This is either a symbol of Cyberpunk 2077’s wildly reversed reputation or perhaps the board game audience’s endless hunger for throwing money at games with lots of components and a bunch of little plastic guys. A fundraiser for Cyberpunk 2077 – The Board Game by Go On Board hit its target of $100,000 in just 10 minutes and four seconds. It’s now past the $1.9 million mark and continuing to rise.
Note that this is the second Cyberpunk 2077 licensed board game, following Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City – The Board Game by Cool Mini Or Not, which raised a mere $886,783 on Kickstarter.
I’m not immune to the draw of a big box full of cool plastic miniatures myself. I bought a copy of Cthulhu: Death May Die, the co-op game by CMON that raised a stonking $3 million on Kickstarter, and it’s both a fun time and a handy collection of little guys to use in my next Call of Cthulhu game. But it’s tough to get excited when a license as big as Cyberpunk 2077—especially following the popularity of Netflix’s Edgerunners anime and the well-received Phantom Liberty DLC—resorting to crowdfunding. The videogame’s sold more than 25 million copies, surely they know it’s going to have an audience already.
Go On Board previously developed The Witcher: Old World and The Witcher: Path of Destiny board games. If you’re interested in throwing more money at them, or just watching a number go up, they’re crowdfunding Cyberpunk 2077 – The Board Game on Gamefound.
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https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1725434350_A-new-Cyberpunk-2077-board-game-crowdfunding-campaign-hit-its.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-09-04 08:06:122024-09-04 08:06:12A new Cyberpunk 2077 board game crowdfunding campaign hit its goal in 10 minutes and is now well past a million dollars
The Sims 4 turned 10 years old this week, bringing the longest-reigning game in the series into double digits. It’s been around so long now that I sometimes forget what it was like at launch: Back in 2014 it didn’t even have basements, for instance. After poring over old patch notes for other examples, it turns out I’d forgotten about all sorts of other features that I’ve gotten used to taking for granted.
As a Sims player, there will always be more features I want the series to add. Like, are we ever going to get cars in The Sims 4? I may occasionally dip away to The Sims 3 to revisit features like the open world and Create-A-Style, but The Sims 4 has made big strides of its own since it launched, adding better representation of skin colors and genders, as well as introducing my beloved tiny houses. For its 10th anniversary, I wanted to acknowledge how much further The Sims 4 has changed. So here’s a rundown on all the features you likely forgot didn’t exist 10 years ago.
2014
#1 Ghosts
(Image credit: EA)
This update came just a few months after The Sims 4 launched, but prior to Patch 5, Sims who died would just… be dead. After the ghosts update, the afterlife started to look way more like we know it now, with ghost Sims who can be a nuisance around the house by possessing objects and pranking live Sims or be added to the family to stay playable in their post-mortem state.
#2 Pools
(Image credit: EA)
I had completely forgotten that The Sims 4 launched without swimming pools. It’s a travesty that the original launch was missing such an important cultural touchstone for the series. With Patch 7, The Sims 4 got swimming pools in Build Mode and a swimwear category in Create-A-Sim. It also meant that Sims could die by drowning when running out of energy in the pool, but that whole “deleting the ladder to trap them” thing remains a relic of the past, since Sims in The Sims 4 are able to just climb out of the edge of a pool on their own.
2015
Genealogy:Patch 12 added the genealogy menu showing the family tree for your Sims so you don’t have to remember off hand who’s related to who in your big Legacy challenge.
#3 Basements
(Image credit: EA)
Wait, The Sims 4 didn’t even have basements when it launched? That can’t be right. Oh but it is. Building below ground level was added in Patch 15, though at the time you were only able to build two floors below the ground. These days, you can build four basement levels in The Sims 4, you know, for your really really secret lairs. This patch also added jobs for townie Sims and the ability to meet other Sims while at work with those drop down work performance choices.
#4 Newcrest
(Image credit: EA)
Patch 20 for The Sims 4 feels like a big one because it added an entire world that I’ve totally taken for granted since then. The blank slate Newcrest neighborhood didn’t exist when The Sims 4 launched and players just didn’t have enough empty lots to use for building their own homes. So in crashed Newcrest with 15 empty lots in all sorts of sizes and honestly, I’ve almost never built a house in Willow Creek since then. Patch 20 also added the Welcome Wagon, that event where all your neighbors show up with fruitcake to say hello to any new neighbor.
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Half Walls:Patch 21 added the handy half wall feature for all those ’90s style kitchen-to-den floor plans or your stylish city lofts with open bedrooms.
#5 Dishwashers
(Image credit: EA)
Yet another really basic feature from past games that I’m shocked arrived a year later—Patch 23 for The Sims 4 added dishwashers to Buy Mode. This wasn’t a huge patch, it was mostly bug fixes and the dishwasher, but that feels like such a critical addition. I know dishwashers aren’t a given all over the world, but I almost never build a house in The Sims without one. Especially since designating sinks didn’t come until years later and Sims were always so likely to scrub dishes in the bathroom.
2016
#6 Gender customization
(Image credit: EA)
The Sims 4 made some big changes to gender in Create-A-Sim with Patch 34. This is when we got the ability to determine whether a Sim is able to get pregnant and whether they use the toilet sitting or standing. It also totally decoupled gender from style by making all clothing pieces, accessories, and hairstyles available to Sims regardless of gender. It was a big deal at the time and Maxis shared that it had been working on the update for over a year and consulting with GLAAD during the process.
Nannies: Patch 37 added the ability to call a per-hour nanny service to watch over your smaller Sims. Live Mode players rejoice, having two working parents is finally feasible.
Apartments: The release of the City Living expansion brought apartments to The Sims 4, at least their first iteration. Rental units were pretty restricted at this point, but it was nice to decorate those high rise units.
2017
#7 Toddlers
(Image credit: EA)
We all got so caught up in asking for the infants life stage (which came later) that I totally forgot that toddlers didn’t get added until 2017. Prior to Patch 46, babies in their little bassinets would age up directly into a walking, talking, school-bus-riding child. Childcare was such a small part of The Sims 4 until this point but the toddlers patch added specific traits, skills, clothes, and interactions for tiny Sims.
Photography: Patch 57 brought the Photography skill and the ability to take selfies with a Sim’s cellphone which they could then decorate their homes with.
Item resize hotkeys: The same Patch 57 also gave new powers to Build Mode players with the ‘[‘ and ‘]’ hotkeys for sizing up and down objects. I can’t live without resizing rugs and paintings now.
2018
Hot and cold outfits: Patch 68 alongside the Seasons expansion added two new outfits to Create-A-Sim: hot weather and cold weather. This is great for Live Mode players who enjoy the realism, but a trial for me having to design two additional outfits for every Sim.
Gallery overhaul: In Patch 71, the Gallery got an overhaul to improve hashtags, search functions, and getting some of the best user-created Sims and houses in front of you. Honestly, the Gallery is still pretty wonky to this day, but it used to be wonkier.
(Image credit: EA)
I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have terrain tools despite playing through it. The brushes for sculpting lot topography that we’d had in The Sims 3 didn’t make it into The Sims 4 until Patch 73. After this, I started seeing all sorts of incredible speed builds like hobbit hole houses or castles with moats. The possibilities skyrocketed way past my modest skills. Patch 73 was a pretty big one beyond this major feature, also adding the first-person camera, more basement levels, more half wall heights, and the ability to name a custom career for, say, your Sims who don’t technically have a job but make money writing novels or hit songs.
2019
Debug items cheat: Patch 82 added “bb.showliveeditobjects” to the list of Sims 4 cheats, giving build mode players access to all sorts of objects previously reserved for use by the development team.
#9 Custom stairs
(Image credit: EA)
Back before Patch 84, building a staircase with a basic landing required a lot of finagling and I remember watching more than one tutorial on the subject. But with the addition of customizable stairs, all sorts of lavish houses became commonplace. Now we can have spiraling stairwells (though still no actual spiral staircases), switchbacking fire escapes, and grand ballroom stairs too. This was truly a good year for the tryhard Build Mode enjoyers among us.
2020
Tiny Houses: Patch 91 and the Tiny Living stuff pack kicked off the tiny house craze in The Sims 4. Honestly, I still build tiny houses more often than not to this day.
That Sims 1 hottub: Patch 92 celebrated the Sims series 20th anniversary with… just a hot tub. Sure, it was the iconic hot tub from the original game, but it felt like a pretty meager celebration.
Ladders: Remember when we all spent years begging to finally have ladders? They finally got added in Patch 95 ahead of the Eco Lifestyle expansion.
Platforms: This is one I didn’t even know I wanted until I had it. Patch 103 alongside the Snowy Escape expansion let us change the height of individual rooms with platforms and now it’s one of my go-to Sims 4 build tips.
#10 New skin tones
(Image credit: EA)
After years of Sims 4 custom content creators sharing new skin tones, Patch 105 in 2020 finally added over 100 more default skin tones to choose from and a slider to freely choose the shade you want as well. It was a while in the making after EA committed in summer 2020 to improving its inclusivity of more skin colors and hairstyles. A few base game styles for textured hair got a tune-up in this patch and other hair styles have been getting the same treatment in the years since.
2021
(Image credit: Maxis, Electronic Arts)
Bunk beds: The Sims 4 added working bunk beds in Patch 109 and there was much rejoicing! Finally kiddos can share one of the most quintessential childhood experiences.
Likes and dislikes: Patch 113 brought the system that lets you decide that your Sim loves the color green, hates classical music, and loves grilled cheese.
Ponds: Patch 115 brought the water tool for adding ponds, rivers, or whatever outdoorsy water features you desire.
Nail polish: Patch 118 added nail polish as an accessory category in Create-A-Sim and honestly I can’t remember what life was like before custom nails now.
The big swatch drop: As a Build Mode enjoyer, I distinctly remember Patch 119 adding tons of new color swatches to base game objects like kitchen counters, tables, bookcases, and curtains.
Scenarios: Patch 120 added challenge scenarios to The Sims 4 with unique family dynamic setups and goals to achieve as well as the Neighborhood Stories system allowing your townie Sims to have life changes without your oversight.
2022
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)
Custom pronouns: Patch 129 added the ability to write custom pronouns for your Sims. In addition to default choices he/she/they, you can also write in the pronouns you want your Sim to use.
Sexual orientation: On the heels of the pronoun update, Patch 132 added toggles for Sim sexual orientation to determine which genders they’re romantically and physically attracted to.
Curved walls: Patch 132 also added long-requested curved walls. The initial implementation was pretty buggy, and they sometimes still can be, but hey our floor plans are like 90% more groovy than before.
2023
Light switches: Patch 140 added a ton of Create-A-Sim customization like surgery scars and hearing aids, but I’ll be truthful and say I was most excited about light switches. They’re purely cosmetic, but I put them everywhere now.
Infant life stage: The first new life stage since toddlers in 2017, the infants update freed baby Sims from their cribs and gave them their own traits and interactions.
Apartments (again): The For Rent expansion elaborated on the existing apartments in The Sims 4. Now we can build rental buildings totally from scratch and lay out each unit just how we like.
2024
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)
Polyamory: Patch 162 this year overhauled romantic relationships by letting you choose your Sim’s romantic boundaries. This means you can set up all sorts of different polyamorous Sims families who are happy to live alongside each other without jealousy mucking up their lives.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1725398301_10-major-Sims-4-features-you-probably-forgot-it-didnt.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-09-03 20:22:262024-09-03 20:22:2610 major Sims 4 features you probably forgot it didn’t have at launch 10 years ago
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/ASSASSINS-CREED-VALHALLA-86-QUASE-QUASE-SIGURD.jpg7201280DecayeD20https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngDecayeD202024-09-03 15:00:522024-09-03 15:00:52ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA #86 | QUASE QUASE SIGURD
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League didn’t, by most metrics, do what it was supposed to. On paper, it was meant to spin up Rocksteady’s pedigree of Batman games into a multiversal live service, aiming for a piece of the pie that games like Fortnite have been scarfing down for years.
Things have gone from bad to worse. As reported by Eurogamer, Rocksteady has begun to lay off over half of its QA department with, as the report states, “poor sales of Suicide Squad directly cited as a reason”. This would bring the department down from 33 members to 15.
Staff proceeded to inform the site that there’d be more layoffs coming, with one member stating they were laid off during their paternity leave—fortunately, Rocksteady is based in the UK, which means said employee should be receiving the rest of their leave regardless of their unemployment status.
Anonymous staff members also expressed concerns that these cuts to the QA department would “leave their remaining colleagues shouldered with more work”, and that senior management is already expecting the quality of future Rocksteady games to “suffer as a result.”
This is all pretty frustrating to hear, even if it’s not unexpected. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was some unfairly maligned darling that deserved better. It was a pretty bad idea from the outset, especially with a Bloomberg report from earlier this year painting a damning picture of a development journey that seemed indecisive about the game’s mechanics and hampered by unfocused, tardy leadership.
There’s nothing I can really add here that hasn’t been repeated time and time again, like with the bleak closure of Arkane Austin after Redfall. Everyone wants to make a live service, because live service games make bank when they hit—but those pulls on the metaphorical slot machine are downright wasteful. Of industry talent, of their work, and of the games that could have been.
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https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1725362243_Rocksteady-reportedly-begins-a-round-of-layoffs-after-Suicide-Squad.jpg6721200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-09-03 11:58:102024-09-03 11:58:10Rocksteady reportedly begins a round of layoffs after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s shortcomings, slashes its QA team’s numbers in half
An upcoming indie horror game has pretty promising vibes and the look that I know some of us love to see in a horror title. Pinnacle Point by solo developer Robin Shen, aka Ready2Run, is all kinds of fog and neon and blocky polygons that encapsulate the lo-fi vibe of the PSX era of gaming.
Pinnacle Point plans to be a classic survival horror game of exploration, puzzle solving, and tense combat. It’ll use a blend of modern dynamic camera with more PSX-era fixed perspectives to keep you on edge, and have that kind of strange non-linear narrative that you uncover via finding environmental hints and in-game notes.
“In Pinnacle Point, Aron is on a desperate mission to search for his lost brother who got tangled up with a sinister corporation that claims to offer a solution for immortality. As he infiltrates their ranks, he uncovers a horrifying truth: their version of eternal life comes at a great cost. Aron must navigate this treacherous world, risking his own soul, to save his brother from a fate worse than death,” says the official description.
“The line between reality and nightmare blurs as you delve deeper into the corporation’s experiments and your brother’s fate. Full voice acting and meticulously crafted environments build a world steeped in atmospheric horror,” says Ready2Run.
More recent screenshots and video from Pinnacle Point have this really great interlace effect that makes it even more of-the-era for the late 90s and early aughts. Mimics that CRT fuzz without getting too in the way—though I’d guess it’ll be something you can turn off if you hate that kind of thing.
I’m developing Pinnacle Point, a cinematic horror mystery game filled with dark secrets and eerie vibes. Here’s a little look at what I’ve been working on. If this is your thing, follow me for more, help me by spreading the word, wishlist! (Link in the comments) 🖤Thank you! pic.twitter.com/9mv8Z2E1lASeptember 1, 2024
You can find Pinnacle Point on Steam, where it doesn’t yet have a release date other than “coming soon.” You can follow developer Robin Shen on Twitter and YouTube.
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It’s been a tough year for Intel. Chip crashing issues, dismal financial results, and the announcement of mass layoffs have taken the chip maker from a brand thought off as one of the giants in the industry, to one that seems to be beset by troubles on all fronts.
Now, a source has told Reuters that CEO Pat Gelsinger and other key executives are expected to announce a plan to the company’s board of directors this month, detailing ideas as to how to turn its fortunes around, including proposals to “slice off unnecessary businesses and revamp capital spending”.
According to the source, there are no current plans to split Intel and sell off its foundry to another buyer, as Bloomberg reported last week. That being said, the plan is not yet thought to be finalised, and is subject to change between now and its presentation at a mid-September board meeting.
Intel’s design and manufacturing businesses have already been separated, but even if the foundry remains, there are potential businesses that Intel could trim down in an effort to cut its losses. Altera, a programmable chip manufacturer acquired by Intel in 2015, is thought to be a likely target—as Intel was previously thought to be considering spinning out the company through an IPO and selling a portion of its stake in the company in the future.
That being said, given that Intel bought Alterea for $16.7 billion, it could be sold off entirely to another chip maker to shore up Intel’s finances. Intel’s stock value had declined by 60% this year, before rallying after recent reports that it was considering scrapping factory projects after disappointing financial results posted in August.
“It’s been a difficult few weeks…we’ve been working hard to address the issues.
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“We were determined to lay out a clear view of where we were, but also some of the next steps that we needed to address for the next phase of our strategy. And obviously, the market didn’t respond positively.
“We described a set of cost reductions. I can tell you today, most of those are well underway already. Like everybody in the industry, we realize we have to operate efficiently with nimbleness, with urgency. This is a competitive business and market, and that’s part of the reason we took the actions that we did as we build it.”
Time will tell as to what this new plan might look like, and exactly which of Intel’s business operations might be trimmed down to boost its finances and steady investor confidence. One way or the other, it seems strong moves and bold decision making may be needed to put Intel back on a steady path—and if these reports turn out to be correct, the company will be hoping that the decisions made here will turn things around for the seemingly stumbling giant.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1725290114_Intels-CEO-is-reportedly-set-to-present-cost-cutting-plan-to.jpeg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-09-02 15:48:132024-09-02 15:48:13Intel’s CEO is reportedly set to present cost-cutting plan to the board and may ‘slice off unnecessary businesses’. Ouch
It’s the first challenge of the week, so let’s make sure you win Wordle today. Feel free to use our hint for the daily puzzle to give you opening guesses a little guidance, and then let our general tips take your game across the finish line. Or click your way straight to the September 2 (1171) Wordle answer if you prefer. It’s entirely up to you.
Hey wait, come back—I had more Wordle I wanted to play. Ah, the joy/sadness of clearing a Monday Wordle in two lightning-fast rows. I love the rush that comes with a quick win (and seeing almost every letter turn green or yellow right at the start) and hate that it means my daily game was over before it had even begun. Could I have something that takes just a touch longer tomorrow, Wordle?
Wordle today: A hint
(Image credit: Josh Wardle)
Wordle today: A hint for Monday, September 2
One hump or two? This desert-loving animal can famously go without a drink for weeks, even though they carry fat, not water, on their backs.
Is there a double letter in Wordle today?
No, there is not a double letter in today’s puzzle.
Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day
If you’ve decided to play Wordle but you’re not sure where to start, I’ll help set you on the path to your first winning streak. Make all your guesses count and become a Wordle winner with these quick tips:
A good opener has a mix of common vowels and consonants.
The answer could contain the same letter, repeated.
Avoid words that include letters you’ve already eliminated.
You’re not racing against the clock so there’s no reason to rush. In fact, it’s not a bad idea to treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you’re coming up blank. Sometimes stepping away for a while means you can come back with a fresh perspective.
Today’s Wordle answer
(Image credit: Future)
What is today’s Wordle answer?
Let’s get going. The answer to the September 2 (1171) Wordle is CAMEL.
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Previous Wordle answers
The last 10 Wordle answers
Previous Wordle solutions can help to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer isn’t likely to be repeated. They can also give you some solid ideas for starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh.
Here are some recent Wordle answers:
September 1: MUSHY
August 31: SPOUT
August 30: KNAVE
August 29: FLUNK
August 28: LITHE
August 27: CROWN
August 26: STAKE
August 25: SKATE
August 24: FILET
August 23: LEECH
Learn more about Wordle
(Image credit: Nurphoto via Getty)
There are six rows of five boxes presented to you by Wordle each day, and you’ll need to work out which five-letter word is hiding among them to win the daily puzzle.
Start with a strong word like ALIVE—or any other word with a good mix of common consonants and multiple vowels. You should also avoid starting words with repeating letters, so you don’t waste the chance to confirm or eliminate an extra letter. Once you’ve typed your guess and hit Enter, you’ll see which letters you’ve got right or wrong. If a box turns ⬛️, it means that letter isn’t in the secret word at all. 🟨 means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. 🟩 means you’ve got the right letter in the right spot.
Your second guess should compliment the first, using another “good” word to cover any common letters you might have missed on the first row—just don’t forget to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn’t present in today’s answer. After that, it’s just a case of using what you’ve learned to narrow your guesses down to the correct word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words and don’t forget letters can repeat too (eg: BOOKS).
If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you’d like to find out which words have already been used you can scroll to the relevant section above.
Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn’t long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it’s only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.
Until Doom Eternal came along and engulfed YouTube in the fires of hellish Discourse, Doom 3 was the hotly debated one. Discussed and re-litigated a thousand times over, it was highly praised by many at launch, “a non-stop ride of tension, carnage and terror” (to quote PC Gamer’s 94% scoring review), while others found themselves less enthralled by its goofy action-horror charms. Edge Magazine and the New York Times both considered it a pleasant enough seven-out-of-ten game, with the latter skewering it for its “skeletal story and often repetitive game play”. Criticisms that seem increasingly fair with time.
Does Doom 3 hold up today? That’s a complicated question. Did it hold up at launch is an equally interesting one. Doom 3 was, for many, a visual showcase. A victory lap for PC gaming, featuring graphics that seem quaintly of-an-era now, but were almost (more on that later) the cutting edge at the time. Doom 3’s entire aesthetic was defined by its deep, sharp-edged stencil shadows cast by dynamic light-sources. Steep bump-maps and specular highlights gave its high-tech corridors and hellish brickwork a deliciously tactile look when most game’s walls just looked like flat polygons with detail painted on.
This technology informed the design of the game. When you’ve got an engine perfect for rendering detailed, claustrophobic, dimly lit tunnels, you’ve got the recipe for something spookier than classic Doom. And so Doom 3 was more of a cinematic, survivor horror-tinged adventure, with smaller groups of enemies that loved to get in your face, or lob fireballs from impenetrably deep shadows which you had to navigate by swapping out your active weapon for a flashlight. While some of these pivots away from classic Doom design (Doom 64 was a darker, spookier experience as well, without getting too far from the original concepts) caught flak from critics, in hindsight I feel that Doom 3 was often criticized for being different, and some failed to give it a fair shake, or engage with it on its own terms.
As for my personal experience with Doom 3, I liked it quite a bit, but not enough to play through it more than once back in the day. While impressive for the time, I was never quite as wowed by its graphics as its greatest fans. Mainly because I’d seen better (or at least comparable) just weeks prior, thanks to Starbreeze’s Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. It launched first, featured a similar lighting engine, comparable claustrophobic industrial bump-mapped tunnels, and did all this on the original Xbox—Starbreeze’s ex-demoscene coders proving that John Carmack wasn’t the only code wizard out there. A reminder that there’s always a narrative outside of the broadly repeated history of gaming.
Legacy of Rust
Still, few remember Riddick and its place in gaming history. Even with the discourse surrounding it (largely on now-defunct gaming forums), Doom 3 sold great, and its slick, heavily bump-mapped aesthetics were a popular style in games for years to come. So why isn’t Doom 3 remembered quite as fondly as its peers? Doom 1 and 2 are getting new, fantastic expansions and ever-improving ports. Even Doom 64 got a second wind in the past couple years, whereas Doom 3’s biggest official resurgence has been as a PSVR exclusive.
But despite the zeitgeist having long-since moved on from the game, I still think it’s worth playing, and an important part of Id’s history, and the history of games in general. Taken entirely by itself (without stacking it up against its stablemates) it’s an effective sci-fi horror romp. More of a haunted house with shooting than a true survival horror game or traditional fast-paced FPS, but that’s a vibe that few other games have shot for. The weapons feel satisfying (even the notoriously inaccurate shotgun, if you use it at point-blank) and the monsters still have some gnarly charm, thanks to those shiny specular highlights and bump-mapping making them look slick and slimy where needed.
It’s undeniably a game of its era, and obviously not as creative as its forebears. It went with the flow of early 2000s FPS design, shifting the focus away from exploration and key-hunting to more linear story-driven setpieces. It might have been one-upped by Half-Life 2 that very same year, but both games are clearly cribbing from the same set of notes. For the most part, Doom 3’s setpieces work, even the ones in complete darkness. Those sequences are fewer and further between than most players remember, but I always enjoyed the tactical quirks of spotting stuff with your flashlight, then switching to your gun to spray lead into the shadows.
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(Image credit: id)
Virtually Doomed
(Image credit: id)
Doom 3’s claustrophobic environments and slower, up-close combat make it a shockingly good fit for VR, flashlight in one hand, shotgun in the other. Weirdly, the only official way to experience this is via the PlayStation VR port, but the community have stepped up to offer several options, including Doom3Quest for standalone Oculus/Meta headsets, and Doom 3: Fully Possessed for the SteamVR crowd.
There are parts that people remember very fondly of Doom 3, like its depiction of hell for the few levels you spend there. After traversing a thousand shiny brushed-steel corridors and labs, the shifting walls, ornate brickwork and uneven volcanic rock of the underworld feels especially menacing. Especially as the hell levels liked to throw one especially memorable enemy at you that hasn’t returned since; demonic cherub. Part chubby angel-child, part horrible clawed insect, and one of the more unsettling things you have to shoot.
Less popular is the repetitive encounter design, often spawning two enemies in front of the player and one directly behind for a cheap gotcha shot in the back of the head. Frustrating, but understandable given the limitations of narrow corridors. Less excusable are the few sections where you need to navigate on Mars’ surface, and Doomguy appears to have forgotten a helmet. Plus, he’s been smoking a pack a day since he was seven years old, because his total lung capacity is barely 30 seconds. As a thoroughly non-athletic person, I can still do several times better.
So, a mixed bag, but an enjoyable one. But in my opinion, the one thing that held back Doom 3 the most from enduring success is that its mod scene never took off the way it could have. A source code release in 2011 and a remaster in 2012 gave the game a brief second wind, but to this day, only a dedicated handful of fans continue to work on the game. Let’s take a brief look at what the fans have been doing to keep the game alive and kicking into the 2020s, and the best way to enjoy the game if you’ve missed out on it up until now.
(Image credit: id)
The Ultimate Doom 3
If you’re under the age of 30, there’s a solid chance you’ve not played Doom 3 for yourself, just read about it and watched videos on YouTube. The good news is that if you want to, it’s simply a matter of grabbing the game on Steam (where it is frequently available at a steep discount), scoring you both the original 2004 version of the game and its expansion, plus the remastered ‘BFG Edition’ from 2012.
Unfortunately, neither of these is the best way to experience it.
If you just want a quick peek at the game, then the BFG Edition is a passable way to experience it, but the remaster makes a number of odd changes that fans of the original have found divisive, and I’m broadly in agreement. Among them, the overall brightness of the game has been boosted, the flashlight is replaced with a shoulder-mounted torch that you can use at the same time as guns (blunting the intensity of some pitch-black sections) and ammo and health pickups are more generous. That last one is especially odd as Doom 3 was never especially tough to begin with.
(Image credit: id)
The Dark Mod
(Image credit: The Dark Mod)
Doom 3’s stark shadows make for great horror vibes, but a team of modders saw their potential as the foundation for something sneakier. The Dark Mod was originally a Doom 3 mod heavily inspired by Looking Glass’s classic Thief games. WIth the engine now open-source, nothing was stopping it from growing into a free and fully standalone platform for larcenous adventures. Its community is preparing to celebrate their 15th year of thievery this October with a big level design contest.
The easiest way to dodge these alterations is to go back to the source. If you’re willing to spend five minutes of tinkering to get the best possible experience, you’ll want dhewm3, a source port that makes the original, unaltered game play nicer with modern hardware and aspect ratios. Compared to its cousins GZDoom and VKQuake it’s a bit bare-bones, but irons out most of the issues inherent in the original release.
The only real down-side of dhwem3 is that its mod support is limited. The port’s official page lists a handful of supported projects (including the popular graphical overhaul Sikkmod, which doubles down on the hazy, color-graded aesthetics of the PS360 era), but many of the bigger projects out there require a fresh vanilla install and the occasional console command or bit of config-file tweaking. ModDB has a growing number of projects porting themselves to dhewm3, but it seems unlikely to move the needle much.
Probably the best reason to go wandering outside the cozy confines of the BFG Edition or dhewm3 is Doom 3: Phobos, probably the most expansive community-made campaign to date. In the works since the source code release over a decade ago, and developed by the ambitious Team Future, Phobos is a faster, more aggressive take on Doom 3 without losing that spark that defines the game. It still looks, sounds and feels like Doom 3, but plays weirdly closer to the original Half-Life, rapid-firing pistol and all. While there’s plenty of traditionally Doom-ish corridor crawling, there’s a good number of big industrial sites to explore, all beautifully lit and intricately detailed. Phobos’ offices in particular feel especially lived-in.
(Image credit: Team Future)
Phobos also leans more heavily into storytelling than the original, putting players in the chunky space-boots of an amnesiac protagonist with a voice and a backstory explored through (professionally voiced) dialogue and some lengthy flashback sequences set back on Earth. It’s a genuinely impressive production, a solid shooter in its own right, and still feels like Doom 3, even if Phobos’ shotgun is several times more effective. It’s also still growing, with its third (and largest) episode released just this May.
Sadly, there’s not much else to be said for Doom 3’s modding scene. While a little more active than Rage’s dusty ghost-town of a community, Doom 3 has never experienced the popularity of its direct predecessors. Perhaps it’s just a matter of time until a Quake-style community renaissance comes to the dark, high-tech corridors of Mars, but I’d not hold your breath. Not given Doom3guy’s embarrassing lung capacity.
https://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1725181868_Why-Doom-3-is-still-an-important-and-misunderstood-game.jpg6751200Carlos Pachecohttps://gamingarmyunited.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Website-Logo-300x74.pngCarlos Pacheco2024-09-01 06:14:482024-09-01 06:14:48Why Doom 3 is still an important and misunderstood game
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