Blade of Agony is a story-driven FPS. The project is
inspired by WWII shooters from he 90's and early 2000's, like
Wolfenstein 3D, Medal of Honor, and Call of Duty, but with faster-paced
gameplay in the spirit of Doom! The game can be played standalone t's
1942, and the war approaches its peak. The U.S. has joined the Allied
forces, and the Soviets are pushing back the front in the east. The
tides of war are turning, and Hitler's victory seems more and more
beyond his grasp. But the Nazis, refusing to capitulate, have grown
obsessed with human experiments and occult artifacts, in which they see a
potential escape from their final Doom. The Allied leaders reject this
possibility as nonsense; nonetheless, some still fear what the Führer
might be up to. The situation is nebulous, however, and little is
certain.
You are Cpt. William "B.J." Blazkowicz, an Allied spy, a
fearless risk-taker, and the greatest soldier to ever take up arms in
World War II. Your role has changed, though; you've retired from active
duty, and now you spearhead operations as a systems analyst. You thought
it would be the right choice--leading and motivating instead of doing
the dirty work--but lately you've grown restless. At least until a few
days ago, when you received an encrypted message from your old friend
and comrade Cpt. Douglas Blake, calling you back to duty... using the
GZDoom engine as a base.
On this, the thirteenth year of these awards, I have awakened from my
slumber to ensure greatness is, once again, recognized. My
hand-selected 'A' team of Cacoward replacements seriously contemplated
snubbing Blade of Agony: Episode 1, arguing it had "dull and uninspiring
combat" with an aesthetic "all over the place, mixing models and
Wolfenstein 3D sprites." Let me tell you why all of them were wrong.
One of the biggest criticisms of Blade of Agony was the gameplay. Does
Blade of Agony have dull combat? Probably?... but that opinion comes
from a community that has spent the better part of two decades
dissecting the core gameplay of Doom and distilling it into perfect
mapsets like BTSX and Ancient Aliens. I'm not ready to
claim we've reached "peak Doom", and I believe the community's best work
still lies ahead, but when your friend asks, with utmost surprise,
"people are still modding Doom?" and wants to see what people are
creating, you ultimately have to show them projects like Blade of Agony.
Right from the start it's clear; this isn't Doom, and that's not a bad
thing. Blade of Agony's appeal is to modern gamers who enjoy scripted,
story-driven, cinematic adventures. Call of Duty meets Doom. Like most
modern games, each level is a set piece designed to show off a specific
theme while a base of operations acts as a hub between each mission.
You'll fight Nazis in a Byzantine desert city, on the streets of Paris,
and even the forested French countryside is fully realized. You'll spend
hours wandering the central hub and listening to the jukebox, finding
hidden crates in each mission, discovering secret files that unlock an
additional level, and just absorbing the beautifully rendered maps and
models.
Blade of Agony might not be your style of gameplay, but it's a
disservice to say it isn't one of the most significant releases this
year. From the opening cinematic through each scripted event until your
final Indiana Jones-themed serial encounter, you'll be inundated with an
attention to detail most projects never receive. Every line of dialog
is spoken, every location dripping with charm, and there are so many
custom resources you'll never see them all. Blade of Agony: Episode 1 is
a real work of art that everyone needs to experience. -Scuba Steve
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