MediEvil (1998)

Playing the MediEvil demo on Interactive CD Sampler Disc Volume 8 is a huge part of my childhood. I've tried the proper game as an adult via emulation, but never got that far. It's great to have finally laid this skeleton to rest. I think MediEvil is in constant conflict between its best and worst qualities. The best qualities are its aesthetics, style, writing, and presentation. This may be the most "Halloween" game ever made, and that's a high compliment, given the wonderful season. It truly feels like you're part of a classic, animated children's Halloween movie. The text is witty and full of lively charm, and the voice acting talent does a fantastic job of selling the setting (especially the Gargoyles).

On the other hand, the gameplay—woof. I think the simplicity of MediEvil is the least of its problems. I can get along with mindless hack and slashing in an adventure game format; Zelda games typically don't have great combat, either. But I do need the feedback to be consistent. MediEvil's camera resists you like you're royalty during the French Revolution. It's locked at the most arbitrary of times, and defies attempts to focus your view in front of you. I know programming a camera is difficult, and I respect the developers for having area-specific camera behavior, but I feel like there's not a great reason for lacking a feature to snap the camera behind Dan at any time. That alone, while not perfect, would make the experience drastically smoother.

Alas, the play control struggles somewhat, too. Dan slides whenever you interrupt a run, and platform edges are remarkably uncharitable and will send you plummeting to your doom even if you're sure you ought to be grounded. The game gives you a generous amount of health bars as, I think, a way to compensate for this while keeping falls punishing (they take one bar, each), but it's a band-aid solution. It's not uncommon for the fussy camera to cause you to misjudge distances and your forward momentum, making you lose multiple health bars in seconds. Not to mention, the worst platforming excursions will have you enter subsequent levels with less than full health, meaning this slapdash fix has diminishing returns. The dark environments also make using Dan's shadow as a landing marker unreliable. 80% of my negative feelings regarding this game have to deal with falling into pits, and I was pretty pissed off at times.

Fortunately, levels are quite short once you figure out their pathing. I've seen people heavily criticize the level layouts, but I disagree. I think their fragmented nature makes them feel more organic and gives the game a basic level of exploration that might not otherwise be present. Players are correct that levels can be confusing, but I put this down to the camera. Normally, players can use the camera to keep landmarks in familiar position as they run around, which helps them better map locations out in their head. With MediEvil's fascist camera, you have to memorize what every landmark looks like from every angle. If you had more camera control, it would be fine. Also, the default view is isometric, which is an odd choice. If this was meant to give the game a German Expressionist appearance, it works. But, that movement wasn't creating video games. It might have been best to have the view default further down towards Dan's back, only opting for a more "fixed" overhead view like the final product during certain areas with high enemy density.

There's not much to combat, but I'm not going to rake any game that's not Devil May Cry over the coals. It's a bit confusing how you're supposed to engage with enemies, at first, because the physics seem to encourage running around while wildly slashing, but this actually piles on contact damage. Instead, it's best to slowly inch forward and stand your ground, because enemies are typically knocked just far enough back to have their I-frames expire before they reach Dan's hitbox. Bosses could be annoying with their limited vulnerability windows and the need for your inaccurate ranged weapons, but they never drove me too crazy.

MediEvil is a fine game and worth its frustrations, but it's a prime target for a remake. Except, they did it twice, and according to some, neither did it right. Third time's the charm, maybe? I'll definitely play all other games in the franchise at some point.

The first MediEvil entry for the PlayStation 1 is a cult classic that stands out for its mix of gothic style, humor, and action-adventure gameplay. The MC is called Sir Daniel Fortesque, a knight who was mistakenly remembered as a great hero after dying in the first charge of battle. When the evil sorcerer Zarok returns, Dan is accidentally resurrected, giving him a second chance to prove himself as the hero he was never truly meant to be.

The game blends hack-and-slash combat with light platforming and puzzle-solving, spread across imaginative levels like eerie graveyards, haunted villages, and twisted forests. Its visual design, with crooked architecture and spooky environments, feels inspired by Tim Burton’s films, creating an atmosphere that is both creepy and playful. It's visuals is the standout for me, I'm a big fan of Burton's art-style. The soundtrack, filled with dramatic orchestral and choir arrangements, heightens the dark fairytale mood.

That said, the game shows its age, the camera can be frustrating, and the controls sometimes feel stiff, and honestly no 3D game back in PlayStation 1 had camera controls, this is just another example. Still, these flaws are outweighed by the charm of its world, the humor of its characters, and the satisfaction of unlocking new weapons and abilities as you progress. For me, this remains as a beloved PS1 title, remembered for its personality and style as much as for its gameplay, I recommend trying to play this in the new re-releases/remakes for modern platforms, rather than the OG title.

Beat with 19 out of 20 chalices. The early game was very easy and I had little trouble killing enemies with the basic sword. I crept around in blocking stance and would try to time my attacks in between those of the enemies so I could block their attacks. It was important to play safe because the camera was not often ideally pointed, and using the analog stick to rotate it was awkward. It might have been better bound to L1 and R1 because I rarely used strafe and change target. The strafe was a bit weird in that it let me sidestep and back peddle but moving forward seemed to revert to normal movement? I did not use the ranged weapons that much because the enemies were either too easy to bother or too dangerous to risk it. I instead saved them for bosses. The swords were overall the best weapons and a great tactic I found was to sprint circles or figure 8s around enemies while jousting with the sword. I only enchanted the broadsword once or twice and was disappointed that it was on a timer. I found the arm and throwing knives pretty much useless other than as the last resort. I used the hammer until getting the broadsword but really missed the better range of the swords. I found the huge amount of different ranged weapons to be unnecessary; like why were there 3 different types of bow and why did the master archer guy who gave me them not know what flaming and magic arrows were? I assume the different bows represented different arrow types instead of lugging around 3 different bows. I barely tried the spear and lightning, while the axe was a good ranged weapon for generic enemies that did not require ammo.

I made sure to fully explore each level and get the chalice. I could tell how the levels were accommodating for those who did not get the better weapons, but it was so easy to get them that I wonder who would miss them. I did the levels slightly out of order, going to the enchanted place and doing the anthill side thing before I was supposed to go there. That anthill was the most confusing level to navigate and I wished there was an in game map. I first ran into trouble at the scarecrow fields where I completely missed the exit and had to look up a map online. Then I had to play that level twice more to get the chalice because I did not know I could kill the scarecrows with weapons; thought the serpent thing had to kill them. The next pain was the town because of not being supposed to kill the villagers. Screw that I killed them all then did the level again properly after i knew exactly what to do. I had to come back a third time because I missed the quest artefact. My first game over was at the asylum because I was not expecting the sheer amount of enemies all at once. The axe was too unhandy for that. The next time I used the bow, and then the chicken for the fast zombies. From here on the difficulty ramped up severely, but not so much from the combat. The worst part of the game was the clown puzzle where I had to hit the 5 pictures to show the other side, but they turned back on their own. It was obnoxious and frustrating to the point where I almost quit playing right there. A walkthrough did not really help. Between the stupid double press a direction to run, awkward zoom and camera getting me stuck on stuff all the time or missing swings, and trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. I just beat my head against it until it finally worked. It was such a massive difficulty spike that came out of nowhere compared to the other puzzles.

Then I got game over again at the marsh because falling in the water cost a full life bar. I did not have a problem navigating narrow walkways without falling off but making even a short jump over a gap.... not my forte. Another game over at the castle because there was a time limit at the end; lovely just what I like. I took way too long killing the golems and ran around wildly not sure what to do. I did it the next time after some walkthrough help, especially that I was using the complete wrong weapon on them. Then came the worst level, the god damn ghost ship with the worst kind of platforming. I could do the bouncy net part easily enough but the part after that with 2 different paths of moving platforms. Nope, just nope, this was the kind of bullshit that needed save states, but unfortunately I was not playing on an emulator. Infinite lives would have helped too. And if that was not bad enough, failing the top path sometimes sent me back to an earlier part of the level rather than taking life and letting me immediately try the platforming again. At this point that was even more annoying. It took many tries to finally get past that platforming with enough health to beat the enemies and boss, and at that point I did not even try to get the chalice. No way in hell will I play this level again to go for that last chalice. I barely scraped by the time device level, of course managing to fall in the little gap around the train; why were there no guard rails? Then took 3 tries to beat the final boss. First attempt failed because I had no idea I was supposed to heal my allies. Triage puzzle, seriously? Maybe I would have known what to do if the spell was called "heal" instead of "good lightning". Who the hell thinks lightning = healing? Then took a try to figure out the boss mechanics and what weapons to use. I tried the lightning and magic bow but the best way seemed to be magic bow for the dark rider, and sword for the final boss.

This was a well made game with hilarious story and characters; very much a macabre horror that reminded me of Tim Burton stuff. Good combat and level design for the most part. I liked being able to replay levels to farm supplies but it could have used a secret tiny level for healing and items, Super Mario World style. I would have enjoyed this game far more if the combat challenge was seriously ramped up; way more enemies and combined forces that were not present in the game. Brutal combat that would force mastering each weapon and making use of all ammo. I could have done without a couple of the puzzles and the obnoxious platforming. At least make failure cost only a little hp instead of a whole bar. As it stands certain parts of this game frustrated me so much that I never want to play it again. This makes the game a little tough to rate because I really enjoyed the good parts, which were the majority of the game.

7.8/10