A few polygons, an “old-good” atmosphere and a bad gun-the formula of the ideal shooter with the age limit “old+”. A New Blood Interactive – a studio that works on this formula. We’ll talk about her.
The story of great love (in our case for the shooters) began with David Shimansky-boys who played in doom, Half-Life and Quake. He did not pull anything else, but he did not lose time for nothing and drew inspiration. And in 2006, he sat down at his own project-DUSK. Line’s project was noticed in New Blood, and in 2018 the retro-player has already come out. The honed mechanics of the 90s, a rich arsenal and the same nostalgic-brutal experience-critics and players were delighted. And the game received high marks and the title of "Authentic Old School Shooter".
Amid Evil
As you know, old-school shooters calmly exist in the conditions of techno-science fiction: the clatter of the shutters will easily get used to the shooting of undead. But what will happen if you turn the shooter into a purebred fantasy? The second project of New Blood’s – Amid Evil came to these rakes. In 2019, players changed the equipment: the guns were replaced by stoves, fuel for the chainsaw – Mana. The project was good, but the success of the predecessor did not repeat: Game design and soundtrack were pumped up. In the list of inspirers to Doom and Quake, Heretic and Hexen joined.
The next project has disowned the fantasy and has been in early access since 2020. Ultrakill is a Devil May Cry and Doom Eternal hybrid with the Combo system: the faster and more sophisticated you destroy enemies, the greater the reward at the end of the level. Of the gameplay innovations – verticality that allows you to jump through the air from enemy to the enemy. However, the abundance of the mechanic and the bobber did not overshadow the Low level schedule and did not kill the “retro”. The players warmly accepted Ultrakill, and the New Blood Interactive, probing the nerve of the industry, deduced the perfect shooter formula.
Now we rummage under the hood. Let’s start with the main one – with shooting. In Dusk and Amid Evil, a character can carry 9 types of weapons with him: from a pistol and a magic staff to a sniper rifle and a rocket launcher. If Dusk was built according to the classical scheme “One gun – one type of shooting and cartridges”, then in Amid Evil weapons were acquired by alternative modes when the character uses Ultu.
Further, Ultrakill came. Each gun has an alternative regime, but no ammunition. And to spur the player to fill the combo, all weapons have kuldowns. So you have to juggle arsenal.
I am pleased that there is a freedom of choice: a sniper, of course, will put a semi -boss in two counts, but no one prevents him from laying it out of a four pistol. The developers push the experiments, placing the player in critical situations when there is no time for thought.
The enemies of the New Blood’s are the most classic ones – they are wandering from the project to the project, a changing skin, but without changing the class. There are “neighbors”, “Dagoths” with a slow attack and “Dagoths” with a quick attack. Changes occur only due to the mechanic. For example, a slow magician from Dusk shoots a fireball. But the same magician with another skin from Amid Evil is already jumping through obstacles, knows dodgers and hits nearby. And in Ultrakill, the character can generally beat Faerbol with a fist and return it to the same magician. But this applies only to weak opponents. Strong change from the game to the game: each has a unique pattern of behavior, design and attack.
Moving
The key to a good arcade shooter is a well -exhibited movement that is motivated by the desire to survive. In all games, the run is on default. For greater speed and dynamics, there are jumps from Quake, for height-springboard and Rocket-Jump. In Dusk, to everything else, they added a tackle, and this is immediately a dash and a deterioration. And with a buff, you can climb the walls. But this is a rarity, so the character spends most of the time on his two.
If in Dusk and Amid Evil the high speed on the ground is the key to survival, then in Ultrakill the emphasis on maneuvers in the air. And the movement of constant speed was replaced by jerks, which is directly related to the battleship.
But no mechanics will work on a bad location. And Ultrakill, Dusk and Amid Evil first Arena-players. In each of them, about 30 levels. And there are almost no similar locations in any. The developers made levels interactive taking into account the features of the battleship, the movements of the player and enemies.
Dusk is dominated by open locations and the possibility of nonlinear passage. You can take a barrel, put it on the wall and climb. But you can break the face of the enemy with the same barrel, which protects the key to the gate. You can get lost, but the path from the first -aid kit will always lead you to the end of the level.
Amid Evil and Ultrakill turned out to be more linear: it is difficult to turn the wrong way here. But you can and should. At least to search for secrets. Some of them can only be obtained when using certain mechanics: for example, a meteorite jump, parkor on the walls.
Moralogonal graphics are already at the subconscious level associated with retro. David Shimanski said that when developing DUSK "The most difficult thing was to make the graphics look bad". The next studio games went along this path. The achievement of retro aesthetics attracted fans of "jam". And trailers with the old HD graphics attracted Newfags.
The picture helped to configure the audience for the game. One glance at the screen is enough to understand that now a collapse in the QUKE style will begin. And if you want to add a little doom’a, you can aging a graphics. At the same time, the image does not load the system, so almost every “dinosaur” will pull Dusk, Amid Evil and Ultrakill. Aesthetically practical, authentic.
If we talk about how it plays. In all New Blood Interactive projects, music is connected only by scripts. The principle of example: moments of calm are interrupted in certain places and are included again at the death of the last enemy in the arena zone.
If we talk about https://lowdeposit-casinos.co.uk/minimum-deposit-betting-sites/ what plays. Dusk and Ultrakill plays rock with elements of techno and guitar splitting. But the music from DUSK’A is heavier, long and gloomy to match the setting. And the constant speed of the character is ideally combined with the traction guitar parties. Recall that the movement here is still without jerks.
In Ultrakill differently – all movements are clearly divided into “stand” and “go”. And the music focuses on techno, adjusting to their sharp shift. Blows on plates occupy the role of a leading instrument in tracks, which helps players keep the pace. And for brutality is the bass-guitar.
Amid Evil this time distinguished. He followed in the footsteps of Call of Duty and hit the "Orchestra Sound". Perhaps because of this the game turned out a little weaker than Dusk. The players rolled up their sleeves and were preparing to get off the elbow. But the Indefatigable team, responsible for development, rolled everything back.
John Karmak from ID Software said: "The plot in the game, like a plot in a porn movie. It is needed, but not important ". To navigate in the plot helps inscriptions on the walls. You can reinforce knowledge about what is happening with books with Lor, and the essence of the collapse is found on Wikipedia. But there is exactly so much that “porn” begins, so you will not know much: for example, in Amid Evil, monsters attacked the lands of the protagonist, he needs to protect his native land, so he kills everyone. All.
NewBlood’y, taking an example from game forefathers, approach the plot of primitive instincts. If there were tasks to frighten and mock the cinema, then games were created for pleasure in all manifestations. The player needs to tear himself away, get high to enthusiastic cries: “Look how it was broken. ". There is no time for the plot in the Arena-Shuther-this is the covenant of Oldskula. This is how NewBloodinTective works.
For some, the fun may end on the dancing element-at the dark levels. They are in all three games. In DUSK, darkness does the tension. Do not care that you have full health and arsenal for the advantage. You are not up to this now – invisible crap is chasing you. Amid Evil and Ultrakill Scheme a little easier. Here it is a challenge for a player. But the dark levels in all cases are an element that can be thrown away, and the game will not lose anything.
The little things include unusual settings. Adjustment of the location of weapons, interface style and sight. Well, the opportunity to aging graphs to the level of modern art and color filter indie art Game. These are optional things, but they are. And it’s cool. Like the boot screen resembling the starting window of the ancient versions of Windows.
In New Blood Interactive games, a huge number of mechanics, which are not only tidy and thrown into a heap, but also competently connected. The player is able to experiment and check the strength code. The developers put themselves in the place of the consumer and made them so that they themselves were interested in. Old mechanics pumped to modern standards and got a second life. The introduction of new ideas helped the projects not to be a banal plagiarism, but proudly called the followers of the traditions of Oldskul with their atmosphere, battles and methods of researching the world.
New Blood Interactive took care of the wrap. Soropoligonal 3D from the Retro era helps to tune in to the desired drive-nostalgic wave. STAR under the old graphics was presented by DUSK, Amid Evil and Ultrakill Style. And made games available to owners of even the oldest PCs. The plot, appropriate for specifics, does not interfere with gameplay. The player must focus on the sensations and rhythm of the game – music to help. This is the New Blood Interactive – an echo of the bygone era, which gives Oldam Nostalgia, and Newfags – experience.
The best comments
DUSK-this is a modern car in retro-style. You seem to look at the appearance, at the salon-everything from past times. But you just have to drive and go, as you immediately realize when it was done.
Amid Evil in this regard is much more retro game. At least external bells and whistles and more. Even the rays were brought. In its mechanics, this game is much closer to the classics from the 90s.
Undoubtedly Ultrakill, Amid Evil and Dusk are not the level of the Duma. Both of his parts took a huge step forward and these are delightful AAA shooters. But all the games of their materials have God forbid the developer team. And the New Blood Interactive, as a young publisher, does not have a huge number of means to sponsor really grandiose projects. But they decided to work with the developers of the indie of the segment. This, I think, is the right decision. Do not show you, they say, here we look at large projects, but honestly do small ones, but with a soul.
The plus for all New Bloods specially work with developers who promote their own ideas about "Old Skule". So David Shimanski was originally made by the halter under the old Dum, Kwick and the first Half. And this halter turned out well. In the framework of naming as a tribute of games of those years. They really have nothing new for a modern gamer. But David’s idea was this. Although this, of course, is not an excuse. DUSK is more likely to look at what the older generation played, but with doped mechanics and a slightly twisted count.
About Ultrakill – a spino -button shooter without a plot. But he was designed so. Here you need a skil for the sake of a skill. A bunch of mechanic who are charged with each other to fill the combo and excessive discharge of dopamine. If you approach the project with such thoughts, then it will definitely interest. (At least interested me).
Well, the most passing amid Evil. It is quite difficult to protect it, because there is nothing besides an unusual setting in fact. Players noticed this moment almost immediately.
P.S. I will not say that I’m a fanbo. I met the first Duma a couple of years ago. Kwick was a little earlier. I rather just like the very simplicity of the idea of the genre. Yes, without excess. But the ancestors of the shooters exploded the charts without excess. Although now they would not have succeeded. And this is understandable, because the game industry greatly evolved. But these games are essentially only occupied their niche. From this they certainly did not become worse
This is the New Blood Interactive – an echo of the bygone era, which gives Oldam Nostalgia, and Newfags – experience.
Key phrase. She gives experience and nostalgia, but there is no pleasure. I played these Indie-Retro-Schools. In theory, they are good, but exactly until the realization comes that as in childhood there will never be. For thirty years, your tastes have evolved, and such crafts can only play in the repeater "like in childhood". Imitate the wrapper, but no more.
First, they do not give a feeling of adventure. Just some kind of mappack you go through the statue. It’s not that I wanted a mild cinema, but some kind of sense of adventure and progression is needed.
Secondly, all the mechanics in these games are a banal jamming of LKM for enemies. Sometimes they try to come up with some kind of concept there, but it rarely comes further.
Great example of this: Duma 2016 and Eternal. The developers understood all these problems of the jetans that the times passed when it was possible to make a map of boxes, arrange enemies on it and this delivered it to the player. It is precisely manual work on the design of arenoks and game mechanics. Moreover, the lazy dlts show that manual design decides what mechanic is, painstaking solves.
At the same time, it is very difficult to talk about such subtle matters on these Internet. The cover is beautiful and most are bought on it. But pringing the laziness of design and its failure in the framework of the text is quite problematic. Especially if you communicate with Fanboy: “Yes! As in childhood. Shooters. MEAT. Nothing else is needed. ".
There are moments with which I agree. Adventure is really a great motivator for launching and passing the game. Find the mods for old games is also an option (but how many of them can be re -surpassed?).
But the repeater behind childhood, jerking off for the sake of jerking off exactly what is fun. This gives those feelings of adrenaline and drive from fierce kneels. Games inside themselves are captured qualitatively and function accordingly. This is done simple from the word at all, but this does not interfere with enjoying the game. But this is perhaps subjective for everyone, because it is difficult to disagree with the fact that the game industry should develop. If she starts to stomp in the spot and players will not receive entertainment. However, there are not many good projects that convey the spirit of the old school I know. Return to the origins can also be funny. These projects really entertained and gave me pleasure. Let me delve into slopes, but not get rid of the sensations. Namely, based on them, I made this blog.
But all the games of their materials have God forbid the developer team. And the New Blood Interactive, as a young publisher, does not have a huge number of means to sponsor really grandiose projects.
All these budgets are needed only for graphone. They affect mechanics and design in any way. There is a mod Slayer’s Testaments, which transfers Duma 2016 and Eternal to the Kveik 1 engine. And he perfectly shows that besides graphone, these huge budgets are not needed.
This, I think, is the right decision. Do not show you, they say, here we look at large projects, but honestly do small ones, but with a soul.
The plus for all New Bloods specially work with developers who promote their own ideas about "Old Skule". So David Shimanski was originally made by the halter under the old Dum, Kwick and the first Half. And this halter turned out well. In the framework of naming as a tribute of games of those years. They really have nothing new for a modern gamer. But David’s idea was this.
Generate information garbage is called. Games should entertain and bring pleasure, and not masturbate with ideas for ideas. You yourself are essentially already admitting that all these retro-indi-players play the repeater after childhood and do nothing besides the cover.
DUSK is more likely to look at what the older generation played, but with doped mechanics and a slightly twisted count.
Fuck? If you want to see as before – run old games. Do you want a fit graphone – probably fashion.
About Ultrakill – a spino -button shooter without a plot. But he was designed so. Here you need a skil for the sake of a skill. A bunch of mechanic who are charged with each other to fill the combo and excessive discharge of dopamine. If you approach the project with such thoughts, then it will definitely interest. (At least interested me).
Fuck? Jerking off for the sake of jerking out to me and in other games and even in reality enough. Jerk off is pleasure only if the motivation ignites you. To put stats of level stats to the dials – well, this is what for yourself, only children and streamers are interesting. And I want adventure.
I rather just like the very simplicity of the idea of the genre.
Which again leads to the idea that such games are good only in theory, and not in practice. Beautiful cover without content.
But the ancestors of the shooters exploded the charts without excess. Although now they would not have succeeded.
Exactly. And try to protect something here-well, this is for yourself. I have already said that as in childhood there will never be. And copy primitive products without looking at evolution is to create garbage distracting from better projects. And the entertainment products, including meat jester-now the ocean, and all these retro-indi-shuthanes only distract from them "Azazaz. As in childhood. MEAT. RETRO. Shutan. ".