”No Time To Explain (Remastered)” is nowhere close to being the oldest game I’ve played/reviewed & yet when compared to other games it stands out as a title that shows its age a lot when reflecting back. While not inherently a negative that you can tell what period a game is from - it really felt like a strange time capsule from the late 00’s-early 10’s compared to anything else I’ve played through.

The game definitely lives up to its title because doing a brief plot summary would be very convoluted. A broad stroke explanation would be that earth is getting attacked & you need to put a stop to it via time-travel/timeline jumping. For each level you’re given different weapons to help you through this journey - though their primary purpose is to help at traversal first, self-defense second. Because the game is more in line with a 2D platformer than a run n gun game.

Each time you kill a boss you’re summoned into a different timeline. Where gameplay either changes up by introducing a new puzzle/gimmick or you can be transported into a world with less mechanics, but a different way of transportation. Unfortunately, a pretty big quality difference is present. Since the gimmick/puzzle levels (where you retain your standard traversal weapon, but have to account for increasing mechanics) tend to play a lot better than levels with completely new playstyles. Momentum ends up coming to a crawl due needing to learn new traversal, while the difficulty still progresses increasingly. Leading to some of the last “new character” stages becoming rather unenjoyable due to this imbalance between difficulty vs learning curve with stage specific characters.

I still had fun completing ”No Time To Explain” However I would’ve wished it rather just committed fully to the primary weapon & what conditions/limitations could be introduced to make for a good gameplay loop. Instead of having a tool that generally was fun to use, but then have it limited for 65-70% of playtime & then replaced with less fun alternatives in those remaining 30%.

Slightly exposing my age here, but Doom 1 is the first game I’m reviewing that out-ages me. I knew going in it had a reputation of being the first person shooter in a pre-Half Life world & that intrigued me whether this reputation was overstated looking through a current day lens or it has aged like wine.

To probably not many people’s shock - this game definitely is on “Age like wine” side of things. For somebody who grew up with fully 3D shooters, Doom 1 is without a doubt a more primitive presentation compared to later games in the same genre, but during my playtime I didn’t feel its simplification was much of a hindrance. You cannot aim directly where you want, but the hitbox still is quite generous to make up for this.

…And that’s really my only thing that took me a bit of time to get used to, but otherwise Doom 1 holds up fantastically & there’s a ton to like. The levels are sprawling & generally really well designed - filled with lots of hidden secrets that generally are worth trying to find if you’re willing to go for some extra challenge. Gameplay is superb, it just feels punchy/intense & does a great job supporting wanting to dive head first into your enemies instead of being overly cautious. Guns are varied, enemy variety is solid, etc.

Heck I’ll also mention another thing that really caught me off guard in a positive way. I had never heard before going into Doom 1 that enemy infighting was a thing, so that really surprised me! It makes the game feel alive that enemies also react/take eachother out on occasion. Even if it wasn't a super common occurrence it really put a smile on my face the odd times it happened.

If I had to give 1 complaint though it probably would be later levels become a bit too infested with enemies. Not to an outrageous degree, but for me it was just slightly noticeable where I started questioning if it was becoming excessive. Though otherwise I can definitely wholeheartedly recommend Doom 1. Might be a 31 year old game by now, but damn is it a great time even nowadays.

Been playing a surprising amount of this recently, it's a quite unique experience. Considering its a horror-adjacent setting coupled up with team-based vs. solo player PvP game. Not a combination I’ve seen often, but is quite fun to play with 1-3 friends if playing as a survivor or still enjoyable solo as ”The killer”

Though will make it pretty clear that I do not think this is a good multiplayer game to play on the survivor side if playing completely alone. Sure, you can be lucky & get a lobby of moderately to good randoms once in a blue moon, but otherwise my (admittedly limited) experience solo queuing as a survivor normally leads to being paired up with griefers, either sabotaging the survivor side or dying instantaneously deliberately. Rage quitters, who leave as soon they’re hooked/downed their first time or sandbaggers… Who arguably could be new players, but are so avoidant of the killer they pretty much contribute nothing for the team side. Which also is why I recommend playing with 1 friend minimum when playing as a survivor. Because then you can be sure ½ your team is cooperative at least.

Playing killer though is fun! You aren’t weighed down by potentially useless teammates & based on my own personal experience you can still have fun in most match-ups. If equally skilled just play normally, however for “lower skilled” survivor teams I tend to adjust my playstyle to make it a bit more difficult to hook people (also cause it's never fun to curb-stomp a team that's obviously outmatched)... There are ofc the infamous high skill “survivor bully squads” that can suck running into - but I run into those so rarely I wouldn’t worry about it (though should it happen just slug them. Don’t make a habit of playing like an ass, but if they start it then all is fair)

As for the game on a mechanical level. I do agree with the comments that it does become formulaic after a while doing gens/hooking survivors/etc. But I’d say it holds the interest for a good while before hitting that level & running different characters with varying playstyles definitely extends that window tremendously. I still boot the game up & run a few lobbies these days without being bored (I don’t have 1000’s of hours like other people have in this game. But TBF I don’t have that amount with many games?) It’s a fun game & I’d definitely recommend it if intrigued by the concept of a horror-esque multiplayer game.