izigame.me

Chasm is a game I've long been aware of and meaning to check out, it's not one of the more known shooter games of the 90's but it get cited a lot as an inspiration for a lot of the new wave of retro-inspired Boomer Shooters such as Dusk and Hrot and because of that it's picked up something of a reputation as a Boomer Shooter's Boomer Shooter, something you play if you're in the know and after spending a pleasant morning with Chasm, I get it.
Chasm isn't the most bombastic or smooth experience, infact I'd say it's downright low-key, but it's a fine case of a game that's more than the sum of it's parts. Much like Duke Nukem 3D, Chasm tries to present a world that actually resembles something out of the real world, but since the game uses polygonal graphics rather than Duke's sprites, compromises have to be made. Looking around the first level, that attention to detail is apparent. You're dropped into what credibly looks like a small military base, papers sitting on a desk flap in the breeze, there's furniture and computers and props. If you shoot a light, it goes out and that area goes dark. Little details like these make the world credible and every level across the game's four environs is given an equal amount of care.
But like I said, compromises have to be made, and the tradeoff for all this visual fidelity is the scope and complexity of the levels. One of John Romero's rules when designing the levels of Quake was "if the level can be made in Doom, I've failed". Not only could nearly all of Chasm's levels be made in Doom, I dare say a fair handful of the layouts could be done in Wolfenstein, or at least Rise of the Triad. Chasm's levels are small and cramped and have almost no verticality at all. This isn't to say they're bad however, they generally flow well and aside from a few moments of poor design hold up as well as a good 90's FPS level should. The atmosphere, both from the visuals and the music, makes them fun to explore and the lighting is particularly gorgeous. Enemies are well defined with striking designs, and the game even has a few voiced cutscenes with really impressive facial animation for the time. Not only do the lips generally sync well to the words, but eyebrows move expressively which is really cool (and one guy looks exactly like Christoph Waltz while sounding exactly like John Carmack which is certainly something).
Chasm has frequently been described as a Quake clone and this is somewhat true. Aesthetically they're definitely going for Quake, some assets almost look plaigerized and while the Egypt and medieval levels do their own thing Quake also had an Egypt-based expansion with scorpion enemies so even that can't escape the shadow of iD Software. The second level in the expansion almost seems to flaunt how Quakey they're trying to be, not only having the same combination of wall and floor tiles your usual Quake level does, but also some of the trademark lighting-through-bars you see in certain levels. Without spoiling the final boss is almost completely a clone of Quake's so make of that what you will.
Yet the combat itself is about as far from Quake, Doom or Duke as you can get. Your first two weapons don't really make much of an impression at first and enemies seem downright bullet spongey, which never really goes away even as you get better weapons. But I eventually noticed "hey wait a second, did I just blow that guy's arm off?" and that's when things kind of clicked. You see, Chasm has a dismemberment system and an interesting one at that. It's a bit inconsistant but once you learn to use it strategically you can make some interesting plays. If you see a big guy coming at you and you don't have time to kill it before he reaches you, shoot his gun arm first and then work on the rest of him. Being able to literally disarm enemies almost feels like a sort of proto-Dead Space, and while it's not very consistant and it can feel like you have to hit odd places to get the result you want, it's immensely satisfying when you pull it off. Still, the combat never really has that elegant flow that the game's contemporaries did, and the tight corridors don't really allow for the kind of circle-strafing ballet you get from a lot of 90's shooters, but the fights are compelling in their own way and some of the stronger weapons you get are really fun.
The game is mostly pretty accessible, even by today's standards, though there are one or two parts that are far to opaque for their own good. The first level of hte expansion even gives you an achievement for spending more than 3 minutes trying to figure out a certain area, so clearly the folks working on this remaster even felt the same way. There's one or two parts where you have to do something outside the usual mechanics, like shoot a certain object to leave one of the Egypt levels without any indication it's shootable, but there's maybe 2 or 3 such moemnts across the whole game. What's more impressive is the puzzles that work, particularly the boss fights which are some of the most creative and interesting bosses I've seen in a 90's FPS. If you like Half-Life style puzzle bosses you'll like these, possibly even more, and I felt super clever whenever I figured each one out.
As far as this particular port, it runs great. I haven't played the original release to compare the accuracy, but it was easily as smooth and solid as any of Night Dive's remasters. I do wish I could disable the obvious interpolation being applied to weapon animations which I feel makes the shotgun feel a bit less punchy but the rest of them are fine. The game is short, I finished the campaign and expansion in about 5 hours, but these days a good short weekend game is a benefit rather than a detriment. If you've played all the big retro shooters and still want more, and you don't mind a little jank, Chasm is a charming way to kill an afternoon.