Game:

Chasm: The Rift (1997)

Duration: 30:50

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4

Author: Jezzah (https://twitter.com/JezzahKP)
Download: https://www.moddb.com/games/chasm-the-rift/addons/grim-borough-for-chasm-the-rift


It's time to go back in time yet again: Another sighting of Timestrikers has been reported.

A glimpse of an Interesting creative idea to replace intermission cutscenes with some ancient storage room with chests, and we arrive in the first level, in front of two pillars with circular handles that are going to be the central element of style here, appearing in multiple rooms.

Small bit of wondering why brick texture to the right had to be squished, and we go out in the open to face first two Jokers.

The mod claims to be compatible with PanzerChasm, but in that port I couldn't go past the very first door: nothing happened when I touched it, so DosBOX it is. Liked that bit of trivia in the readme, though: good to know that in original game dismemberment is based on when you shoot and PanzerChasm didn't get it right.

So DOSBox it is, then.

The design is claustrophobic like in original game, with small rooms and choke points that can easily get you killed. There's the mazelike feel in the environment, something nightmarish and unreal, because you can't quite understand what place you're in, and what it was built for. Thankfully, this mazelike nature is in the feel only, and you won't get lost and go wandering in circles.

The architecture provides good variety of different places and excellent lighting where brighter and darker parts get together to form a creepy atmosphere.

Room at 02:00 looks like it originally was a cave, and remains a cave even today, just with some reinforcing constructions added to prevent cave-ins. Good use of elevation changes, square pillars and tilted wooden supports.

06:21 - somehow enemies managed to push me outside the level.

10:25 - we leave the gothic castle and run through the cemetery. Probably that's the escape path the King himself took when the enemies attacked. On the next level you see part of the previous one, like in Blood's Cryptic Passage and Powerslave's Return to Ruins, which is a great way to show that all maps are parts of bigger location. The environment is even more nightmarish now, with some teeth on the walls.

14:00 - the catacombs get more and more menacing. Some alien looking teeth are bloody, and there's lava on the floor somehow. Enemies get more and more dangerous, esspecially the ones with crossbows: arrows fly very fast and they're quick to shoot, too.

17:01 - we leave the perimeter of the castle walls and get into strange place which looks like small streets and some tudor styled houses without windows.

17:30 - we enter one, it's small and empty inside. A place where no one can live, a place without clear purpose and reason to exist. A nightmare. Especially considering the house that surrounds the whole place with its walls...

18:30 - the tavern is the most difficult place in the addon, but there's not much running and gunning here, unfortunately: all combat is happening around the choke point - entrance doors.

22:56 - This is the level where the final battle happens. We find a rocket launcher and search for the Timestrikers' platoon.

The gameplay demonstrates some pretty fun ideas here. At 27:00 you can kill enemies by luring them into the lava. And the final battle is a satisfying massacre where we give'em hell with our explosive weapon, even killing two heavy weapon wielders reminiscent of Wolfenstein 3D's bosses.

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