Gloomwood (Thief-like survival horror with guns) by New Blood Interactive

Lateralus

Lateralus

More [H]uman than Human
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1150760/Gloomwood/

PC Gamer article

I just learned about this game yesterday and my interest is through the roof!

First, most older gamers have very fond memories of the Thief games - especially the earlier ones - and recognize it as one of the great franchises of PC gaming.

Second, the game is being made by New Blood Interactive, who put out DUSK (thread), AMID EVIL (thread), and MAXIMUM Action. I picked up DUSK and AMID EVIL several months ago, and enjoyed both immensely.

I'll be keeping my eye on this one for sure. There is a demo available (wow, New Blood Interactive are really catering to old-school gamers here) and their games typically feature nicely appointed options for PC gamers. I'll most likely give it a go this evening after work.
 
Civvie did a video on this and another retro game called Ultrakill. It does look like one to watch, as the early gameplay has me intrigued.

 
I gotta say, I get why 8- and 16-bit retro stuff works, because the pixel art and sprites still look pretty good today. Not sure I would say the same about PS1/N64-era 3D graphics. They never really looked good in the first place.
 
Armenius said:
Civvie did a video on this and another retro game called Ultrakill. It does look like one to watch, as the early gameplay has me intrigued.

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Oh, nice! I hadn't seen that one.

Looking very much forward to Gloomwood. DUSK and AMID EVIL had a very fast and precise gameplay feel, and some of the level design was brilliant. If anyone who liked the mid/late 90s shooters passes on those, or Ion Fury, you're doing yourself a disservice. There is a reason that they have overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam and elsewhere. The gameplay is simply excellent and just pure fun. I personally like the throwback graphics; that's entirely subjective. They're taking retro design and creating some crazy fun levels with them. IDK, if you haven't experienced the games you can't really know what you're missing I guess but suffice it to say it would be a huge mistake to judge these on graphics alone.
 
looks like a high schooler's game project on a free 20 year old game engine.
 
As I said, these games are for people who played and loved those mid-to-late 90s shooters. The graphics design is entirely intentional. Here's the loading screen from DUSK:

1595020589849.png


They even built in distinct old-school hard drive access noises while the game is loading. It's great! DUSK has an awesome grungy metal soundtrack, too.

Sounds like you guys have no love for those games and that's fine (I don't enjoy Civilization-type games anymore, for example), but there is really some incredible level design here. One level in DUSK has you navigating through a massive, sinister meat grinder. Some of the levels in AMID EVIL are pure otherworldly and mindbending. Such a mistake to judge the graphics and move on.
 
No thanks. I don't need everything to look like Death Stranding, but I consider that era to be an abomination for graphics. It's that in-between when games like Duke 3D had run their course, but real 3D games were destined to look like trash for a decade.
 
Early access launches August 16. This being New Blood means it will be in Early Access forever, unfortunately.

 
peppergomez said:
Ugh those graphics. Hard pass.
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Kinda agree. This a "Theif-like" game because the graphics look look 1998 Theif-like.

The gameplay actually does look interesting to me, but a Theif-like stealth game would be better with modern graphics. The graphic capabilities at the time were one of the things holding Theif back. You had to look at a light meter because you didn't know if you were hidden in a shadow or not. Games like Splinter Cell revolutionized the stealth genre because of their better graphical representations of being hidden, and knowing where you can hide. Ray traced lighting could make an amazing stealth system.


I guess some people are into old looking graphics, it's not for me though.
 
I don't require a game necessarily be the best looking thing on the market at the time. However, I can't usually go back and play older games. I won't play a lot of indie titles simply due to their awful graphics.
 
sharknice said:
Kinda agree. This a "Theif-like" game because the graphics look look 1998 Theif-like.

The gameplay actually does look interesting to me, but a Theif-like stealth game would be better with modern graphics. The graphic capabilities at the time were one of the things holding Theif back. You had to look at a light meter because you didn't know if you were hidden in a shadow or not. Games like Splinter Cell revolutionized the stealth genre because of their better graphical representations of being hidden, and knowing where you can hide. Ray traced lighting could make an amazing stealth system.


I guess some people are into old looking graphics, it's not for me though.
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Retro games are New Blood's "thing."
 
Dan_D said:
I don't require a game necessarily be the best looking thing on the market at the time. However, I can't usually go back and play older games. I won't play a lot of indie titles simply due to their awful graphics.
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That's too bad. I recently played through duke 3d, ion fury, quake 1 and enjoyed them immensely. Just as much as Control, which has excellent graphics.
 
Furious_Styles said:
That's too bad. I recently played through duke 3d, ion fury, quake 1 and enjoyed them immensely. Just as much as Control, which has excellent graphics.
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Same. I had more fun with Ion Fury, DUSK, AMID EVIL, HROT, and Quake II RTX than I did with lots of "newer", flashier titles. They recapture the glory days of PC FPS gaming, IMO, while updating them with some modern amenities that gamers typically want to see in the Options menu. These games have brilliant and delightfully fun level design, super tight controls, satisfying gunplay, and some outstanding soundtracks. We're not talking about going back and firing up the O.G. System Shock 1 on a Windows 11 PC, here.
 
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