Powerslave/Exhumed remaster by Nightdive Studios

[Kurogachii]

"Nightdive Studios is proving itself the specialist in remastering classic PC games, thanks to the excellent likes of Doom 64, Turok 1 and 2, and System Shock: Remastered – the studio’s first full remake. Now the developer is teasing ’90s FPS classic PowerSlave as the next game to get the remaster treatment.

PowerSlave – also known as Exhumed (its much better European name) or Seireki 1999: Pharaoh no Fukkatsu – was a Build Engine FPS released on PC, PlayStation 1, and SEGA Saturn between 1996-1997. It was pretty hard to find until it got a shock re-release on GOG last year, but only the inferior MS-DOS version with terrible controls and weird design."

 

Source

[roadworx]

oshit nice, i've wanted to play those for quite a while now actually

[hybridial]

I will be interested if this is a port of the Saturn version, or a remix maybe of that and the PSX version, but, well, I tried the PC version using, ah, BuildGDX I think, and I kinda got tired of the boring level design. I didn't think it it was up the standards set by Duke, Shadow Warrior and Blood as far as games on that engine go.

 

I never played the console versions but they sound interesting. 

[D4NUK1]

I heard nice things of the Saturn version as it's plays like a Hexen type of game but with better backtracking of the place and the powerups like double jump and stuff like thats it's permanent and necessary to complete the game.

 

[Spooner5020]

I’m excited. I don’t hate the Dos version. The only other version I’ve played was the ps1 version and I think the GZDoom Tc, but I kinda hope it’s a remaster of the pc version. I won’t be too upset if it’s not though.

[TasAcri]

DOS version works fine with a couple of source ports (i use Raze).

 

PS1 version is represented through Powerslave EX, though gamepad support is limited.

 

Saturn version can only be played on the Saturn. In all it's low-res, low frame rate glory. There is no source port or any other way to play a modern version of it.

 

Saturn version is also the best of the three. We all know the DOS version is a simpler, different game. The PS1 version though is a port of the Saturn one with some regressions. The game and level design are the same (which makes both better than the DOS version) but the frame rate is lower (which isn't important since the remaster will fix this) and some bigger rooms have been simplified (this one is important though).

 

So the Saturn version is the only logical choice for a remaster. It's the best version and the only one with no source port.

 

Also, i laughed at this:
 

Quote

Of course, the other question is whether Nightdive will keep calling it the really icky title of PowerSlave or if they’re sensible and will call it Exhumed: Remastered instead

 

No, Chris. Nobody else has this question besides you.

 

Edited July 17, 2021 by TasAcri

[Rudolph]

I remember reading that the PC version was actually better, even though it was not as original as the console one.

 

@TasAcri It is actually a perfectly valid question to ask, given the whole debacle surrounding Ion Maiden/Ion Fury.

Edited July 18, 2021 by Rudolph

[TasAcri]

1 hour ago, Rudolph said:

@TasAcri It is actually a perfectly valid question to ask, given the whole debacle surrounding Ion Maiden/Ion Fury.

I assure you, the author doesn't care about that.

 

It's about the title being offensive because it has the word "Slave" in it. That's what he means when he says the title is "icky". And it's a very predictable, current day game journalist behavior.

[Rudolph]

17 minutes ago, TasAcri said:

I assure you, the author doesn't care about that.

How do you know that?

[Biodegradable]

Here's a lovely trailer to give us a glimpse of how our talented friends at NightDive polished up the game.

 

 

[Gez]

Cute detail of sneaking in the Kex logo in the status bar!

[Wavy]

19 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

Here's a lovely trailer to give us a glimpse of how our talented friends at NightDive polished up the game.

[trailer]

And it's about time. Powerslave PSX was one of the most unique retro shooters and the only way to play it on PC was through the taken-down Powerslave EX. Nice seeing the treatment the game needed.

 

I also really like the name as well: Powerslave: Exhumed

Simple, but works perfectly.

[IvanDobrovski]

It's so nice to see this game finally getting some attention. I grew up with this game, before I even played Doom. Fingers crossed for modding potential.

[Rudolph]

Still surprised that Iron Maiden would legally threaten Voidpoint over "Ion Maiden" but appears to be fine with "PowerSlave".

[omx32x]

thats cool to see i played a little bit of the psx version and i though it was ok but nothing special i wonder if the pc version will change my mind over this

 

that is if it will work on my machine... i dont like the kex engine very much while i think its great that so many games can work with it for me its a 50/50 if it will work on my machine without any weird graphical problems though i know this is mostly on my end

[j0lt]

Wait, they remastered the Turok games?! Sweet!

[Jello]

1 hour ago, j0lt said:

Wait, they remastered the Turok games?! Sweet!

Yeah, well, 1 & 2. They did a great job too, I still fire up Turok 1 relatively regularly, as that was my favorite.

 

Although they are all hell of a lot easier with mouse aim, consistent frame rate, and lack of pea soup fog. Still well worth getting if you liked the originals.

[Agent Slacker]

Sometimes I want to kick myself for not purchasing a copy of the PSX port when a local game shop was selling it for like 40 dollars. Sure, it was missing the cover, but I'm sure I could have found a loose one online.
Anyways, it's nice to finally be able to play this game in an official capacity. I remember grabbing a version of the game that Kaiser was working on years ago using a very early version of what would become the Kex Engine.