Nostalgia is an ambiguous feeling on which they love to speculate. But from time to time, developers, turning to the past, create something really unique. Take, for example, last year Evoland: In a tiny two -hour campaign, it was possible to convey the entire path of the development of the role -playing genre and simultaneously nonsense to mix its numerous stamps.
Bedlam about the same, only considers the history of the video game in general.
There are no spoons
► Khizer Quin has a very seductive voice and lovely accent. It is a pity that outwardly she is a spilled strict from Quake 2.
Bedlam based on the novel of the same name by Scottish writer Christopher Bruckmaira. Mr Vegas Casino We have Brookmair is not too famous, but in Europe it is very popular. In addition, he perceived the player and the idea of the project based on “Bedlam” with great enthusiasm, even joined the developers' team himself.
" Bedlam – This is a tribute to video games in all their forms and manifestations. Recognition of an important role of games in our lives, says Brookmair. – I look forward to meeting with the characters from our game with great impatience, I really want to walk around the worlds that we create ".
The plot of the novel, published last year, is spinning around Ross Baker – a talented engineer working for a large corporation. Charter from the status of "office plankton", he volunteered to be experimental for a dubious experiment associated with the latest brain scan technology. The result was unexpected – Ross found himself in the world of Starfire shooter, played to holes at the age of ten (do not try to find the game on the Internet, it was invented by the writer).
► Arsenal to match the game itself: blaster, shotgun, rocket launcher – pure classic. You can even do rocket jumps!
However, c Bedlam The story is slightly modified. In the title role here – Heather Quin, a colleague of Ross, but she has been prepared for a similar test. Moreover, the girl was especially unlucky: not only did she get into the video game, but also turned into cyborg disfigured by implants.
Soon the chizer gets acquainted with other stuck in the virtual world – it turns out that there are already many of them. With the help of radio contexts, “inconsistency colleagues” will direct the girl and influence her fate. However, she herself is not a timid dozen, she pour tears, almost not used to it. Instead, she grabs a blaster and begins to break through her way to freedom – that is, in the real world.
It is that nostalgia is covered with his head. In the early stages Bedlam looks, sounds and plays one in one how Unreal , Quake 2 and other fantastic shooters of the nineties. The same crazy speeds, the same pleasant feeling of full control of the character. You immediately understand that the strip’s skills literally got into the subcortex, and you just need to choose the right “key” to activate them.
► Before getting to the next level, you have to jump among such psychedelic landscapes.
The stylization came out as detailed as possible. Pixels in half a screen, a meager set of sounds, a complete absence of physics (only boxes and enemies are merrily flying apart) and the environment in the spirit of “Two boxes and a table”-and what else is needed, damn it? In addition, the Heather regularly cuts on the topic of the FPS of the end of the last century. The player who caught those times will definitely smile at first, and then will be touched. It is only a pity that the new generation will most likely remain indifferent.
Braving a tear of nostalgia
But the veil of nostalgic feelings is slowly dispelled, and then the gameplay of twenty years ago begins to be painful. The developers carefully recreate the classic gamemeraduer sores of that time. For example, it was not customary to chew the player before, how, where and why did he need to go. Therefore, get ready – here no one will nurse with you, you will have to deal with everything on your own.
► the old weapon at a new level will not be selected. Therefore, at first, Fritz can be fervently shot from Blaster.
But it is a sin to complain about the diversity. Twenty minutes after the start and after the battle with the first incredibly complex boss (hardcore is another tribute to the “old school”) The girl finds the portal – “System Gluck”. Behind it is a typical East European town of the Second World War. Enharged Fritz, Mausers and tanks are attached. The item for the jokes of the main character is changing sharply. Experienced players recognize the knuckles addressed to the first Medal of Honor And Call of Duty.
Having shot pixel Germans and stepping back into the portal, the girl is in the arena of a typical online shooter in the spirit Quake 3. Here she will have to fight against monsters under the accompaniment of the angry screams of schoolchildren in a common chat ..
After a couple of portals, the chizer will be transferred to raw dungeons, and then to a medieval town with a pile of references to The Elder Scrolls. Then there will be the battlefields of strategy in real time, Space Invaders And a maze from PAC-Man! And this is only the very beginning.
"Dandy" makes a response blow
► This abstract-cubic boss has a unique ability-it can alone ruin the impression of the whole game. We'll have to endure.
The creators are not limited to a change of scenery, the gameplay changes at each level. So, in Eastern Europe, from the Second World War, instead of dashing and impudent blaster shootings, neat sorting out of trenches and throwing grenades in the windows – snipers, you know, do not do not doze.
In the pitch darkness of the dungeons, it is already ahead of the living dead, focusing on wheezing, groans and the sound of dragging limbs of zombies. Well, on the streets of the fantasy city, we fight off the skeleton with a sword and desperately throw fiery balls into them.
But such changes in mechanics cannot be called significant. A completely different matter-RTS-level. Tiny tanks fir at a girl from all their guns, forcing to act as quickly as possible. To get out of the level until the timer counted the last seconds, the old good rocket jump tested by the time and tested by thousands of players. Universal accelerator! However, the missiles are in short supply, and enemy combat vehicles surround the giant faster – they kill here once.
► The degree of absurdity sometimes reaches prohibitive values - one day you have to fight off the crowd of cartoon animals.
But a very special case is the era of eight -bit games! At the level of the name of the legendary Space Invaders We'll have to sit down at the helm of a spaceship and overcome the pack of ignorant aliens. With a machine gun at the ready, we are worn along the location and pour over the fire of unfriendly aliens descending from somewhere on top. We have not seen a classic game from such an angle.
In labyrinths PAC-Man We will have to, on the contrary, lay down the weapon – and wide open their mouths to break all the balls, avoiding ghost meeting – everything is like in a classical game. With the only difference being that you need to run with a first -person view. It is clear that it is almost impossible to navigate in the labyrinth with such a prospect. Salvation will be a projection on the ceiling, displaying the movements of the Heiser and all its opponents. And here we are another non -standard rethinking of the game of childhood.
* * *
Even being in the "early access of Steam" (now the game is represented by a short demo), Bedlam causes extremely pleasant emotions. Skillful flirting with nostalgic feelings is complemented by an excellent stylization of levels and original gameplay finds. In addition, a crazy action emphasizes an extraordinary story, for which the author of the first-handed book is in the answer. We definitely want to see it!
Success factors
Risk factors
- large -scale and worked out greetings from the entire “old school”;
- variety of gameplay moments;
- Unusual story.
- A rather large part of the audience (especially young) may not appreciate;
- and, perhaps, the gameplay of the nineties is better to stay in the nineties.
We will wait?
For anyone who spent the nineties in an embrace with a computer, Bedlam – A real gift. The developers have to come up with what to lure in their game those who are not familiar with Quake And Unreal And younger Space Invaders ten years.