PowerSlave Exhumed Released

[Wavy]

2 minutes ago, Edward850 said:

Then don't do that.

I know, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

[Edward850]

We don't seem to be able to reproduce it. Anything else you can tell us?

[Wavy]

It seems I typed the wrong setting and percentage in my post. Try setting Darkening Strength to 100% instead for the bug to occur.

 

 

[Edward850]

Okay, that's worked.

[Daytime Waitress]

26 minutes ago, Wavy said:

*a video that made me lose my lunch*

Why do I get the feeling that @msx2plus could intentionally use this kind of effect for evil purposes?

[HavoX]

6 hours ago, xvertigox said:

I can't wait to see which game they re-do next

PO'ed, perhaps? IIRC, there was going to be a port for the PC, but it was never released...

[Zaxxon]

I tried this game last year and... well, it's definitely not my cup of tea. They've put great effort into the level design, and Powerslave has some of the most complex and difficult to navigate levels of the many FPS' in my catalog. Even with the automap, the second half of the game gets extremely cryptic and, out of all Build games, has the most convoluted puzzles and key hunts. A lot of people will like that, and that style of mapping fits well with the adventurous Ancient Egyptian setting, but if you're like me, and you don't like endless backtracking and confusing map layouts, chances are, you're going to hate the second half of Powerslave. It doesn't help that it has a weird checkpoint save system. When done right, checkpoint progression is fantastic, because it removes save scumming, but in Powerslave, if you quit the game during the level, you lose all your checkpoints and keys, and the next time you return, you have to restart the same level from scratch, explore the map and find the keys and doors all over again. And let me tell you, some of these levels drag on for more than 30-40 minutes on a blind run. It is such a hostile design. Imagine spending 40 minutes in a level, but you just can't solve it and find the exit, so you get burnt out from it and you want to take a break from the game for a day or two. Except you can't quit, because you'll lose all your progress, so you're forced to push through the map, not knowing how much more you'll have to suffer, and that can really piss one off. 

 

On top of that, the combat is nothing special. In fact, i think it's downright boring, especially when compared to the other Build powerhouses. And the design of some enemies can drive you crazy.

The game pushed boundaries with its console version, which is a completely different game, made on a different engine. The PC version is still a good and unique game, but it is for people who are more into slower paced adventure games with tons of puzzle solving. As an FPS alone, Powerslave is nothing special.

 

That being said, i'm very happy they're re-releasing the forgotten classic shooters. I'm very excited about the upcoming SiN and Kingpin: Life of Crime remasters.

Edited February 12, 2022 by Zaxxon

[msx2plus]

just finished playing through this tonight (bad ending, will go back for completion). bloody brilliant game with really ahead of the curve level design and player movement. the progression of map fiendishness relative to player abilities was a delight. everything that wound up being the right thing to do felt almost like an exploit in the best of ways.

 

i'm not sure what zaxxon means regarding long levels, though they do mention the build version, which is NOT this game (though i haven't played it). most of them start and end pretty quickly and aren't terribly large, though you do revisit them upon getting new abilities which opens new routes through them. i was able to do the whole thing in ~5 hours mostly blind. it seems like they're mentioning the build version, which is radically different from this. so don't let that deter you. this is a seriously fantastic game. if you like cool movement, great platforming, and heavy atmosphere, this is really something truly special.

 

[edit] ok, i played a few minutes of the build engine game @Zaxxon mentioned. it is not very good. if you were turned off by that, this is the most different thing you can imagine. different stages, different progression, different physics, everything is different. they just happen to share assets.

Edited February 12, 2022 by msx2plus

[kwc]

1 hour ago, Zaxxon said:

-snip-

This game is vastly different from the one you played tbh, this is (mostly) a port of the console version(s) afaik.

[United VirusX]

On 2/10/2022 at 5:46 PM, xvertigox said:

I've been playing the game for only an hour but I'm enjoying it so far and I can imagine that will continue (I'm a slut for 90s fps but aren't we all). I'm playing with high res and no CRT filter so I can really get a good look at the sprites because I've noticed that they're actually quite detailed. It's also fun seeing the source for a lot of Doom mod sprites.

The game has metroidvania elements but I don't know if it's technically a metroidvania game because, from what I've seen, you can go from one map to any of the others, you don't need to actually run there. It's also not a hub system since you can go from A -> B -> D -> A etc. I'm not a fan of backtracking or being confused on how to progress so I'm curious to see how this game will handle that aspect.

 

On a technical note, can anyone explain the difference between the two lighting modes - subtractive and modulating? The visual differences are clear but I'm not sure on what it's actually doing to achieve those results. Sorry about how badly framed the example screenshots are.

 

Subtractive

  Hide contents

 

Modulating

  Hide contents

 

 

Edit: Having default values visible on slider is a nice touch (little yellow line)

 

  Hide contents

 

Edit 2: Is there a way to turn autoaim off? I can't find it in the menu.

Subtractive looks more like the Sega Saturn Palette while Modulating looks more like the Playstation 1 palette from the looks of it

[United VirusX]

On 2/10/2022 at 6:28 PM, Rudolph said:

Sweet! And just as I was about done with another classic first-person shooter that involves fighting aliens in Egypt! :P

 

Joking aside, I am a bit confused about the "perfectly blending both the PlayStation & Saturn versions" part in the official description. Where there aspects of the Sega Saturn port that were deemed worthy of being included? Having never actually tried the Sega Saturn back when it was a thing, I was under the impression that it was generally a worse platform than the Sony Playstation. 

Saturn version is deff better compared to the Ps1 version but both versions had things over the other ps1 had a lot of quality of life improvements like the orbs dropping to the ground as an example but had terrible framerate while yes it can reach 60fps some areas could deep below 10fps also a lot of levels were cut back compared to the Saturn from what I played the majority of the levels are the Saturn versions with the better sections of the PlayStation levels added in 

Edited February 12, 2022 by United VirusX

[Zaxxon]

24 minutes ago, kwc said:

This game is vastly different from the one you played tbh, this is (mostly) a port of the console version(s) afaik.

 

Oh, if that's the case, then i'm out of touch, i guess. :D I was under the impression you get both games (the PC and the console version) in this new remaster, so i thought i would share my experiences with the PC version. 

[United VirusX]

9 minutes ago, Zaxxon said:

 

Oh, if that's the case, then i'm out of touch, i guess. :D I was under the impression you get both games (the PC and the console version) in this new remaster, so i thought i would share my experiences with the PC version. 

I do agree with u on some of the issues with the original PC version I still think its a pretty good game though just not as good as the console ports

[_bruce_]

Very nice - really liked it on the Sony and Sega coonsoles even though it became a bit too abstract/tedious towards the end. I think I made it through with a friend but we weren't able to find many dolls.

On the other hand the PC version was, unfortunately, kinda strange - a different game practically & no changing of key bindings if I remember correctly...

[Gez]

3 hours ago, Zaxxon said:

Oh, if that's the case, then i'm out of touch, i guess. :D I was under the impression you get both games (the PC and the console version) in this new remaster, so i thought i would share my experiences with the PC version. 

No, they're separate games sold separately. I did point they have "Powerslave Exhumed" (this remaster of the console versions) and "Powerslave" earlier in the thread.

 

For your issue of not being able to save your progress when you want to quit the game on the Build original, you can use Raze now to play the game.

[Rudolph]

5 hours ago, United VirusX said:

Saturn version is deff better compared to the Ps1 version but both versions had things over the other ps1 had a lot of quality of life improvements like the orbs dropping to the ground as an example but had terrible framerate while yes it can reach 60fps some areas could deep below 10fps also a lot of levels were cut back compared to the Saturn from what I played the majority of the levels are the Saturn versions with the better sections of the PlayStation levels added in 

Yeah, I saw a YouTube comparison video of the two versions and the Playstation one seemed so much smoother and better-looking, but then it was pointed out that the footage was from an emulator. Good to know that the Sega Saturn was ultimately a more capable port in that regard!

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

Thanks for another quality product, Edward. I'm glad knowing that some of my money is going to you when I buy this stuff.

[ApprihensivSoul]

I've bought it once on GoG, and plan to buy it again for steam.
I have not, however, played it yet, but I will soon as I can. Main reason I haven't is I run a low-power linux machine, rather than anything modern, so emulation of Vulkan is kind of tricky for me. I hope there's a linux port at some point! 

[Lizardcommando]

Oh, that's where that M60 weapon sprites came from. I thought it was from some Duke Nukem 3D mod.

[xvertigox]

18 hours ago, Edward850 said:

Then don't do that. (Probably some division error that's occurring, I don't think it was meant to be set that low.)

 

Heh, that was my first thought "why would you want to set it to 100%?"

 

18 hours ago, Zaxxon said:

I tried this game last year and... well, it's definitely not my cup of tea...

...

...

...

That being said, i'm very happy they're re-releasing the forgotten classic shooters. I'm very excited about the upcoming SiN and Kingpin: Life of Crime remasters.

 

As other people have mentioned the DOS and console versions were totally different games running on different engines. I didn't realize the extent of this until I played this new remaster after only having played the DOS version a bit. Having the item gated metroidvania progression system along with abundant secrets really give this game a sense of identity that it just doesn't have in the DOS version. I'm having a lot of fun with this release, I only cared to get up to third map when I played in Raze a couple of months ago.

 

I'm also very excited about SiN and Kingpin, I mistakenly thought Nightdive was making them until I looked it up for this thread. I love the Q2 engine and I have very fond childhood memories of both games. I was 9 when SiN released but my dad was a gc and was hooking me up with all rad FPS games as they released, I should thank him for that sometime.

 

39 minutes ago, Lizardcommando said:

Oh, that's where that M60 weapon sprites came from. I thought it was from some Duke Nukem 3D mod.

 

It's also cool seeing the origins of the pistol sprite too. I've played a lot of Final Doomer so I've seen that sprite often.

 

I just want to reiterate how useful subtitles would be, I can see people talking about it on the Steam forums too. I had to look up a FAQ to see which map I should go to next after acquiring a new item because I couldn't understand which map he was saying. If anyone else has the same issue below I've got the map order from a FAQ. Don't open this spoiler box if you don't want to see the progression map order.

 

Spoiler

 

[Dweller Dark]

Well, it didn't take me long to break down and buy this game..............but it's absolutely worth it. I was a little bit worried it wouldn't perform well on my semi-shitty laptop, but PSEX (I haven't heard a good shorthand nickname for it yet, so this is what I'm calling it) runs very well, the only noticeable drop I noticed was when switching to modular lighting. I haven't had any performance problems with subtractive lighting, and it looks better to me, so it remains on. I haven't played much of the game yet, mostly just making sure it runs well, but I think an autoaim toggle/slider would be an improvement. I can't properly explain it, but it feels off compared to the autoaim of other games, like Blood or Doom. (Sidenote: I would really love to see HD PSEX wallpapers in the future, I love Egyptian art stuff.)

 

But now:

[HavoX]

1 hour ago, Eddie 2077 said:

but PSEX (I haven't heard a good shorthand nickname for it yet, so this is what I'm calling it)

Personally, I think PsExh seems to be a better fit.

 

Spelling PSEX in caps... kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[Dweller Dark]

11 minutes ago, HavoX said:

Personally, I think PsExh seems to be a better fit.

 

Spelling PSEX in caps... kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

PSExhumed might be a good one, albeit a longer nickname than the others. It also has part of the full name so it can't be confused for something else (it could be confused with PCExhumed tho) or bring up NSFW search results trying to google PSEX. (Sidenote: Since it's a mix of the Sega Saturn and PlayStation versions, it might make sense to call it PSExhumed because of that as well.)

[Gez]

How 'bout PowExh?

[kwc]

8 hours ago, HavoX said:

Personally, I think PsExh seems to be a better fit.

 

Spelling PSEX in caps... kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

My votes for PowersEx

[hybridial]

I finished it yesterday, but I kinda have to agree with Zaxxon, for some different reasons but I did not end up liking the game all that much. Of course that has nothing to do with Nightdive, the port was exemplary.

 

The game starts really well, it feels like it's gonna be great, but all the problems it has which feel minor at first just increase in scale as it goes. The combat, is generally dull, the weapons are mostly unreliable. Weapon switching is too slow. The pick up system makes ammo management horribly tedious. Later enemies are a pain to deal with, and it's nigh impossible to kill certain enemies without taking damage. The player hit box is extremely wide as mentioned already, which means unless its a huge open space there's basically little avenue to evade enemies. And ah, I won't even pretend that when the game starts using Mission Impossible Laser grids which you have to maneuver through is remotely worth the player's time, no that's when you type Moses into the console and just go through it because just no. Just no. 

 

At least the transmitter pieces weren't too obscurely hidden, given you need them to get the only ending anybody would want to get. Bad endings that basically end in player death unless you collect x are a pretty shit idea in general but at least they knew to highlight the transmitter locations. 

 

I think to some this will rub salt in the wound, but I liked Hexen a lot more. For some of the issues Hexen has, it's generally at least fun to fight enemies, for the most part. 

Edited February 14, 2022 by hybridial

[Kinsie]

26 minutes ago, hybridial said:

I think to some this will rub salt in the wound, but I liked Hexen a lot more. For some of the issues Hexen has, it's generally at least fun to fight enemies, for the most part. 

[hybridial]

38 minutes ago, Kinsie said:

 

"For the Most part" :P

[Graf Zahl]

Sadly those not-for-the-most-part un-fun enemies were used quite a lot... :(

 

[Rudolph]

I was planning on getting the game, but after reading @hybridial's comment, I am having second thoughts now. :S