We’re back once again to the wonderful world of boomer shooters, otherwise retro styled FPS games. Shooters that say bugger all to modern game design troupes and instead take inspiration from the classics. We have games trying to succeed Doom, Blood, Quake, and many more! From what I’ve played so far I quite like boomer shooters. It’s not one of my favorite genres and I can see a lot of people calling these games repetitive, but I respect how they focus on nothing more than offering pure chaotic fun. This time we’re looking at Amid Evil, another fast pace shooter but this time with a twist. Instead of carrying a huge arsenal of guns you instead carry around a huge arsenal of wizardry bullsh*t. Weapons that only madmen can conjure, and you then take said weapons and explore worlds beyond our own. Amid Evil took a bit of inspiration from the original Doom and Quake in terms of gameplay, but its main influence is the Heretic series. Not the most well known series out there, but pretty well acclaimed when it comes to the retro FPS community. A punishing yet fun retro FPS where you fight mystical beings using magic weapons and such. Sound familiar? Amid Evil would basically take the setting of the Heretic series and combine it with the quick reaction combat of Quake to create one of the most unique boomer shooters out there, and it would be published by none other than New Blood Interactive. It seems like these guys have an obsession when it comes to published retro styled FPS games.
Amid Evil was developed by Leon Zawada and Simon Rance, two inspired game developers who had been friends since childhood. They grew up playing retro FPS titles and at a young age they began creating mods for Doom. Once such mod they had been working on for a really long time was the original concept for Amid Evil, but the project got scrapped as it became too ambitious and more than what the Doom engine could handle. They instead worked on a conversion mod for Rise of The Triad and eventually they were employed to create a remake. That’s right, they were responsible for the 2013 remake of Rise of The Triad, which garnered a whole bunch of mixed results when it was released. This could’ve been the signal for them to give up and never go back to the FPS scene ever again, but then they remembered the fantastical project they had all those years ago. They would take the funding and knowledge they had gained up until that point and pour it into making their dream project. They formed a studio, Indefatigable, and began working on Amid Evil. They wanted to create their own universe without leaning so heavily on their inspiration. They designed 3D models, characters, and worlds unlike a majority of boomer shooters. Whereas you are able to tell what is what in Dusk or Ion Fury, it was hard to tell what exactly everything was in Amid Evil. The game released for early access in 2018 and overtime they added new content in the form of episodes, otherwise chapters if you don’t understand these kinds of titles. The full version was released in 2019 and reception for it was really good. It had to compete with Dusk and Ion Fury, but it slowly wormed its way to the top and became one of the more highly rated shooters on Steam. The overall ratings for Amid Evil are currently sitting at an Overwhelmingly Positive rate as of right now.
The game is going to turn 4 years old in a couple of days, and with that amount of time you have to wonder if it lived up to the hype. Is Amid Evil as good as retro FPS fans claim it to be. A while back it went on sale for five dollars, and I thought it was the perfect time to pick it up and try out a game people claim is the best. I had to tweak the settings around because the game didn’t run well at first, but once I got it working I plowed right through it within the last few days. I think Amid Evil is a pretty good boomer shooter. It’s fun, has a good combat loop, art direction, and it’s a game that I can easily recommend to people who are into these sorts of shooters. Is it flawed though and there’s a couple of problems that hold it back from me loving it as much as Dusk or Prodeus. Still, this is a great game and I can’t wait to talk to you all about it. Today we’ll be discussing why I quite liked Amid Evil and why it deserves your attention.
Story
Hundreds of years ago, a powerful entity known as the Evil Force decided to rain hell upon the land and unleash an army of cosmic horrors. The monstrous army then began to spread across the realms, and the gods who project the realms feared what would come next. They attempted to chase the Evil Force and its army back themselves, only for them to fail miserably and come back weakened. They then decided to implore a bunch of heroes to do the work for them. These heroes were the strongest champions and warriors the land had to offer, but despite their strength they were easily vanquished by the forces of the Evil Force. It’s been eons and none of the many selected heroes have successfully defeated the Evil Force or one of his many stronger minions. This is what leads us to you. A fierce warrior who decided to take on the gruesome trial of the Black Labyrinth and prove to the gods you are worthy of taking on the army of the Evil Forces. One of the six gods trusts you and gifts to you a divine axe capable of slaying the sinister evil. The warrior is deemed a Champion and is teleported to a temple outside their plane of existence. The temple houses portals leading to six different dimensions. Each dimension being protected by one of the six gods until the Evil Force ravaged them. The divine weapon you carry allows you to travel between worlds, and they want you to explore the six worlds and slay the strong baddies the Evil Force has hired to rule over them. Along the way you’ll pick up more magical weapons which the gods have gifted you to help with your quest. It’s up to you Champion! You are our last line of defense to the battle between good and evil.
Gameplay
If you have played a boomer shooter before then you should probably know what to expect of Amid Evil. Fast pace movement, interestingly designed arenas, a barrage of enemies coming your way, and a variety of weapons to fight back against them. There’s seven weapons in total and they each have their purpose during combat. Your starting weapon for each episode is the divine battle axe, which can be swung rapidly to deal heavy melee damage. It’s good for when you have run out of ammo or face off against foes who aren’t aggressive, but later on it becomes an not so useful option as enemies deal heavy amounts of damage and running up to them becomes risky. You can instead use one of the six projectile weapons you can loot throughout every episode. The simplest one being this magical blue staff, which rapidly fires magical projectiles when you hold down the firing button. The projectiles also have the ability to home in on the foe you are targeting, so it can be useful for enemies who are always moving about or are hard to hit. Second weapon is this green saber which can fire big horizontal projectiles. The projectile has the ability to slash through groups of enemies, so it’s good when you are either facing a foe or baddies who like to bundle up with each other. There’s a trident that shoots a beam of lightning and the longer you concentrate the beam on a single foe the more damage it’ll deal. There’s a rod that pulls out planets from nowhere, shrinks them down, and transforms them into explosive projectiles. It’s basically this game’s version of a rocket launcher, and you want to be careful when using it as it has the ability to deal damage to you when in close quarters or aimed towards the ground. You have this mace made of ice, and when swung it can unleash a barrage of icicles. It does heavy amounts of damage and can launch enemies back to pin them on walls, but the catch is that the hitbox for them is small and you have to line your shots up just right. Final weapon is this miraculous spiraling cannon that shoots out a projectile that electrocutes everything in the field. This game’s version of the BFG 9000, and it’s the get out of jail free card when you are stuck in a sticky situation. Each weapon has their own ammo type, or mana type in this case. Some weapons like the staff and trident share the same ammo type, and then there’s the planet launcher and BFG-like beam which have mana types that are harder to come by.
One thing that separates Amid Evil from many boomer shooters is that it has an ultimate meter. Enemies drop Soul when defeated, and picking up Soul will fill up the meter. When the ultimate meter is triggered it will send the Champion into this powered up state. Charging his weapons and making them more deadly. Your projectiles become faster and more deadlier, but mana is consumed more rapidly. Using the ultimate meter at the right time is great when you are low on health and don’t think you can survive the next encounter. I usually use it against bosses or when there’s too many foes within a small space. Enemies come in a wide variety of flavors and each episode seems to have its own special species of evil. You have simple baddies who run up to attack you, guys who fire projectiles at you, enemies that do both, enemies who fly around, guys with explosive projectiles, and much more. Each episode has three levels and a boss fight lies at the end. These levels are pretty lengthy and are teaming with secrets if you look in the right places. Some secrets will grant you one of the six weapons early in an episode, and other secrets may give you full mana refills or these special health orbs that fill you up on two hundred health points beyond your maximum health. These secrets can be easily missed, but look carefully and you may find the resources you need to keep moving forward. Bosses are these colossal beings that either stomp around the arena or throw projectiles at you in this wide open space. Using everything you have stumbled upon up until this point you must fire away everything you have while also dodging its projectiles. Knock its health bar down to zero and you may complete the episode and exit the realm. Complete every episode and you may access the final realm which houses the Evil Force. Besides that I don’t really have much else to say. It’s a fun game with a simplistic combat loop, and hopefully you can win the battle between light and dark.
Thoughts
As I’ve stated already, Amid Evil is one of the most unique first person shooters I’ve played and there’s quite a few things it does right. The combat loop is super fun and addicting. That’s to be expected of a boomer shooter as anything is better than hiding behind a wall and occasionally firing back. You run around and use your character’s momentum to avoid the projectiles being hurled your way. You're not going to avoid every projectile and it’s easy to be knocked down to a mere ten to twenty health points, but that rush to keep fighting and stay alive a little longer is what makes these games really fun. What I really appreciate about Amid Evil is how resources are color coated. It’s easy to identify what is healthy and the ammo type you need for your many weapons. Almost all of the weapons are really fun to use, and the only one I really disliked was the trident because it felt underwhelming and didn’t pack the punch other weapons had. I like how there is an ultimate meter which can be saved for difficult scenarios, but honestly you can beat the whole game without having to activate it. It’s gonna be a lot harder, but you just have to save up your resources and know how to out move everything being thrown at you. Best thing about Amid Evil has to be the art direction. Everything is just so unique to look at. From the many dazzling colors on screen to the beautiful environments. You have levels which take place in this cosmic skybox and levels that twist and spiral. A lot of the levels in Amid Evil have this maze-like design and you gotta wonder how the designers could make such things.
The boss fights are also a highlight of this game and some of the most fun boss fights you are going to find in a first person shooter. The spectacle, the mechanics they focus around, and the feeling you get when you finally bring them towards the ground. The final fight in particular is epic and finally slaying the evil that scourged the land is satisfying. The story is forgettable, but that’s to be expected from a boomer shooter as these games don’t really prioritize storytelling. It’s all about the gameplay and the rush you get from entering another fight. It’s great, but I don’t think Amid Evil is an excellent boomer shooter. I think it deserves the Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam and the fact that it was made from former Doom modders is impressive. Sadly, there are flaws that hold it back and may even bother some players. First off, the performance is not the best. This is more of a me problem as I never invested in a gaming PC and just play a majority of PC games on a Thinkpad. I had to knock the settings and quality down to low to the point Amid Evil looked like a pixel game. Which is a shame, because Amid Evil is a stunning looking title despite its limitations. Even when I knocked the quality down to the lowest setting I still encountered frame rate drops. Part of the reasons why I think Amid Evil has performance problems is because of how big levels are, and the amount of color and lighting. Amid Evil uses advanced lighting and recently they released an update that allows you to toggle ray tracing. The game having to keep up with so much at once is why the game chugs at certain sections.
The levels are pretty lengthy, but after a while the length of said levels actually starts to hurt the game. The game took me between 9-10 hours to beat, which is double the amount of time it takes to beat something like Dusk and Prodeus. A lot of players are going to love how much there is on offer here, but personally I thought Amid Evil really started to overstay its welcome by the end. With gauntlets that can last up to 20-30 minutes, and even longer since the auto save system can make you lose several minutes of progress. Level design is something I haven’t mentioned until now, because the level design honestly sucks. The art direction is splendid, again, and a ton of the places you visit later on are grand spectacles. However, they aren’t fun to traverse through. Some levels suffer from the Quake problem where they jam into a tight hallway and force you to fight a wave of enemies. This doesn’t jell well with the player’s fast movement speed as speedy combat works better with bigger more open arenas. Half the time when you are fighting in a hallway you end up back peddling during combat, because moving forward is basically instant death. Then you have the levels that require sharp platforming and dangle you above bottomless pits. The last world has the generosity to spawn you back onto a platform when you fall, but early on it becomes frustrating. You end up playing carefully and moving inch by inch, because you don’t want to follow off and get scrambled. You don’t want to die from what’s below, but you don’t want to die from the enemies attacking you. Other complaints come with boss fight balancing and how they give you weapons. I feel like the game gives you all the weapons too early. To be fair Dusk does this as well, but Dusk still unrolled unique tools and gear in later chapters. For example, the ancient blade found within the third episode of Dusk. In Amid Evil you can unlock all the weapons within the first episode, which is a bit underwhelming. Finally the boss fights seem to be unbalanced as I can activate my ultimate, use the staff, and just kill them within seconds. There’s only a few bosses that put up a fair challenge, and that would be the eyeball boss and the final boss. Despite the problems, Amid Evil is still a very good time. I think a ton of people will get their money's worth and if you’re a boomer shooter fan you will absolutely love this one. In the end I give Amid Evil an 8/10 for pretty good.
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