Krazov"Powerslave Exhumed" the thread.
"Powerslave Exhumed" is a Nightdive's remaster of the console version of "Powerslave" (US) or "Exhumed" (Europe; apparently Iron Maiden had rights to this name or something like that). I have spent many hours in the mid-1990s playing "Exhumed" and I always liked its strong Egyptian theme as well as the gameplay. As often is the case, I never finished the game back then. I did that in 2020 when they finally sorted out legals and released it on GOG. But this game is different. How so?
While PC version was based on an early version of the Build engine (think: no slopes, but other than that all was there) and in fact was the first commercial Build game, the console version was using a different engine and had different maps. And also different gameplay and some monsters behaved differently. They literally made 2 different games with the same set of assets. Actually cool. Some people even have preferences as to which one's better. I don't, but I barely started.
Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation had their differences too, but they were boiling down to what each console could do. But roughly it was the same game. Now, what Nightdive Studios did when creating "PowerSlave Exhumed" was to combine the best of the two games. I haven't played either of them, so I cannot compare. But I can compare with the PC game. And there are some notable differences.
The PC game had linear progression of 20 levels and while it was possible to go back to any previous level, there was no point in doing so. The console game, on the other hand, has Metroidvania elements: we have a map and we can move freely and sometimes the level has inaccessible area because we don't have the skill (like higher jumps or ability to stay longer underwater) and we have to return later. There are 6 artefacts extending our capabilities. In these regards, it reminds of "Shadow Man."
So far, I found sandals allowing higher jumps and Sobek's mask that allows swimming longer underwater. Those artefacts, at least some of them, were spells in the PC game. Here they're permanent. Once collected, they stay with us. Upon revisiting the area, we have to fight all the monsters anew. It would be emptish without it. Again reminding of "Shadow Man." Although, unlike there, we can enter map from different sides, depending on how we travel. We travel on a camel, BTW.
(The camel reminds me, on the other hand, of "Hacx: Twitch 'n Kill," where the exit was sometimes in a form of reaching an area with a rickshaw. Speaking of games I would like to see remastered maybe.)
The console game had more advanced engine that allowed to crate a platform hanging in the air and there is dynamic lighting, so when Anubis-like mook shoots, we can see it travelling in the darkness. This plus those magic sandals give a more platformer vibe than the PC game.
One of the things that Build games were famous for was talking: the main characters could comment stuff, either with sexist undertones (Duke Nukem) or gallows humour (Caleb in "Blood") or whatever the rednecks from "Redneck Rampage" represented. The main character in "Exhumed" (sometimes theorised to be named John) has 2 or 3 one-liners ("Sonuvabeech" being one of them). That is not present in the console game: John grunts but doesn't talk.
Both games didn't have savegames, but rather checkpoints. If you die, you go back there. The PC game had lives; once you depleted them, you would die completely and could have start again from the same starting point. As long as you had lives, it would remember how far you got and which enemies you have killed. In "PowerSlave Exhumed" it looks like there are no lives and it just respawns at the last checkpoint in the state of the world as saved.
You cannot re-save by hitting the same endpoint, but you can overwrite the save state with another checkpoint. So it's possible to switch between two and more, I think. We'll see, but so far I got to a point where I need to repeat a longer sequence and I'm dying a bit further every time. At least it's not repeating the whole game (I'mma looking at ya, "Aladdin").
The PC game had red spiders while the console one had scorpions (which fit better one of the bosses). The remaster has both. There is also gyroaiming and I think you need to be precise, no more autoaim. And the mummies don't shoot skulls but a homing serpent, very much like the one that the Cobra Staff had on PC.
There is universal ammo and at first I understood that all the weapons share the same pool, something I happened to experience in "Shrine" by Scumhead, to much of my dislike, but it's actually a tad better: each weapon has its own ammo, but picking up the ammo replenish the currently selected weapon. Might get tricky in the heat of the fight, but so far I didn't have a problem with it.
The M-60 is still one of my favourite weapons in all the FPS, and with gamepad rumble it's even more satisfying.
The grenades are different. On PC there were normal grenades, but here there are some golden, ancient, scarab-like ones. They explode just the same, though, and that's what counts with grenades. They're used not only as a weapon but also a means of destroying some walls. So it's half-weapon and half-artefact.
The game is ultra slick, even on Nintendo Switch and simply beautiful. My soft spot for Egypt as a theme for any game might have started with "Exhumed" (I'll leave "Stargate" to others), so it's nice to finally play it. Due to assets, it feels a bit like return to your favourite game, but due to it being a different game as well as the remaster itself, it's a completely fresh experience.
To be continued...
I found another artefact which allows me to land softly, thus making big heights no longer an issue. It also allows me making longer jumps because I don't fall so fast. And these two artefacts, along with magic sandals, make the game a platformer. Not that it's a bad thing. It's not as crazy as "Ghostrunner," but then again it was in 1996. :D The PC game seems flat in comparison.
Last time I played I got to Set's Palace but go stuck there. Today I sat to the game and just went through the level as if it was nothing. Perhaps I was tired. Set in "PowerSlave Exhumed" is a bit less of the challenge than in the PC version, where we would fight him a bit later and better equipped. It must have been shortly after getting the weapon hurling thunders from the sky and Set's arena was full of rats that would take the focus of the weapon. Tricky. Here, you shoot Set until he's dead.
I also got the flamethrower. Unlike the usual FPS-es, there is exactly one place per each weapon we get. I remembered about the flamethrower but also forgot a little, mostly because M-60 is such a fine weapon that I don't need anything else. Although, the flamethrower might be good with crowds. And I'm getting accustomed to using grenades (Amun bombs) more. And revolver is useful to shooting down exploding torches better.
Speaking of grenades. I got stuck at Nile Gorge and I resorted to a gameplay video. At first I found a walthrough, but it turned out to be for the console game from the 90s and things were different a little (the place where a transmitter part should be had Full Health and the part was elsewhere). Anyway, from the video I learned it's possible to grenade-jump. Cool. And helpful because either due to the gamepad latency or something, but I couldn't jump into one place by simply jumping there.
"PowerSlave Exhumed" is more visual than the PC game was. There was hardly any blood and Anubises would die simply falling on their backs and cat girls would suddenly stood up and turn to stone and fall back and crash into pieces. But here every mook dies into explosion of gibs. On the other hand I still haven't seen those odalisque dancers that were sometimes in the background. And on that note, there haven't been Anubises with drums either.
I found a new artefact, which allows me to walk on lava and this bright green slime, which I don't know what supposed to be. I still lose my health but much less. This plus the diving mask feel very strong like what I had as Shadow Man.
I could really use subtitles, though, because the spirit of Ramzes gives me hints of where to go next but it's hard to understand him at times. I have to re-listen and then still guess where to go. But I guess correctly.
The plot is being served with a better pacing in the console game, though. On PC, I would just play level after level, to seemingly randomly get a wall of text, Doom style, but there is only a couple of them with nothing in between. Not that the story is deep or anything: aliens stole Ramzes' body and siphon some sort of energy from him. As far as the mid-1990s go, though, that's rather standard. I'm not complaining but simply noting.
I also found the Cobra staff and it shoots homing projectiles as well. I thought that was gone in the console game, but I must have mistaken it with this bracelet which allows shooting thunders.
The shared ammo pick-up, I think now, must be a solution for backtracking. Without it, going back to an early level would not allow to replenish the ammo. Or the creators would have to account for that (like it was in "Wrath"). Still deciding if and how much I like it.
I just finished marshes, after successfully understanding Ramzes' instructions :D, and the PC version didn't have this area, which is interesting because PC was later than the console. New textures and all.