Strife Gets Re-released and Enhanced in The Original Strife: Veteran Edition
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The team at Night Dive Studios continues to garner a lot of respect from the PC classics-loving community, as they've once again re-released an iconic FPS/RPG hybrid in The Original Strife: Veteran Edition. I don't think this one necessarily needs its own entry in our database given the scope of the enhancements, but it looks like a fantastic trip down memory lane at the very least:
Before we get into the press release, I'll also quote from a recent retrospective on Fiction Machine to give you an idea of its additional depth in comparison to other shooters at the time:
What the game lacked in exciting new tech, though, it more than made up for in vision and boldness. Strife is not like its contemporaries - to my mind it's far advanced. Here you're given an actual plot, interactive conversations, memorable characters - heck, Strife has a town you can walk around and go shopping in. It's a little strange at first - after breaking your way out of confinement at the beginning of the game, you find yourself walking around a town, with no demons to kill, no aliens shooting at you, no ammunition lying around. In fact, if you attack the third person you meet, you'll probably be unable to finish the game.
Strife, unlike many shooters of the time, had interactive dialogue trees with many characters. When you finally do get to shoot at people, there's more to it than simply finding the biggest gun and blasting away. Facilities are equipped with alarms, and firing your weapon near them will trigger, causing enemies to react in a hostile manner, and even seek you out. However, if you stick to your knife, or the poison bolts for your crossbow (the electric ones seem to trigger alarms, and are only effective against robot enemies anyway), then you can wander through many of the locations, walking past guards completely oblivious to your intent. In a lot of places you have to trigger an alarm eventually anyway, but it's very satisfying to silently, safely take out a large part of a facility's guards before setting the alarm off and cleaning up whatever guards remain.
It also presents your objectives in a more compelling manner than most games of the same time. Gone is the compulsion to find 3 different coloured keycards for each level, and in its place are actual characters who give you tasks in person, advancing the plot and fleshing out the story of the world as they do so. The game still has pickups for health, weapons, armor and other items, but you can also use the money you've earned to buy the items from shops.
Off to the press release:
Return to the Classic Days of Video Gaming with (The Original Strife: Veteran Edition) from Night Dive Studios
VANCOUVER, Wash. (Dec. 12, 2014) Night Dive Studios, a company that specializes in the restoration and republishing of classic PC game titles, is pleased to announce the release of The Original Strife: Veteran Edition, a re-mastered version of the classic game. Originally released in 1996, Strife was, along with Ultima Underworld and System Shock, one of the first generation of FPS-RPG hybrid games.
In The Original Strife: Veteran Edition, you are cast into a dark future where a religious brotherhood called The Order rules supreme. You must face an army of cyborgs who convert humans to swell their ranks. As part of the rebel forces, you must collect and assemble all the pieces of The Sigil, an artifact of great power. With The Sigil, you must defeat the leaders of The Order, including The Programmer, The Bishop, and The Loremaster. But will The Sigil prove powerful enough to defeat the force behind The Order, the mysterious being known as The Entity?
Originally developed for MS-DOS and based on the Doom Engine, the game has been re-mastered with enhanced graphics and is fully compatible with current PC operating systems, including Windows 8/8.1, Mac and Linux.
The game is available for sale exclusively through digital download from Steam and the Humble Bundle store and from Night Dive Studios directly. In coming weeks the game will be made available from GOG, Gamers Gate and Greenman Gaming.
Steam Store: http://store.steampowered.com/app/317040
About Night Dive Studios:
Night Dive Studios is a dedicated team of industry veterans committed to restoring the classic PC game titles of the past and making them accessible to a new generation. Best known for restoring the smash hit game System Shock 2, other titles from Night Dive include Harvester, Wizardry, The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, Shadow Man and I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.
Website: nightdivestudios.com
Facebook: facebook.com/NightDiveStudios
Twitter: @NightDiveStudio
