Chasm: The Rift Review (Docktor Baby)
Chasm: The Rift is a fascinating eurojank FPS from the mid 90s that unfortunately got terrible reviews for it's time for being too similar to Quake. It was actually supposed to compete with Quake a year earlier, but GT Interactive lost publishing rights to Activision when id Software signed with them.
I remember playing this game when it came out many moons ago in 1997 and absolutely loving it. It was like Quake, yes, but way creepier. The dismemberment at the time was so crazy, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And yes, it seems tame and cartoonish now, but when this evil puppy came out, I was blown away by it's gameplay. It's nothing revolutionary, but at the time, I thought it was pushing the limits of what we could do with a first person shooter. Of course, Half-Life came out a year later and set the new standards of FPS gameplay, but that was to come down the pipes soon enough.
Looking at it now without the nostalgic lens, I can see that this is just a good, plain, meat and potatoes "boomer shooter." (God I hate that phrase). You collect keys, you kill everything that isn't you, you go down archaic hallways and set off traps and switches. What really sets it apart though is ATMOSPHERE ATMOSPHERE ATMOSPHERE. Chasm The Rift just has this dark oppressive vibe that can only rival Quake and Doom 64 with it's constant dread. The soundtrack by Alex Kot goes from 90s drum and bass techno to reverberated lone metal pipe echoes, perfectly accentuating the fear that this game brings.
While the guns might not be super special, the gunplay is smooth and satisfying. Everything just has a good crunch to it. Loud and powerful. What more do you need?
And now, with the excellent remaster by General Arcade (who also did a fabulous job of bringing FromSoftware's goofiest game to modern software, Metal Wolf Chaos) you can now play this forgotten gem at a very reasonable price. Also, most of the time it's 50% off. You can't lose. This one is an underrated and underappreciated classic.