3D Realms announces Graven, the spiritual successor to Hexen II(techspot.com)
techspot.com
3D Realms announces Graven, the spiritual successor to Hexen II
https://www.techspot.com/news/86651-3d-realms-announces-graven-spiritual-successor-hexen-ii.html
50 comments
3D realms didn’t develop those games tho, looks like the best decision they made is to go back and just be a publisher rather than a developer.
It has been somewhat marred by yielding to review bombers regarding some trans- and homophobic content https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Fury#Controversy
It's unfortunate these people said/did that but can we please stop conflating the personal transgressions of employees as if it's reflective of the company as a whole?
It's a few employees, probably early 20s, making some insensitive and off color remarks. That's it, nothing more
It's a few employees, probably early 20s, making some insensitive and off color remarks. That's it, nothing more
This was a victory for the common sense right to make fun of things. A parody brand of soap called "ogay" simply is not harmful any more than a gentle parody of white people, America, southerners, Christians, etc as seen all over games like GTA5.
Let people laugh at things. In the end it's far more socially healthy for everyone than constantly cranking up the hypersensitivity. Acceptance built of fear and power is not acceptance at all.
Let people laugh at things. In the end it's far more socially healthy for everyone than constantly cranking up the hypersensitivity. Acceptance built of fear and power is not acceptance at all.
Yes, because belittling minorities and other groups that have historically had their rights systematically violated, by the people now making jokes at their expense is 100% ok.
It’s not hypersensitive for someone to say “stop making jokes out of our existence”, especially when those groups are still routinely murdered for the crime of existing.
Jokes that punch down should be judged accordingly
It’s not hypersensitive for someone to say “stop making jokes out of our existence”, especially when those groups are still routinely murdered for the crime of existing.
Jokes that punch down should be judged accordingly
How do you fairly determine the punching direction? Also, are you being sarcastic with these tired, stereotypical phrases?
You look at which group has more power.
This is not hard. You can’t be fired for being straight, in multiple states you can be fired for being anything other than straight or cisgendered.
People aren’t physically or verbally assaulted for being Christian, they are for being Muslim (in America, other countries the reverse can easily be true).
There aren’t elected officials campaigning on a platform of banning Christians, or deporting illegal Europeans.
A common refrain isn’t that Christians control Hollywood and banks.
No president other than Obama was ever subjected to continuous claims that they weren’t born in America.
These all show you who has power to set the baseline for what is and what is not ok.
This isn’t a hard concept, unless you’re deliberately choosing to dismiss every group other than yourself.
This is not hard. You can’t be fired for being straight, in multiple states you can be fired for being anything other than straight or cisgendered.
People aren’t physically or verbally assaulted for being Christian, they are for being Muslim (in America, other countries the reverse can easily be true).
There aren’t elected officials campaigning on a platform of banning Christians, or deporting illegal Europeans.
A common refrain isn’t that Christians control Hollywood and banks.
No president other than Obama was ever subjected to continuous claims that they weren’t born in America.
These all show you who has power to set the baseline for what is and what is not ok.
This isn’t a hard concept, unless you’re deliberately choosing to dismiss every group other than yourself.
And yet, if you tweet the words 'it's okay to be $ethnic_group', the only value of $ethnic_group that gets your career ended is 'white'.
And yet, if you tweet 'I support $candidate for president', the only value of $candidate that ends your career is 'Trump'.
And yet, conservatives and Christians are openly and viciously discriminated against in tech and media. Which is why they are essentially nonexistent. Nonexistent! You can't find them! In the closet, like gays in 1975. Palmer Luckey got chased out of our tech industry because they found out he liked Trump, he didn't even argue publicly. Damore was ruined for a good-faith pro-diversity memo.
And yet, men are 1:2 discriminated against compared to women in STEM tenure track positions [0].
And yet, BLM rioters can spend weeks burning and looting a city and the media and courts will soft-pedal them the whole way, but if a dozen white guys get together they're instantly called racist and subjected to maximum legal penalties.
And yet, the 'common refrain' which you are repeating in your post is that white people, men, Christians, etc have all the power, control all the money and banks and media, etc etc.
Your notion of who has 'power' is totally wrong. There aren't two groups here, there are three. The left has power. The right does not. The under-group are the marginal minorities who the left uses to justify their power and discrimination.
[0] https://www.pnas.org/content/112/17/5360
And yet, if you tweet 'I support $candidate for president', the only value of $candidate that ends your career is 'Trump'.
And yet, conservatives and Christians are openly and viciously discriminated against in tech and media. Which is why they are essentially nonexistent. Nonexistent! You can't find them! In the closet, like gays in 1975. Palmer Luckey got chased out of our tech industry because they found out he liked Trump, he didn't even argue publicly. Damore was ruined for a good-faith pro-diversity memo.
And yet, men are 1:2 discriminated against compared to women in STEM tenure track positions [0].
And yet, BLM rioters can spend weeks burning and looting a city and the media and courts will soft-pedal them the whole way, but if a dozen white guys get together they're instantly called racist and subjected to maximum legal penalties.
And yet, the 'common refrain' which you are repeating in your post is that white people, men, Christians, etc have all the power, control all the money and banks and media, etc etc.
Your notion of who has 'power' is totally wrong. There aren't two groups here, there are three. The left has power. The right does not. The under-group are the marginal minorities who the left uses to justify their power and discrimination.
[0] https://www.pnas.org/content/112/17/5360
The problem with “white” is that “white pride”, “white power” were coopted by racist and terrorist groups decades ago.
The other problem - much like all lives matter - is that no one has ever been told to be ashamed of being white, legislation hasn’t been written specifically to imprison white people, white people haven’t been systematically disenfranchised, etc.
As for only getting fired if you say you support trump? Really? If that were the case he wouldn’t have a real chance of reelection, but he does because a sizable amount of the country supports him. I suspect being pro-Biden or pro-Obama would easily get you fired in many predominantly Republican states.
Finally, the “left” has no more power than the “right”, the difference is that you clearly believe that equal rights for minorities is inherently discriminating against you. Which is a classic response.
The other problem - much like all lives matter - is that no one has ever been told to be ashamed of being white, legislation hasn’t been written specifically to imprison white people, white people haven’t been systematically disenfranchised, etc.
As for only getting fired if you say you support trump? Really? If that were the case he wouldn’t have a real chance of reelection, but he does because a sizable amount of the country supports him. I suspect being pro-Biden or pro-Obama would easily get you fired in many predominantly Republican states.
Finally, the “left” has no more power than the “right”, the difference is that you clearly believe that equal rights for minorities is inherently discriminating against you. Which is a classic response.
>The problem with “white” is that “white pride”, “white power” were coopted by racist and terrorist groups decades ago.
As were "black pride" and "black power", but people are still allowed to say those things because those terrorist groups, despite killing many people, are seen by the elite white media as allies. They present one group as fundamentally evil. They present the other group either not at all, or as over-excited unimportant fringes of a righteous cause. See the BLM killers of Aaron Danielson and Jessica Doty, and note how you never heard of them. Or the Scalise shooting, or a million other things you've never heard of in your NYT bubble.
>no one has ever been told to be ashamed of being white
An utterly absurd statement in a world where elite spheres are saturated with "all whites are racist" style rhetoric. I'm literally told to be ashamed of being white on a daily basis. White guilt is the core of modern social justice - it's single consistent organizing principle. Read White Fragility or anything about anti-colonialism. Go find the videos of white activists washing the feet of black people and kissing their boots and bowing down on their knees in mass shame for their race.
>As for only getting fired if you say you support trump? Really? If that were the case he wouldn’t have a real chance of reelection
Yes he would, because the ballot is secret. People support him secretly. If the ballot was open he'd have no chance.
>you clearly believe that equal rights for minorities is inherently discriminating against you. Which is a classic response.
No, I believe that lower rights for me is discriminating against me. Which it is. Nobody ever argued against equal human rights except the social justice movement, which instead argues for equal group outcomes.
Right now the social justice movement is working to repeal the California law that prohibits discrimination. They, and you, are trying to expand discrimination. I am trying to reduce it.
https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_16,_Repeal_Pr...
As were "black pride" and "black power", but people are still allowed to say those things because those terrorist groups, despite killing many people, are seen by the elite white media as allies. They present one group as fundamentally evil. They present the other group either not at all, or as over-excited unimportant fringes of a righteous cause. See the BLM killers of Aaron Danielson and Jessica Doty, and note how you never heard of them. Or the Scalise shooting, or a million other things you've never heard of in your NYT bubble.
>no one has ever been told to be ashamed of being white
An utterly absurd statement in a world where elite spheres are saturated with "all whites are racist" style rhetoric. I'm literally told to be ashamed of being white on a daily basis. White guilt is the core of modern social justice - it's single consistent organizing principle. Read White Fragility or anything about anti-colonialism. Go find the videos of white activists washing the feet of black people and kissing their boots and bowing down on their knees in mass shame for their race.
>As for only getting fired if you say you support trump? Really? If that were the case he wouldn’t have a real chance of reelection
Yes he would, because the ballot is secret. People support him secretly. If the ballot was open he'd have no chance.
>you clearly believe that equal rights for minorities is inherently discriminating against you. Which is a classic response.
No, I believe that lower rights for me is discriminating against me. Which it is. Nobody ever argued against equal human rights except the social justice movement, which instead argues for equal group outcomes.
Right now the social justice movement is working to repeal the California law that prohibits discrimination. They, and you, are trying to expand discrimination. I am trying to reduce it.
https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_16,_Repeal_Pr...
> “stop making jokes out of our existence”
what defines your existence?
> those groups are still routinely murdered for the crime of existing
routinely? In America?
what defines your existence?
> those groups are still routinely murdered for the crime of existing
routinely? In America?
Yes, in America
What evidence is there? Are you including stuff like the Orlando shooting in that?
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/no-theres-no-ev...
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/no-theres-no-ev...
If you find yourself itching to play a retro FPS on your modern machine, give DUSK [0] a try.
The style is on point. This game is ugly where it counts, the environments are blocky and grotesque. The guns have satisfying sounds and animations, the enemies are numerous and the bosses are fun. This game really makes me feel like I'm a kid playing video games instead of last classes of school.
I'm waiting for HROT [1] to be released. It's supposed to be similar to DUSK, but set in Czechoslovakia. The screenshots are very promising...
[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/519860/DUSK/
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/824600/HROT/
The style is on point. This game is ugly where it counts, the environments are blocky and grotesque. The guns have satisfying sounds and animations, the enemies are numerous and the bosses are fun. This game really makes me feel like I'm a kid playing video games instead of last classes of school.
I'm waiting for HROT [1] to be released. It's supposed to be similar to DUSK, but set in Czechoslovakia. The screenshots are very promising...
[0] https://store.steampowered.com/app/519860/DUSK/
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/824600/HROT/
Or GOG, though the price is higher right now.
https://www.gog.com/game/dusk
I really would like to see a proper successor of Commander Keen. Although I have no idea how it would look like with modern technology.
Afaik, 3D Realms has the rights on it, right?
https://legacy.3drealms.com/keenhistory/
Afaik, 3D Realms has the rights on it, right?
https://legacy.3drealms.com/keenhistory/
Purists might hate me but an open world commander keen has been something I’ve wanted for a while.
They have a lot of foundation for a great universe.
Hopefully they go Mario 64 style and don’t get gritty/realistic. It could be awesome.
They have a lot of foundation for a great universe.
Hopefully they go Mario 64 style and don’t get gritty/realistic. It could be awesome.
You're in luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpneMd8xTFw
It looks like they went for a cartoon aesthetic similar to Fairly Odd Parents & co.
It looks like they went for a cartoon aesthetic similar to Fairly Odd Parents & co.
Not much luck. That's a mobile game and probably cancelled since there hasn't been any news about it for more than a year.
Cancellation seems likely, the "gokeen.com" link from the trailer now points to https://bethesda.net/en/dashboard , with no information about the game.
Isn't Commander Keen just a 2d platformer, something that is abudantly available on most platforms nowadays? Though I've never played it, so I might be missing something
Commander Keen was a fallback game for the smoothing side-scrolling engine that Carmack made and that iD pitched to Nintendo for porting their games onto PCs. Nintendo refused (surprise!), so the engine was use to make Commander Keen instead.
That is, the notable thing about CK was its engine, which as innovative as it aged very quickly. There's still some nostalgic value there I guess but the target audience is probably quite limited.
That is, the notable thing about CK was its engine, which as innovative as it aged very quickly. There's still some nostalgic value there I guess but the target audience is probably quite limited.
Someone on social mentioned that one of the main current IP holders was an individual who is racist or white supremacist or some grossly ugly thing. I just did some fast searching to try to suss out how BS this is but didn't get anywhere. Apologies for passing on rumors I couldn't even find to cite. But that would change my interest, for sure.
Also yeah I'm struggling to imagine what we'd do with modern graphics technology here.
Also yeah I'm struggling to imagine what we'd do with modern graphics technology here.
Finally! I hope it's a faithful return to the simplicity of no-nonsense hack-&-slash (and of course zap), untainted by "quests" and "missions" etc.
Even the Doom revival somewhat fell prey to complexity for the sake of complexity.
There's certainly a lot of merit in reviving old ideas for a new era, even if none of the original fans were alive to bank on the nostalgia alone.
Even the Doom revival somewhat fell prey to complexity for the sake of complexity.
There's certainly a lot of merit in reviving old ideas for a new era, even if none of the original fans were alive to bank on the nostalgia alone.
Doom eternal is awesome ... I would say the doom revival couldn’t be any better.
Yes, not saying Doom isn't awesome, just that it would be nice to have games where you just fight without worrying about any distractions.
e.g. instead of hunting for keys or cards or levers, or trying to spot secret entrances, they could replace that "artificial" complexity with improved monster AI: Learning enemy patterns and having the enemy learn ours in turn, using a destructible environment to dodge or assist attacks, and figuring out how to deceive their virtual senses (like throwing an object to distract them) and so on.
e.g. instead of hunting for keys or cards or levers, or trying to spot secret entrances, they could replace that "artificial" complexity with improved monster AI: Learning enemy patterns and having the enemy learn ours in turn, using a destructible environment to dodge or assist attacks, and figuring out how to deceive their virtual senses (like throwing an object to distract them) and so on.
Oh, there's plenty of original fans alive. And plenty of them still game! For many of us I'd say that some of the newer games leave us behind because we don't have all the spare time that we did when we were younger. Hack, slash, and zap with a decent linear story and some problem solving are very much still a good flavour if done well. As are games you can pick up and have 10 minutes of fun in and it doesn't matter overall. Eg Just Cause.
> Oh, there's plenty of original fans alive.
I meant hypothetically, in some farther future, as I'm sure there will always be plenty of old games to revive. :)
I meant hypothetically, in some farther future, as I'm sure there will always be plenty of old games to revive. :)
Yess!! I'm probably going to be disappointed by this one, but I'm cautiously optimistic. Definitely the best 2020 news so far. HeXeN was one of most thrilling games of my childhood. It left a big impression on me. I even made a pretty creative balancing/fun mod for HeXeN using the source port Vavoom. I lost the code in a hard drive crash though.
The game was far from perfect and there are good reasons it didn't reach the popularity of DooM or even Heretic. What would you do to make HeXeN and HeXeN II more fun? Here's my take:
1. Both HeXeN games suffered from unfun level design. It was nice looking, but confusing to navigate, especially switch hunting. You alternatively had adrenaline rushes and pixel hunting. I think both provide a different experience and doesn't mesh better than Chess Boxing.
2. HeXeN classes don't really have distinct playstyles. They're all shooters at core except for Warrior/Paladin. More could be done to diversify them. In particular, no late game weapon was meant for up close.
3. The game is too linear and not very modular in its level design. You can warp to any Heretic level and start slaughter from that point. It was a legacy of DooM design which was originally meant to play with limited lives, arcade-style.
4. HeXeN 1 was notorious for "haha, you die!" traps that required either foreknowledge or LIGHTNING reflexes to dodge.
5. Low enemy variety compared to DooM 2. You kept fighting the same few dudes over and over, and 4 weapon limit per class is... not a lot, even with Tome of Power.
6. They should limit the ability to hog inventory items, for example like in Heretic where you can only carry 1 of each to next level.
7. HeXeN never rewarded people for finding secret rooms. It punished those who didn't find them, because instead of goodies they had switches and keys mandatory to progress. H1 and H2 had very few optional secret rooms.
The game was far from perfect and there are good reasons it didn't reach the popularity of DooM or even Heretic. What would you do to make HeXeN and HeXeN II more fun? Here's my take:
1. Both HeXeN games suffered from unfun level design. It was nice looking, but confusing to navigate, especially switch hunting. You alternatively had adrenaline rushes and pixel hunting. I think both provide a different experience and doesn't mesh better than Chess Boxing.
2. HeXeN classes don't really have distinct playstyles. They're all shooters at core except for Warrior/Paladin. More could be done to diversify them. In particular, no late game weapon was meant for up close.
3. The game is too linear and not very modular in its level design. You can warp to any Heretic level and start slaughter from that point. It was a legacy of DooM design which was originally meant to play with limited lives, arcade-style.
4. HeXeN 1 was notorious for "haha, you die!" traps that required either foreknowledge or LIGHTNING reflexes to dodge.
5. Low enemy variety compared to DooM 2. You kept fighting the same few dudes over and over, and 4 weapon limit per class is... not a lot, even with Tome of Power.
6. They should limit the ability to hog inventory items, for example like in Heretic where you can only carry 1 of each to next level.
7. HeXeN never rewarded people for finding secret rooms. It punished those who didn't find them, because instead of goodies they had switches and keys mandatory to progress. H1 and H2 had very few optional secret rooms.
A few months ago I did a passthrough of Wrath Of Chronos, and it really breathed some life into Hexen. It even works for other DOOM wads and can be a fun change of pace to your standard IWAD, give it a shot if DOOM RPGs sound up your alley :)
https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=35846
https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=35846
2020 has been a great year in this regard;
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1213210/Command__Conquer_...
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1213210/Command__Conquer_...
There seems to have been a renissance of this old school early / mid 90's FPS genre lately. I love it!
I think Quake and Hexen for the Sega Saturn were two of the first FPS games I ever seriously played through, the former running on the exceptional Lobotomy engine that also fueled the fantastic Saturn exclusive 'Exhumed'. :)
I think Quake and Hexen for the Sega Saturn were two of the first FPS games I ever seriously played through, the former running on the exceptional Lobotomy engine that also fueled the fantastic Saturn exclusive 'Exhumed'. :)
All hail Ezra Dreisbach! Eurogamer managed to get an interview with him a decade ago: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/death-tanks-ezra-driesbac...
Maybe I'm getting old but man, I miss the 90's gaming era (you can "ok, boomer" me).
Quake, Half Life, Unreal, Hexen, Heretic, Blood...
If anyone is interested in a modern 90's style FPS, I recommend you try Dusk.
If anyone is interested in a modern 90's style FPS, I recommend you try Dusk.
There is also Doom (2016) which (mostly) honours the simplicity of play found in Doom and Quake, but I found the mostly arena-style action rather dull and repetitive after a while. I missed the tunnels and so on in original games. Personally I'm now into modern games like the Dishonored series or Prey (2017), which a great mix of story, puzzle solving and action.
doom 2016 is a great game but it is fundamentally different from classic doom. the biggest difference being resources earned by glory kills vs resource management coming from level design.
I can recomment HROT, it is still in development but you can try the demo on Steam. It is awesome.
Fun fact: it looks like Quake engine but not, it is written in Pascal.
> I miss the 90's gaming era (you can "ok, boomer" me).
Uh, that's more “Ok, Millenial” isn't it? I mean, I'm from the latter half of Gen X, and I miss the late-80s/early-90s era of sims.
Uh, that's more “Ok, Millenial” isn't it? I mean, I'm from the latter half of Gen X, and I miss the late-80s/early-90s era of sims.
apparently ,'xennials' are a thing now
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xennials
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xennials
I can recommend Civie11's YouTube channel for well-edited, amusing videos which review FPS games. In particular, his review of Doom II is excellent.
https://www.youtube.com/c/Civvie11/videos
Dusk is honestly amazing. It has great movement/weapons/levels and at times does horror better than most horror games.
OK Xenial, leave Deus Ex off your list.
I love these kind of games, check out WRATH: Aeon of Ruin by the same studio, I truly recommend it! So much fun, reminds me of being young and silly.. wasting afternoons exploring and admiring the same level for countless hours (back when internet was only very limited by my parents haha)
Oh, after Ion Fury that should be good, if they'll make the Linux version.
To be released in 2045
Ion Fury was great and Wrath: Aeon of Ruin and Graven both seem to be on track to be great as well.