If there’s one gaming genre that embodies the spirit of late 90s PC gaming, it’s the six degrees of freedom shooter. Dropped into a labyrinthian mass of tunnels, players are tasked with navigating complex spaces utilising a full six degrees of freedom while dealing with enemies, hunting for keys and finding exits. Interplay’s Descent popularised the concept, but other brilliant games followed in its wake, including Probe Software’s stunning Forsaken. And now, thanks to the efforts of Nightdive Studios, Samuel ‘Kaiser’ Villarreal (the developer behind the EX versions of Turok, Doom 64 and Powerslave) and other talented coders, Forsaken has returned.
The original game launched in 1998 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation and Nintendo 64. It was developed in the UK for PC and PlayStation by Probe Entertainment while Iguana Entertainment UK handled the N64 version. Forsaken featured much the same gameplay formula as Descent, but thanks to its more advanced graphics engine, the visuals are less abstract than Descent, making it easier to navigate the complex structures. The action features a Doom-like quality to it with large numbers of enemies swarming the player at any point – and this mix of hectic action with fluid controls and puzzle solving feels great even today.
It was also a showpiece for 3D accelerator cards at the time. With its fast 3D engine, Forsaken could fill the screen with coloured, dynamic lighting – a look so 90s it hurts – along with large, detailed stages to explore and lots of enemies. It’s visually basic by today’s standards, with entire maps featuring roughly 18,000 triangles in total – significantly less than a single model in a modern game. Enemy ships seemingly average around 200 polygons while larger foes can be anything up to four times more detailed. It’s clearly a product of its time but in 1998, it looked incredible and Forsaken’s wide-ranging 3D acceleration support saw it adopted as a benchmark amongst hardware publications.
Source: Eurogamer Forsaken Remastered – the welcome return of the six-degrees shooter