Many of us remember Medievil as one of the first games to challenge our skills in a true RPG-style setting. Sending us out to fight countless undead and various enemies while completing tasks in a semi-open world over multiple landscapes brought us some difficulties and entertainment. Hell, I can admit it myself that I was never able to beat the game; at least not until I was a teenager and my skills were finally there.
Now we are getting a remaster that is set to launch in October with a free demo handed out. Thanks to seeing the announcement of the demo at PlayStation’s State of Play, I downloaded it immediately and set out to see how familiar the world was. To summarize this impression in short: reliving the classic game with better graphics and controls.
Gameplay
Thanks to the grand improvement of controls, both traversing where you want to go and the actual combat is much more plausible. No matter the action you want to take, the struggle of rough, early-age controls is not a factor anymore. You simply feel more in control of Daniel.
You are given a sword in the beginning before setting off into the world. This will give you the basic attacks as well as a charged attack that does a whirlwind move. The whirlwind move is perfect when approaching two or three different enemies as it takes them out swiftly, but make sure not to use the basic attack on all enemies as some are much more offensive than others… charge and swing on those guys.
Another aspect is the shield you are given. This thing is a lifesaver – literally. You have to be facing in the direction that the attack is coming from, but it absorbs the blows in full and leaves your health bar untouched. It does have a depletion rate of its own, so be sure to conserve its use while also not being too stingy with it.
Something I don’t recall from the original game, though I could be wrong, is the first-person view. You can look in first-person to see things inside corridors and areas better than the overview lets you. Not only that, but you can attack while in this state as well. I never really got to properly tested fighting in this view, but it is interesting that they made this a possibility.
Expectations
The world they give us in the demo is already set up mostly how I remember it when I was younger. That being said, I would expect the entire game to be a nigh perfect replica of the original, just with improved graphics of course.
Adding in the first-person aspect brings about a few possibilities that they could capitalize on. I hope to see them use this new mechanic in a way that would benefit the game, even if that means adding something that wasn’t there before or changing something somewhere.
I honestly don’t mind the few changes I saw in the demo compared to the original as it seems they just removed the tedious stuff (like slapping a statue to spin it and open a gate) and added more enemies for action. I enjoy puzzles, but I don’t think I’ll miss the puzzle elements in places that don’t have actual puzzles in them.
Conclusion
If you are a fan of the 1998 Medievil game, you have to at least try out the demo. The remastered version is looking like it will be a great game with subtle changes to a few varying areas. The layout is mainly the same and they are looking to bring more entertainment value to it with the subtle differences that can be found. Certainly a game for classic Playstation fans to look forward to!
