so far so good, getting a lot of grim fandango vibes allready
I LOVED this one. It perfectly captures the design ethics of its time and covers a lot of ground narratively and mechanically, switching between gunfights and moral quandaries with only a little jank.
Despite playing the enhanced edition of the game, I played through using the original visuals, as the "upgraded" graphics had that Vaseline smear effect to them that ate a lot of the textures alive, between that and the stilted but charming expression within the original models and animation frame rates, I definitely have to suggest playing it with the updates toggled off. But otherwise I highly recommend the game, especially if you want the Myst-era point and click itch scratched quite precisely. Just know it's a lot more discovery than puzzle solving!
Despite playing the enhanced edition of the game, I played through using the original visuals, as the "upgraded" graphics had that Vaseline smear effect to them that ate a lot of the textures alive, between that and the stilted but charming expression within the original models and animation frame rates, I definitely have to suggest playing it with the updates toggled off. But otherwise I highly recommend the game, especially if you want the Myst-era point and click itch scratched quite precisely. Just know it's a lot more discovery than puzzle solving!
I've been meaning to play this damned game close to the time it came out, but there was always a reason that prohibited me from doing so. As a kid in 1999, I didn't have a PC close to running it, and I knew nothing about PC gaming back then anyway. And then for a great many years, the game was practically lost to time; non-compatible with Windows after 2000 and thus excruciatingly difficult to run. And then lo and behold, Blade Runner was made available to purchase and play in 2019, thanks to a fan project that strived for years to reverse-engineer the game's complex engine. I made a digital purchase sharpish and then... never played it. Why? I don't rightly know. Maybe it was the weight of expectations. I had waited for the opportunity to experience something I had desired to play for so long, and now that I had the chance, I was too daunted to do so. And so it went into my backlog. And then a remaster was announced. And not just for PC, but all the major consoles no less! I'm much more comfortable playing games on console than PC, and so I waited a few extra months for what I thought would be the definitive version. I bought the Enhanced Edition literally hours after it dropped on the PlayStation Store, with the full intention of playing it in the foreseeable future. That was until reports started coming in about how poor the remaster itself was. Nightdive had apparently done a subpar job of bringing Blade Runner to modern audiences, with butchered updated visuals, rampant bugs and limited overall options provided to the player.
So why did I play it now? Well, Nightdive eventually got around to fixing their remaster. They released a major patch for the PC version and then recently did the same for the console ports. They worked on the remaster to the extent that it is now the best way to play Westwood's Blade Runner, as far as I know anyway. And so I did it! I finally fucking did it. I played through Blade Runner the video game. I reached the end credits. Hell, I even got the platinum. And like a weight off my shoulders, I can now check it off the backlog list.
So was it worth the wait? For the most part... oh yes! As someone who relishes games heavy on atmosphere, Blade Runner has it in spades and then some. It is an incredibly immersive experience that does an impeccable job of replicating the mood of the movie, even better than the sequel did. Way better in fact. Protagonist Ray McCoy's investigation takes place alongside the events of the first film, and Westwood didn't miss a beat in convincing me that this is the same dirty, dystopian Los Angeles that Ridley Scott presented to the world in 1982. The blurry voxel character models aside, it's a game that holds up visually, even on a big 4K television screen. Every location, pre-rendered, deliberately framed and packed with details authentic to the source material, is a pleasure to merely gawp at, let alone interact with. It truly is a wet dream for any aficionado of the first movie, and I imagine playing this in 1997 was mind-blowing.
Gameplay wise, Blade Runner fares less well. As a point-and-click adventure game with emphasis placed on story, dialogue and presentation, systems and mechanics of immense complexity were never going to be its forte. I barely engaged in the gunplay during my playthrough, which is fine because it's as strategically braindead as you can get. Taking down an enemy consists of little more than awkwardly pointing a cursory at someone and hoping you get lucky. There's also very little in the way of actual puzzle solving. The game has an element of randomisation in terms of which characters are replicants and when/where characters will appear, with one of 12 endings to stumble upon by the end. But whatever denouement you get is largely dictated by the amount of clues you pick up along the way rather than using items from your inventory with the environment like a conventional game of the genre. I'm not entirely sure this plays fully to the strengths of inhabit the role of a detective. There's a lot of picking things up, but not much figuring things out.
Still, while the randomization sometimes gets in the way of having a sturdier narrative, the story largely delivers on the neo-noir front. McCoy makes for an engaging main character, one who's actually more likeable and understanding than his movie counterpart (depending on what decisions you make I suppose), and seeing him exchange barbs with the colourful cast or muse on the time he once had a real egg that tasted like "liquid sunshine" does a lot to endear the player to him. The tension scales up nicely in the last couple of chapters, and despite an unfortunately rushed last act, I was engaged from beginning to end.
So yeah, worth the wait. It's unfortunate that Westwood never got the opportunity to make a sequel, and doubly unfortunate that they folded under the ownership of EA. There's a lot of adventure games out there, but not one quite like this. If you have even the slightest bit of fandom for the Blade Runner IP, then I strongly recommend you try this game out if you haven't yet. What the hell are you waiting for?!
(More of an 8.75 than a 9)
So why did I play it now? Well, Nightdive eventually got around to fixing their remaster. They released a major patch for the PC version and then recently did the same for the console ports. They worked on the remaster to the extent that it is now the best way to play Westwood's Blade Runner, as far as I know anyway. And so I did it! I finally fucking did it. I played through Blade Runner the video game. I reached the end credits. Hell, I even got the platinum. And like a weight off my shoulders, I can now check it off the backlog list.
So was it worth the wait? For the most part... oh yes! As someone who relishes games heavy on atmosphere, Blade Runner has it in spades and then some. It is an incredibly immersive experience that does an impeccable job of replicating the mood of the movie, even better than the sequel did. Way better in fact. Protagonist Ray McCoy's investigation takes place alongside the events of the first film, and Westwood didn't miss a beat in convincing me that this is the same dirty, dystopian Los Angeles that Ridley Scott presented to the world in 1982. The blurry voxel character models aside, it's a game that holds up visually, even on a big 4K television screen. Every location, pre-rendered, deliberately framed and packed with details authentic to the source material, is a pleasure to merely gawp at, let alone interact with. It truly is a wet dream for any aficionado of the first movie, and I imagine playing this in 1997 was mind-blowing.
Gameplay wise, Blade Runner fares less well. As a point-and-click adventure game with emphasis placed on story, dialogue and presentation, systems and mechanics of immense complexity were never going to be its forte. I barely engaged in the gunplay during my playthrough, which is fine because it's as strategically braindead as you can get. Taking down an enemy consists of little more than awkwardly pointing a cursory at someone and hoping you get lucky. There's also very little in the way of actual puzzle solving. The game has an element of randomisation in terms of which characters are replicants and when/where characters will appear, with one of 12 endings to stumble upon by the end. But whatever denouement you get is largely dictated by the amount of clues you pick up along the way rather than using items from your inventory with the environment like a conventional game of the genre. I'm not entirely sure this plays fully to the strengths of inhabit the role of a detective. There's a lot of picking things up, but not much figuring things out.
Still, while the randomization sometimes gets in the way of having a sturdier narrative, the story largely delivers on the neo-noir front. McCoy makes for an engaging main character, one who's actually more likeable and understanding than his movie counterpart (depending on what decisions you make I suppose), and seeing him exchange barbs with the colourful cast or muse on the time he once had a real egg that tasted like "liquid sunshine" does a lot to endear the player to him. The tension scales up nicely in the last couple of chapters, and despite an unfortunately rushed last act, I was engaged from beginning to end.
So yeah, worth the wait. It's unfortunate that Westwood never got the opportunity to make a sequel, and doubly unfortunate that they folded under the ownership of EA. There's a lot of adventure games out there, but not one quite like this. If you have even the slightest bit of fandom for the Blade Runner IP, then I strongly recommend you try this game out if you haven't yet. What the hell are you waiting for?!
(More of an 8.75 than a 9)
I have such deeply held nostalgia for this game that, despite all the negative reviews and photographic evidence they were entirely justified in their disappointed tone, the game went on sale and I gave these shucksters some of my cash. I think some of the graphical complaints might be a little overblown, but my mistake was made obvious stupidly quick for something that should've been even more obvious to me as I hovered over the purchase button: this game plays like trash on a controller.
Having played Civilization IV and V for hours and hours (and hours) on my 2011 MacBook and my 2008 iMac before shifting to hours and hours (and hours) of Civilization VI on PS4/5, and also having not owned a proper gaming computer since an ill-fated 5-year sabbatical from Mac Life in my early teens (Windows XP, get wrecked!), I'm not as easily reminded of how poorly suited to controllers some PC games are...even though I probably should be. Hello, Tropico 5, Crusader Kings III, Planet Coaster and more! Mayhaps I'm just a fool...
That being said! The voice acting is the same as it always was and that's still absolutely fantastic, as is the writing. It could come off a little stilted compared to modern games but overall, even beyond the voices, this game sounded and sounds awesome. It's the one thing about the Blade Runner aesthetic that just can't be diminished by shoddy ports or endlessly debatable alternate edits or decades later sequels.
But I have to actually give this a super poor rating despite barely making it back to Ray McCoy's apartment. While I didn't find it as ugly as advertised, it IS ugly as sin on a big 4K screen as compared to a late-90s/early-2000s PC monitor, the controls ARE that bad without a mouse and all the charm of the real-time storytelling, as someone who played this game over and over and over as a kid, absolutely has to be ruined by how clunky this all is. So much of that mechanic involves being in the right place at the right time or doing the right thing at the right moment and that must be impossible here.
Lastly, this game does have two infamously bad bits involving a time bomb at one point and McCoy's pistol in another. These are the most precision (and luck, honestly) dependent bits of all and I'd bet the timebomb escape alone is an absolute padlock on progressing through the rest of the game when using a DualSense.
Having played Civilization IV and V for hours and hours (and hours) on my 2011 MacBook and my 2008 iMac before shifting to hours and hours (and hours) of Civilization VI on PS4/5, and also having not owned a proper gaming computer since an ill-fated 5-year sabbatical from Mac Life in my early teens (Windows XP, get wrecked!), I'm not as easily reminded of how poorly suited to controllers some PC games are...even though I probably should be. Hello, Tropico 5, Crusader Kings III, Planet Coaster and more! Mayhaps I'm just a fool...
That being said! The voice acting is the same as it always was and that's still absolutely fantastic, as is the writing. It could come off a little stilted compared to modern games but overall, even beyond the voices, this game sounded and sounds awesome. It's the one thing about the Blade Runner aesthetic that just can't be diminished by shoddy ports or endlessly debatable alternate edits or decades later sequels.
But I have to actually give this a super poor rating despite barely making it back to Ray McCoy's apartment. While I didn't find it as ugly as advertised, it IS ugly as sin on a big 4K screen as compared to a late-90s/early-2000s PC monitor, the controls ARE that bad without a mouse and all the charm of the real-time storytelling, as someone who played this game over and over and over as a kid, absolutely has to be ruined by how clunky this all is. So much of that mechanic involves being in the right place at the right time or doing the right thing at the right moment and that must be impossible here.
Lastly, this game does have two infamously bad bits involving a time bomb at one point and McCoy's pistol in another. These are the most precision (and luck, honestly) dependent bits of all and I'd bet the timebomb escape alone is an absolute padlock on progressing through the rest of the game when using a DualSense.
God this sourceport was, and still remains a total disaster. dude. frame interpolation. lmao
Putting aside the "enhanced" graphics for a moment. Even after numerous patches the game is still littered with gamebreaking bugs, some that can completely softlock your save. Awesome!
Its understandable considering how little material the Nightdive crew had to work with between lacking the source code and original footage for the FMVs (nevermind the lack of budget). But the project shouldnt have even been greenlit under those circumstances. Barring consoles there isnt a single reason to play this version over the orginal in ScummVM
Putting aside the "enhanced" graphics for a moment. Even after numerous patches the game is still littered with gamebreaking bugs, some that can completely softlock your save. Awesome!
Its understandable considering how little material the Nightdive crew had to work with between lacking the source code and original footage for the FMVs (nevermind the lack of budget). But the project shouldnt have even been greenlit under those circumstances. Barring consoles there isnt a single reason to play this version over the orginal in ScummVM
O jogo é bom? Sim. O problema é que esse é um dos ports mais cagados que eu já vi. Queria poder testar a versão de PC um dia, porque isso é um vexame.
No sé como ni por qué, pero esta historia me ha cautivado. Me ha parecido increíble. Ha envejecido algo mal, así que no se lo recomendaría jugar a personas que no soportan controles toscos. Lo he disfrutado muchísimo. Los trofeos son horribles.
“Western adaptation of Snatcher” is the glib one-line review here, but it is remarkable how closely this game mimics Kojima’s Blade Runner fan-game in structure and content, to the point where I’m suspicious about whether someone from Westwood played the 1994 MegaCD release and saw the opportunity for an Officially Licensed Blade Runner™ Product. Click on a corpse, fly-by-night to a multi-storey police station, see a Coca-Cola advertising board with Japanese writing on it, that sort of cyberthing. The key difference between the two games is that Blade Runner is suffocated by the tedium of a traditional point-and-click-and-walk template - while the back of the box brags about not having any puzzles and a story that unfolds regardless of what you choose/fail to do, you’re still going to find your progression blocked by the pixellated whims of a 240p environment and the typical this-noun-then-that-noun chains that govern whether an adventure game can progress; best exemplified by me brick-walling 15 minutes before the finale because I hadn’t found out about the type of cheese sauce a sandwich had, which in turn had locked me out of a whole series of conspiracies that lead all the way back to Eldon Tyrell and the nature of human existence itself. Remember the part of the original movie where Deckard couldn’t confront Roy Batty because he’d forgotten to check which toy was in the Burger King Kidz Menu this month? (“This game really feels makes you feel like Blade Runner!” - PCGamer, November 1997)
To some extent, the game does succeed at making you really feel like Mr. Blade Runner - the music is here (amusingly, Westwood created a room the exists solely for you to stand around listening to Blade Runner Blues from the movie soundtrack), the sleaze is there, the neon is everywhere, and it does, on occasion, achieve the paranoid-android feeling of wondering and worrying whether the next person you interact with is going to be a hostile replicant (the game’s primary claim to fame is that they’re randomised on every playthrough). But it’s mostly superficial simulacra, Blade Runner for the fans who would display Rick Deckard’s Iconic Blaster Pistol on their toy shelf or drink out of a plastic whisky glass that looks like it came from the props cupboard of 2049. Gaff shows up to drop his little origami animals, but more as a referential signifier than a concerted attempt to implant any thoughts or memories beyond those of the movie; compare this with Blade Runner 2049, a sequel that used its predecessor’s philosophy as a foundation to build upon rather than outright replicate as this game does with its Dick Reckard protagonist and little Universal Studios field trips to the original sets. There’s a real lack of the ambiguity that defines Blade Runner - the (well-realised) Voight-Kampf Test’s role here as an absolute judge of character seems to fly in the face of that iconic scene with Rachael, and every crisis can be averted by presenting evidence like you’re a cyberpunk Phoenix Wright - quite the contrast with boozy Harrison Ford showing up half a day late to every crime scene reeking of cigs and regrets. Frankly, I expected more from the writing team who gave us this.
With regards to the “Enhanced Edition” claims - all signs seem to point to this being a big downgrade from the ScummVM port that launched on GOG a few years ago, and my playthrough on the Switch crashed to desktop twice with debug info being written to console (no!!! bad nightdive!!!) Avoid, unless you really wanna play this on console for whatever reason - the “classic” edition is bundled with every purchase of the new PC version now. There was a whole bunch of drama between the scene hackers who originally brought it back from the dead and the otherwise-spotless Nightdive, but seems like they’ve decided to bury the hatchet (due to literal death threats from “fans” over a 90s point and click game) so I won’t get into the morality of that particular can of highly-artefacted electric worms.
To some extent, the game does succeed at making you really feel like Mr. Blade Runner - the music is here (amusingly, Westwood created a room the exists solely for you to stand around listening to Blade Runner Blues from the movie soundtrack), the sleaze is there, the neon is everywhere, and it does, on occasion, achieve the paranoid-android feeling of wondering and worrying whether the next person you interact with is going to be a hostile replicant (the game’s primary claim to fame is that they’re randomised on every playthrough). But it’s mostly superficial simulacra, Blade Runner for the fans who would display Rick Deckard’s Iconic Blaster Pistol on their toy shelf or drink out of a plastic whisky glass that looks like it came from the props cupboard of 2049. Gaff shows up to drop his little origami animals, but more as a referential signifier than a concerted attempt to implant any thoughts or memories beyond those of the movie; compare this with Blade Runner 2049, a sequel that used its predecessor’s philosophy as a foundation to build upon rather than outright replicate as this game does with its Dick Reckard protagonist and little Universal Studios field trips to the original sets. There’s a real lack of the ambiguity that defines Blade Runner - the (well-realised) Voight-Kampf Test’s role here as an absolute judge of character seems to fly in the face of that iconic scene with Rachael, and every crisis can be averted by presenting evidence like you’re a cyberpunk Phoenix Wright - quite the contrast with boozy Harrison Ford showing up half a day late to every crime scene reeking of cigs and regrets. Frankly, I expected more from the writing team who gave us this.
With regards to the “Enhanced Edition” claims - all signs seem to point to this being a big downgrade from the ScummVM port that launched on GOG a few years ago, and my playthrough on the Switch crashed to desktop twice with debug info being written to console (no!!! bad nightdive!!!) Avoid, unless you really wanna play this on console for whatever reason - the “classic” edition is bundled with every purchase of the new PC version now. There was a whole bunch of drama between the scene hackers who originally brought it back from the dead and the otherwise-spotless Nightdive, but seems like they’ve decided to bury the hatchet (due to literal death threats from “fans” over a 90s point and click game) so I won’t get into the morality of that particular can of highly-artefacted electric worms.