connected to this cult and why does he have all these visions and high strength? They bring up his highly classified medical records during the game’s story but they never elaborate on it and it’s just kinda dropped from the story as soon as it’s brought up so what was the point of it’s inclusion?
All of the supernatural story elements the game throws in not only does not fit within the game’s thematic elements it's worked in but it also doesn't work for the sake of the game’s overall plot. You learn through one sentence of dialogue during the last 10 minutes of the game that this metal jaw ghost guy is the cause of the city’s meteoric rise of violence and serial killers and after that it’s straight to the final boss and then it’s never brought up ever again. There is no build up to it’s supernatural elements and there's no clear answer to why it’s even happening, it turns what could’ve been a fun and suspenseful crime horror game, into a disjointed mess of a story held together by great gameplay and a solid execution of the developer’s inspirations.
I know that whole rant seemed like I don’t like the game because it’s story was a fucking mess but I still enjoyed what I played in retrospect. I don’t think I’ve seen a game before that has such an effortlessly simple yet fun first person melee system, and the environments are still amazingly haunting since it’s on the same engine FEAR was made on and my god it’s lighting is almost as good as Id tech 4’s lighting. Again the whole story might just be me not fully understanding what the game was going for or maybe there was something I missed but at the end of the day I still wanna recommend the game because I still don’t think you’ll find any other game like Condemned out there.
#𝟖 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐞𝐝: 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬
Kinda crazy that Monolith was able to release two banger games in 1 year alone.
I feel conflicted with this game, not in the sense where I’m conflicted with the game’s overall quality. That's not the case at all; it’s a pretty solid game with great look investments and a surprisingly good first person melee system, but what I’m more confused about is what this game what to be.
What I mean is the game is obviously influenced by movies like Seven and Saw. Everything from the game going out of it’s way to have the player hunt down serial killers with a heavy emphasis on the detective side of the game, where you use almost science fiction level tools to uncover the string of on going serial killers and the murder of said serial killers; while also having the setting and gameplay rely heavily on that grungy grotesque hyper violent look and feel that was everywhere in post 9/11 horror movies like Saw or Hostel, and when the game tries going for those influences it succeed with flying colors. Everything from the dilapidated buildings you explore to the cracked out violent denizens that live in these forgotten places really add to a sense of “you don’t belong here, and if you wanna get out alive your going to need to fight for your life”, the melee combat for as simple as it is it does a tremendous job reincorporated the visual themes of the game into the gameplay. It’s not a pretty or stylish system, it's very simple and animalistic; all you do is hit the enemy and block his attacks until he dies and depending on the weapon you grabbed around the environment that might take awhile; resulting in you sometimes beating someone to a point where it’ll feel overkill. Yeah sure you can use guns to shoot your enemies but once a gun runs out of ammo that’s it for it; so what are you just gonna throw it away, fuck that your gonna take the butt of the gun and then beat the shit out of your enemies with the gun itself. The combat is loud, it’s violent, it’s gratuitous, and it perfectly captures the sense of this city going to hell and everything around it decaying in the process.
Now all of that is great and I love it when my video games have intertwined themes that work for both the narrative and gameplay; but once I got to the halfway point of the game stuff starts happening that honestly really bothered me.
So around the point where I hunting the mysterious Serial Killer X I started noticing these weird anorexic pseudo-cenobites looking creatures that scuttle on all fours, at first they seemed really out of place in this somewhat grounded setting but I just kind of assumed it was the game’s addition of a new enemy type of violent crackheads and after that I didn’t really question them. Then the main character started having these strange visions of future events or visions of possible events which I also stupidly didn’t give much thought to. Then the visions of this weird metal jawed ghost…thing started showing up and an underlying supernatural side of the game started showing its ugly head and after that the game just kinda lost me. It’s not that I don’t have a problem with a crime horror game taking a paranormal route but the thing that bothers me so much is that the game never really builds to it. The game is so forced on delivering this gritty setting with this violent combat system and then out of nowhere the game drops this in with no subtle hints that something other than an uprise in crime is going on in this city, that maybe something supernatural is causing this disturbance in people; and honestly I’d like to know that info too because the game never fucking tell you anything about it. I don’t know if I missed an autolog explain it or theres a 100% ending that explains more that I didn’t get but the game just drops all this supernatural ghost crap really half heartedly and expects me to just go along with it even thought it fits into the game’s pre-existing motifs about as well as round peg in a square hole. Nothing about these supernatural visions or the metal chin ghost that follows the main character around really hit into the game’s thematic elements and they fit into the story of the game even less. I don’t think I’d be as harsh towards the supernatural elements of the game if the game didn’t already do a tremendous job locking in this grounded gritty setting and tone all for this supernatural to bum rush in to ruin the suspense, tone, and especially the ending, which after finishing the game and sitting on my overall thoughts I still don’t understand the ending???? Was the finale boss the spirit that was causing the whole city to go crazy? Why did the ending suggest that a cult was behind this demotic entity even though no cults were referenced in the game’s story? How is Ethan connected to this cult and why does he have all these visions and high strength? They bring up his highly classified medical records during the game’s story but they never elaborate on it and it’s just kinda dropped from the story as soon as it’s brought up so what was the point of it’s inclusion?
All of the supernatural story elements the game throws in not only does not fit within the game’s thematic elements it's worked in but it also doesn't work for the sake of the game’s overall plot. You learn through one sentence of dialogue during the last 10 minutes of the game that this metal jaw ghost guy is the cause of the city’s meteoric rise of violence and serial killers and after that it’s straight to the final boss and then it’s never brought up ever again. There is no build up to it’s supernatural elements and there's no clear answer to why it’s even happening, it turns what could’ve been a fun and suspenseful crime horror game, into a disjointed mess of a story held together by great gameplay and a solid execution of the developer’s inspirations.
I know that whole rant seemed like I don’t like the game because it’s story was a fucking mess but I still enjoyed what I played in retrospect. I don’t think I’ve seen a game before that has such an effortlessly simple yet fun first person melee system, and the environments are still amazingly haunting since it’s on the same engine FEAR was made on and my god it’s lighting is almost as good as Id tech 4’s lighting. Again the whole story might just be me not fully understanding what the game was going for or maybe there was something I missed but at the end of the day I still wanna recommend the game because I still don’t think you’ll find any other game like Condemned out there.
An underrated Horror Classic
Condemned is truly a classic game in my eyes that doesn’t get nearly enough praise. Having played this game around its release I was a lot younger and had pretty much no patience when it came to gaming so I never finished it. However, getting the urge recently I decided to boot up the game and finally play through it all. In the end I have to say this game was very good which really makes me wonder why it doesn’t get talked about enough.
What made this so good?
Monolith are simply masterminds when it comes to environments and knowing how to make a game creepy. To elaborate, the levels are very dark, grotesque and claustrophobic, sometimes really making for a creepy experience through and through. Each level is eerily silent making you feel on edge throughout it as you never know when an enemy will pop out to attack you. It really made for a very high on edge experience as you are constantly looking everywhere as you traverse each level. The game wears its creepiness on its sleeves and it's amazing how it's more creepy then so many modern horror games today. Furthermore, the game has a solid cast of characters, story and okay enough combat to really make for an overall pleasant experience.
Story
Honestly I won’t really get too deep into it as I thought it was interesting but best played for yourself. You play as Ethan who is a detective investigating a crime scene which quickly turns south putting you in a very tricky situation. I will leave it at that as it does have some interesting twists, good moments and an overall Se7en vibe that I enjoyed. However, there are a few things that occur that really don’t get elaborate on more which is a bummer and quite honestly confusing as some of the enemies really made me scratch my head in terms of “how” they exist lol. All in all the story gets the job done and will keep you entertained until the end.
Gameplay
As a first person melee focused horror game condemned was insanely cool for its time. The AI will block , counter attack , run away , hide and sneak attack you and it's honestly really cool even in today's standard even though the AI can act weird at times. The combat is very simple, having you pick up Melee weapons to swing and block with and sometimes giving you guns to use WHICH you can as well use as a Melee weapon when you run out of ammo. Combat overall got the job done and can be pretty engaging as taking hits on medium difficulty or higher can be deadly but some portions of the game were very annoying. Nothing special in the end but it's fun enough and for its time honestly really cool.
some issues I had
While I overall enjoyed the game a lot I did have a few issues with the game which was a bummer. To elaborate, there are quite a few glitches ranging from meh to literally game breaking. To explain, sometimes the enemies will literally do nothing and run in circles trying to hide from you which makes certain sections frustrating. Furthermore, there were times where hits would simply just not connect making for very weird interactions during combat as you would clearly be smack face to face with the enemy and still somehow miss a hit with certain weapons. There were times where the game would checkpoint right before a death, literally putting you in an infinite kill loop forcing you to lose a little bit of progress. To top it off bug wise, there were a couple times where I would load into a segment completely losing my weapon and not being able to pick up anything once again soft locking the game. The investigation scenes were cool but really don’t add much to me in the overall gameplay loop but I could just be overthinking this point. Lastly, the story as mentioned has some twists and turns that simply do not get elaborated on further really making certain parts hard to take seriously which I won’t get into for spoiler sakes.
In the end
This was an awesome horror game that more of you should play and enjoy its creepiness in its full glory. While there is a steam version that from what I understand is pretty buggy and even when modded still isn’t good to play. If you have an xbox series s,x or 360 I highly recommend just seeking this game on those consoles as it will overall not give you any issues past the ones I just named. Overall, I have no doubts if this game got remastered or even better remade that it has high potential to be a masterpiece in my eyes if they flushed out the issues I had with the game. Condemned is an underrated gem and we should really change that !
Condemned is truly a classic game in my eyes that doesn’t get nearly enough praise. Having played this game around its release I was a lot younger and had pretty much no patience when it came to gaming so I never finished it. However, getting the urge recently I decided to boot up the game and finally play through it all. In the end I have to say this game was very good which really makes me wonder why it doesn’t get talked about enough.
What made this so good?
Monolith are simply masterminds when it comes to environments and knowing how to make a game creepy. To elaborate, the levels are very dark, grotesque and claustrophobic, sometimes really making for a creepy experience through and through. Each level is eerily silent making you feel on edge throughout it as you never know when an enemy will pop out to attack you. It really made for a very high on edge experience as you are constantly looking everywhere as you traverse each level. The game wears its creepiness on its sleeves and it's amazing how it's more creepy then so many modern horror games today. Furthermore, the game has a solid cast of characters, story and okay enough combat to really make for an overall pleasant experience.
Story
Honestly I won’t really get too deep into it as I thought it was interesting but best played for yourself. You play as Ethan who is a detective investigating a crime scene which quickly turns south putting you in a very tricky situation. I will leave it at that as it does have some interesting twists, good moments and an overall Se7en vibe that I enjoyed. However, there are a few things that occur that really don’t get elaborate on more which is a bummer and quite honestly confusing as some of the enemies really made me scratch my head in terms of “how” they exist lol. All in all the story gets the job done and will keep you entertained until the end.
Gameplay
As a first person melee focused horror game condemned was insanely cool for its time. The AI will block , counter attack , run away , hide and sneak attack you and it's honestly really cool even in today's standard even though the AI can act weird at times. The combat is very simple, having you pick up Melee weapons to swing and block with and sometimes giving you guns to use WHICH you can as well use as a Melee weapon when you run out of ammo. Combat overall got the job done and can be pretty engaging as taking hits on medium difficulty or higher can be deadly but some portions of the game were very annoying. Nothing special in the end but it's fun enough and for its time honestly really cool.
some issues I had
While I overall enjoyed the game a lot I did have a few issues with the game which was a bummer. To elaborate, there are quite a few glitches ranging from meh to literally game breaking. To explain, sometimes the enemies will literally do nothing and run in circles trying to hide from you which makes certain sections frustrating. Furthermore, there were times where hits would simply just not connect making for very weird interactions during combat as you would clearly be smack face to face with the enemy and still somehow miss a hit with certain weapons. There were times where the game would checkpoint right before a death, literally putting you in an infinite kill loop forcing you to lose a little bit of progress. To top it off bug wise, there were a couple times where I would load into a segment completely losing my weapon and not being able to pick up anything once again soft locking the game. The investigation scenes were cool but really don’t add much to me in the overall gameplay loop but I could just be overthinking this point. Lastly, the story as mentioned has some twists and turns that simply do not get elaborated on further really making certain parts hard to take seriously which I won’t get into for spoiler sakes.
In the end
This was an awesome horror game that more of you should play and enjoy its creepiness in its full glory. While there is a steam version that from what I understand is pretty buggy and even when modded still isn’t good to play. If you have an xbox series s,x or 360 I highly recommend just seeking this game on those consoles as it will overall not give you any issues past the ones I just named. Overall, I have no doubts if this game got remastered or even better remade that it has high potential to be a masterpiece in my eyes if they flushed out the issues I had with the game. Condemned is an underrated gem and we should really change that !
no being or construct, human or mannequin can withstand the power of the mighty taser
Fear the homeless
still holds up as one of the best horror games of the 7th gen and the brawling combat is excellent, highly recommend playing on hard difficulty for the best intended experience
The brutal, heavy, melee-centric first-person combat is engaging and impactful. The grimey, dilapidated urban setting is pretty good, too. Kind of a dumb "Se7en-themed Hobo Murder Simulator" premise, but it's fine.
Soul, a hidden gem classic, amazing atmosphere, brutual melee combat and intriguing story. Under rated game of it's time I'd love to see come back.
Condemned, o não tão famoso primo de FEAR é definitivamente uma coisa interessante, mas não marcante.
Fica bem perceptível que a Monolith apesar dos problemas futuros, sabia muito bem o que estava fazendo e talvez essa seja uma das minhas maiores tristezas, tanto para NOLF, FEAR e agora Condmned.
Diferente de outros jogos da desenvolvedora, aqui temos um destaque maior para o combate corpo a corpo com uma variedade considerável, podendo utilizar pedaços de madeira, machados, pé de cabra, braços de manequins e muitas outras armas, mas não espere o mesmo para as armas de fogo que acabam se distribuindo em apenas 3-4 opções.
Um outro ponto é seu enredo fraco e a gameplay realista (como a demora para subir ou descer escadas) que podem ser um empecilho para alguns. Porém, acho que alguns aspectos acabam se relacionando muito bem com a ambientação tensa e um pouco assustadora.
O destaque de Condemned é definitivamente o terror que combinado com os diferentes locais criam momentos bem únicos. Infelizmente, diferente de FEAR, nesse jogo nós temos uma IA bem fraca e quando digo fraca é aquele tipo que caso você se distancie um pouco, o inimigo automaticamente volta para uma posição inicial.
Apesar desses problemas, penso que esse é um daqueles jogos que por ser pequeno (5-7 horas) vale a pena dar uma chance e analisar um pouco de como uma desenvolvedora consegue evoluir e utilizar alguns aspectos sem ter perda de identidade própria.
Fica bem perceptível que a Monolith apesar dos problemas futuros, sabia muito bem o que estava fazendo e talvez essa seja uma das minhas maiores tristezas, tanto para NOLF, FEAR e agora Condmned.
Diferente de outros jogos da desenvolvedora, aqui temos um destaque maior para o combate corpo a corpo com uma variedade considerável, podendo utilizar pedaços de madeira, machados, pé de cabra, braços de manequins e muitas outras armas, mas não espere o mesmo para as armas de fogo que acabam se distribuindo em apenas 3-4 opções.
Um outro ponto é seu enredo fraco e a gameplay realista (como a demora para subir ou descer escadas) que podem ser um empecilho para alguns. Porém, acho que alguns aspectos acabam se relacionando muito bem com a ambientação tensa e um pouco assustadora.
O destaque de Condemned é definitivamente o terror que combinado com os diferentes locais criam momentos bem únicos. Infelizmente, diferente de FEAR, nesse jogo nós temos uma IA bem fraca e quando digo fraca é aquele tipo que caso você se distancie um pouco, o inimigo automaticamente volta para uma posição inicial.
Apesar desses problemas, penso que esse é um daqueles jogos que por ser pequeno (5-7 horas) vale a pena dar uma chance e analisar um pouco de como uma desenvolvedora consegue evoluir e utilizar alguns aspectos sem ter perda de identidade própria.
A cool little game that has great atmosphere and fantastic environments (as to be expected of Monolith) - more games need to let you explore just normal-ass abandoned locations without any gimmicks.
Combat is simple but very satisfying. Sound and music is on-point.
Story seems intriguing at first but ends up being nonsensical, though there are a handful of cool moments.
Wears out it's welcome despite the reasonably short length but still worth a playthrough.
Combat is simple but very satisfying. Sound and music is on-point.
Story seems intriguing at first but ends up being nonsensical, though there are a handful of cool moments.
Wears out it's welcome despite the reasonably short length but still worth a playthrough.
Yeah, you're gonna need to do a lot better than this to justify your game where you play as a superhuman cop beating homeless people to death with lengths of rebar.
A decently enjoyable spooky romp. I got very tense at points, even if the game is never all that scary. It is an almost 15 year old game, and it shows its age sometimes. It looks about as good as you could expect from 2005, the combat is satisfying if janky at times, with weapons sometimes landing a hit when it feels out of reach and vice versa, but hitting the face of some poor bastard with a sledgehammer and it making a shower of blood and broken teeth is quite rewarding. I am particularly fond of the voice acting, with the game only having a grand total of 4 voice actors, with everyone except for Thomas' VA making a titanic amount of random enemy and other character voices, as well as sfx. It just amazes me how flexible the voice actors were. I should try the sequel, even though I heard it isn't as good as this one
I am a 45 year old woman who walks her kids on a leash and I think this will happen to me
take him to detroit
you ever just need to explore decrepit buildings filled to the brim with psychotic vagrants? plunge into urban decay and feel the dried blood and grime beneath your fingernails as you fight for your life. condemned is ashamedly nigh forgotten, understandably so when its sister game is fucking F.E.A.R. revisiting this game, though, was greater on a second playthrough, in both highs and lows. the atmosphere is disgusting. festering paranoia, rotting buildings, filthy footsteps, and ghastly whispers, condemned is one of the few games where i still got startled while knowing what was coming. the utter dilapidation of metro city is tangible in its industrial despair and collapsing floors, but the sickly enemies add to it alongside being able to rip off a weapon from the wall. incredibly simple, brutally visceral. the combat is rudimentary. it's a man killing another man with a rock and huffing with each swing. dodging is only a coincidence or a misstep. you either take a hit or adapt and block hits. yea the last chapter is a bit of a fumble, taking the horror into the background by throwing more and more enemies and guns. yea, the game is janky with audio bugs and a shoddy pc port. yea, maybe there were a few too many guns to overshadow the melee combat. but holy hell, there are not many games this cathartically terrifying. raw, cruel combat and dreadfully dense atmosphere, condemned may not be better than F.E.A.R. (and it's really hard to top F.E.A.R.), but it scratches a specific itch in my brain that not many other games can.
1 level bom (o dos manequins)
combate horrivel e repetitivo (as hitbox sao do nivel de rules of rose)
historia meh
combate horrivel e repetitivo (as hitbox sao do nivel de rules of rose)
historia meh
Killer of killers, evil begets evil. Coolest game about beating drug addicts and homeless people to death with a pipe...uh out of self defense. Consistently freaky, with an engrossing procedural narrative. The moment to moment gameplay is better than most horror games, the hit for hit action and parrying is a bit clunky but is still actively engaging. Pretty fantastic game, I wish Monolith would go back.
If I were on death row, days away from my ultimate punishment, would I choose Condemned: Criminal Origins as my final game? In a word, no. But for those who are not yet knocking on death’s door, Condemned is absolutely worth a play. Even in 2022, nearly two decades after its original release, it holds up admirably.
Condemned is a gritty FPS game with a focus on melee combat. Guns are rare and legitimate weapons such as knives and swords are uncommon, meaning you’ll often be forced to fight crime with random objects like lead pipes and wooden table legs. It’s a rough-and-tumble approach to combat that was a refreshing change of pace back in 2005 and it remains one to this day.
One of the first things you’ll notice while playing Condemned is the slow movement speed. While I expected this would be an annoyance, the game’s environments are quite claustrophobic, making the protagonist’s plodding gait a natural fit. It also helps that the game is fairly linear with little need for backtracking, so you rarely feel like you’re wandering aimlessly. The action always propels the player forward and keeps the engagement level high; by the time I reached the conclusion I hardly would’ve guessed that seven hours had passed.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of Condemned, however, relates to its development. In 2005, Monolith Productions released not only this game, but also The Matrix Online and F.E.A.R. These days, with game development growing ever more involving and complex, most studios can no longer even dream of pushing out products at this ludicrous rate (the only studio that perhaps comes close is Obsidian Entertainment). Please don’t tell me how many espressos, Red Bulls, and javaccinos the developers at Monolith chugged that year. I don’t want to know.
Condemned is also notable for being an Xbox 360 launch title. Despite being somewhat forgotten, it was easily one of the stronger games among a relatively weak launch lineup. Check it out sometime when you’re in the mood for horror and retro vibes – bonus points if you play in October.
Condemned is a gritty FPS game with a focus on melee combat. Guns are rare and legitimate weapons such as knives and swords are uncommon, meaning you’ll often be forced to fight crime with random objects like lead pipes and wooden table legs. It’s a rough-and-tumble approach to combat that was a refreshing change of pace back in 2005 and it remains one to this day.
One of the first things you’ll notice while playing Condemned is the slow movement speed. While I expected this would be an annoyance, the game’s environments are quite claustrophobic, making the protagonist’s plodding gait a natural fit. It also helps that the game is fairly linear with little need for backtracking, so you rarely feel like you’re wandering aimlessly. The action always propels the player forward and keeps the engagement level high; by the time I reached the conclusion I hardly would’ve guessed that seven hours had passed.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of Condemned, however, relates to its development. In 2005, Monolith Productions released not only this game, but also The Matrix Online and F.E.A.R. These days, with game development growing ever more involving and complex, most studios can no longer even dream of pushing out products at this ludicrous rate (the only studio that perhaps comes close is Obsidian Entertainment). Please don’t tell me how many espressos, Red Bulls, and javaccinos the developers at Monolith chugged that year. I don’t want to know.
Condemned is also notable for being an Xbox 360 launch title. Despite being somewhat forgotten, it was easily one of the stronger games among a relatively weak launch lineup. Check it out sometime when you’re in the mood for horror and retro vibes – bonus points if you play in October.
This city is an even bigger shithole than Gohtam.
this might be the first horror game i ever completed on my own. maybe awakened my urbex hobby. lot less murderous homeless people in those places than this game lets on lemme tell ya
dying to revisit, it’s been over 14 years since i last played
dying to revisit, it’s been over 14 years since i last played
This was pretty solid, but I had a few issues here and there. To start with the great, the atmosphere and combat are very well executed. It plays it's horror well, preferring to signal danger with quiet breathing, distant footsteps, or rubble clattering. It feels way more (I hate using this word but it applies) immersive when scares are signaled in a realistic way rather than some horror stinger. The sound design is very well done and adds to it a lot well. The combat is somewhat clunky, but in a way that adds to the tension. It's all about reading enemies as they try to fake you out, and playing aggressive is generally the only way through. Combat can be trivialized in many instances by spamming the taser, which is kinda lame. The guns are worked well into the gameplay well too, considering how limited they are. The story is okay. It feels very unfocused and doesn't fully execute it's concepts well. Environments are varied and decrepit, which works out quite well for upping the atmosphere. Exploring is fun and tense, although the 'detective' mechanics feel pretty undercooked and repetitive to actually use. The pace is pretty solid too. I will say, the game didn't scare me all too much, but it was certainly tense. Some parts feel somewhat tedious, and it can get a bit repetitive. Generally, the game's pretty cool. I wish it had some more variety and clever uses of the game's mechanics, but it's still a solid time.
The only wrong thing Ethan did was not kill more homeless crackheads
I found a lot of horror to love in Condemned. The combat is weighty enough, but we have since seen far better first-person combat systems. For one this old, however, it holds up well enough.
I've an issue with some of this games bland feeling level design, and a bigger issue with the games final two chapters. Chapters one through eight all feel completely standard for this era in gaming; ruined city blocks, subways, sewers, abandoned school, library - it's all here. The last two chapters, however, made me want to drop the game. I didn't, I stuck it out, but it was close.
The supernatural elements that get revealed right at the end after only being hinted at through visions fell flat in my opinion. This game at it's best is about clubbing vagrants with blunt objects you pull off the wall in a scary setting; at it's worst it throws boring encounter after boring encounter at you while you trudge through a dark field.
I've an issue with some of this games bland feeling level design, and a bigger issue with the games final two chapters. Chapters one through eight all feel completely standard for this era in gaming; ruined city blocks, subways, sewers, abandoned school, library - it's all here. The last two chapters, however, made me want to drop the game. I didn't, I stuck it out, but it was close.
The supernatural elements that get revealed right at the end after only being hinted at through visions fell flat in my opinion. This game at it's best is about clubbing vagrants with blunt objects you pull off the wall in a scary setting; at it's worst it throws boring encounter after boring encounter at you while you trudge through a dark field.
Probably one of the best combat-focused horror games you can play.
I get a blood pumping rush from beating meth heads senseless with tire irons and rusty pipes. There's something sticking a spiked bat into a derelict's gut and listening to him groan. The slight thrill I get as I unload a sawed off into the jowls of a pizza faced tweaker is unmatched. But anyhow, this games alright by me.
Surprisingly compelling due to the enemy AI that behaves erratically in a way that makes fights more tense than you might think they'd be. I wish the game wasn't so quick to demonize the homeless and addicted, but its in line with the edgy 90s and 00s films that were popular at the time.
Phenomenal simulator of trying to walk outside in Bremerton Washington.
I am going to hit a man with this lead pipe.