Tomi on 21/10/2022 at 10:52
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
Even DOS Wolf3D had more colorful weapon sprites.
More colourful doesn't always mean that it's better.
Inline Image:
https://i.ibb.co/z5Jwzbw/wolf3d.jpgHaving said that, I'm not too keen on the bland palette of Cultic either. The stylized look works pretty well here and there, but it can also look quite downright ugly and sometimes it's hard to tell what's going on. They really should have made the enemies in proper 3D as well, since pretty much everything else in the game seems to have 3D models. I suppose they've went with that style so that it looks "retro" enough, but in my opinion the spinning enemy corpses on the floor look just terrible.
Also, what's with the music in some levels? It doesn't fit the gameplay at all.
ZylonBane on 21/10/2022 at 16:16
I think the root problem with Cultic's graphics is that instead of creating proper low-color pixel art that looks good within its limitations, the dev seems to be throwing high(er)-color art at the engine, then relying on a shader to blindly smash the palette down into a very limited range that almost looks more like the (
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cga_p0.png) CGA palette, which was infamously godawful for games.
Watching gameplay videos and the way held weapons are lit as the player moves around, I'm not even certain they are sprites. They might actually be 3D models run through a pixelation filter, which would explain why they look so sloppy instead of having that hand-crafted pixel art look. The scope on the rifle even has visible polygon segments around its perimeter.
Edit: Reading some reviews on Steam, apparently there are options to turn down the color filtering and the pixelation.
Tomi on 19/12/2022 at 06:36
So "boomer shooter" seems to have become the official word for this genre. Humble Bundle has a pretty interesting (
https://www.humblebundle.com/games/holiday-encore-best-boomer-shooters-bundle) Best of Boomer Shooters bundle available for the next 36 hours. You'll get the following seven games for 12 euros:
Forgive Me Father
DUSK
AMID EVIL
Dread Templar
Hedon Bloodrite
Project Warlock
HellboundI only know two of these, but thought that someone might find this interesting.
Jason Moyer on 22/6/2023 at 07:21
I dunno, I think it's lost a lot of the spirit and creative playfulness of the original Trepang.
Malf on 22/6/2023 at 07:45
Yeah, while the thumbnail implies G-man liked it, watching the whole video offers a more nuanced opinion. He loves the shooting, but points out that everything apart from that is pretty lacklustre.
Sulphur on 22/6/2023 at 07:49
Frankly, I think the prequel Trepang0 did much better world-building, and it managed that while being a deep top-down tactical squad game crossed with Hotline Miami.
Jason Moyer on 29/7/2023 at 05:14
Super pumped for more of Amid Evil. Still my favorite retro shooter so far, I love how it's a mishmash of the best bits of Heretic and Hexen II.
