Amid Evil definitely has Heretic and Hexen in its DNA (see: icantbelieveitsnothexen.com) and appeals to retro fps sensibilities, but it has its eyes on the future. All the subtle changes to the formula as well as the awesome new ideas make me feel like every fps in the future needs to use this as a blueprint.
The enemies are dynamic and some of the tougher ones require thinking and execution beyond just choosing the right weapon and pointing + clicking, you actually sometimes need to poke at them and learn their patterns and pathing in a way that's deeply satisfying. This is maybe a silly buzzword to apply to a FPS, but I feel like it's a bit "soulsy" at times. Maybe that's just me, but I feel a connection there that I don't with a lot of retro fpses and modern throwbacks. It sounds like such a simple thing, but I find that most retro-style games in this subgenre are so focused on replicating RIP AND TEAR that they forget to throw enemies at the player where it's suboptimal to just throw bullets at them. Finding out what weapons work best on what is a good start (and Amid Evil certainly has that), but at this point we can shake things up without slowing the game down to a crawl or betraying the spirit of the classics. This is the main thing for me: it's keeping the spirit and the loose structure of classic fps, but going in its own direction. Environments are fresh and new. Most of the bosses are fresh and new. Levels feel big...like, we don't need to be tied down to the cramped interiors of Quake! Those were great, but deviation from that has been treated as a betrayal (what, did we all just forget about Unreal?) up until now. I've been firmly convinced that that can and should change.
It's also just incredibly high effort. Each world has completely unique theming and enemies and I can't emphasize enough how wonderful and refreshing these are. It contains some of the most alien environments I've ever seen in a video game as well as some more grounded ones which are gorgeous in their own right. The breathtaking industrial environments of one of them is a contender for the most beautiful thing I've seen in a video game...it reminds me of my mind melting when I saw Blade Runner 2049.
The game is also very well-routed in a way that the games it's inspired by were not always perfect with. There's keys and doors, but you almost never run into those moments where you press a button and are like "uh...what did that open?" It feels like you're charging into the unknown and just wandering, but it's mapped out so well and nudges you in the right directions so you end up in the right place. All the little annoying tendencies of the genre have been smoothed out into the ultimate version of what you always knew they could be.
I'm willing to admit that it may feel like a particularly radical shift to me because I'm looking closely at this subgenre and I have a deep love for it. It might feel like a well-done throwback to some, but I see the future in this thing.
The enemies are dynamic and some of the tougher ones require thinking and execution beyond just choosing the right weapon and pointing + clicking, you actually sometimes need to poke at them and learn their patterns and pathing in a way that's deeply satisfying. This is maybe a silly buzzword to apply to a FPS, but I feel like it's a bit "soulsy" at times. Maybe that's just me, but I feel a connection there that I don't with a lot of retro fpses and modern throwbacks. It sounds like such a simple thing, but I find that most retro-style games in this subgenre are so focused on replicating RIP AND TEAR that they forget to throw enemies at the player where it's suboptimal to just throw bullets at them. Finding out what weapons work best on what is a good start (and Amid Evil certainly has that), but at this point we can shake things up without slowing the game down to a crawl or betraying the spirit of the classics. This is the main thing for me: it's keeping the spirit and the loose structure of classic fps, but going in its own direction. Environments are fresh and new. Most of the bosses are fresh and new. Levels feel big...like, we don't need to be tied down to the cramped interiors of Quake! Those were great, but deviation from that has been treated as a betrayal (what, did we all just forget about Unreal?) up until now. I've been firmly convinced that that can and should change.
It's also just incredibly high effort. Each world has completely unique theming and enemies and I can't emphasize enough how wonderful and refreshing these are. It contains some of the most alien environments I've ever seen in a video game as well as some more grounded ones which are gorgeous in their own right. The breathtaking industrial environments of one of them is a contender for the most beautiful thing I've seen in a video game...it reminds me of my mind melting when I saw Blade Runner 2049.
The game is also very well-routed in a way that the games it's inspired by were not always perfect with. There's keys and doors, but you almost never run into those moments where you press a button and are like "uh...what did that open?" It feels like you're charging into the unknown and just wandering, but it's mapped out so well and nudges you in the right directions so you end up in the right place. All the little annoying tendencies of the genre have been smoothed out into the ultimate version of what you always knew they could be.
I'm willing to admit that it may feel like a particularly radical shift to me because I'm looking closely at this subgenre and I have a deep love for it. It might feel like a well-done throwback to some, but I see the future in this thing.