For quite a long time after obtaining the console, Killing Time was the only game I owned on my 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. I started it up, played for maybe 20 minutes, an??d then decided I’d probably be better off with the PC version. I wasn’t entirely correct on that.

I didn’t even get around to playing the PC version, but I learned with the announcement of Killing Time: Resurrected that there are stark differences between the two versions. The 3DO version had digitized sprites of actors as enemies, while the PC version swapped them out for 3D renders, which�well, I wouldn’t say they’re worse, but you lose some of that 1995 charm, which Killing Time is packed with.

Nightdive is easily the best developer to take on a remaster of Killing Time. They’re probably also the only people that would. They’ve proven very adept at updating games while keeping the original vision intact. And gosh, Killing Time has a vision.

Killing Time: Resurrected (PC [Reviewed], PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch)
Developer: Nightdive Studios, Studio 3DO
Publisher: Nightdive Studios, Ziggurat
Released: October 17, 2024
MSRP: $24.99

It took me about four-and-a-half hours for me to hit the end of Killing Time: Resurrected. I started it late in the evening and finished it early in the morning, all in one sitting. I didn’t intend to. I wasn’t expe?cting to. But once it got its ho??oks into me, I was determined.

Killing Time was first released on the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1995. For context, this was the year before Duke Nukem 3D and Quake, but you’d hardly believe it. Okay, that’s a bit disingenuous. Much of Killing Time: Resurrected is based on the 1996 PC port, which fits in more with th?e time period.&nbs??p;

The map was entirely redone on PC, and the makeover was both substantial and phenomenal. While elements of the 3DO version were retained, the PC version has convincing room-over-room, much better verticality, and more realistic dimensions. In some ways, I wish you could choose between th?e 3DO and PC versions of the world, but at the same time, I don’t think anyone would prefer the former.

On the other hand, the monster sprites were much better. As I mentioned, the 3DO version used digitized actors, which gives it a whiff of the FMV era. Nightdive chose the actors, making Killing Time: Resurrected the absolute best of both worlds.

As is typical with Nightdive remasters, everything was moved over to their proprietary KEX Engine. Lighting was redone, mouselook was added, and textures and sprites were upgraded. The latter change is the most impressive. The team had access to the original photographs of the actors to build off of, while the PC? monsters and textures were upgraded largely by hand.

The actors in their weird costumes clash against the environments, giving them a surreal “off�q??uality. You can practically smell the green screen on them. But had ?Nightdive somehow lost the off-ness of it, they would have also lost a lot of the charm.

Every so often, as you explore, you find little ghosts on the ground. As you approach, they’ll load a video of two ghosts acting out a scene from the past. FPS games of the �0s had a great deal of difficulty telling stories right up until Half-Life established the formula. Killing Time’s attempt is actually quite effective. You pick up bits and pieces of the story �not neces??sarily in a chronological fashion. Through those scenes, you get a complete picture of what went down at the Conway Estat?e.

You play as some dude who arrives on Matinicus Island in pursuit of an Eg?yptian water clock. You quickly find that the island is overrun by duck hunters and clowns. It’s bizarre. Tess Conway loved to party, so all her friends were over when everyone suddenly disappeared back in the 1930s. There are actual explanations for why there are so many clowns and why an endless supply of ammunition is scattered across the island. As ridiculous as the narrative is, someone thought long and hard about how to do it??.

What amazes me about Killing Time: Resurrected is that it’s a non-linear world you explore, but it very much follows the key-hunt FPS formula set by Wolfenstein 3D. It’s just done using a sing??le level on a much larger scale.

The world design is an incredible flex. Despite relying so heavily on exploration, there’s about as much action as you’d expect from something like Doom. When I said there are a lot of duck hunters and clowns, I mean a lot of duck hunters and clowns. As you travel t??he estate, you’re constantly mowing them down in droves, dealing death to whole circuses o?f entertainers. To enable your rampage, the game dumps ammo on you constantly. It’s possible to run out of buckshot, but that just means you switch to your Tommy Gun. There’s no shortage of gun food on the island.

This kind of sucked on the choppy 3DO version, but with the added mouselook, you can take on your opponents like any Doomguy or Nukem. Enemies stay dead regardless of where you go on the island, so you can completely lay waste to the housekeeping staff and clear the area. There’s very little backtracking to begin with, but not having to wade back through enemies makes it even more tolerable. It also has the add?ed side-effect of laying the groundwork for the climax.

Since my previous experience with Killing Time was a somewhat disappointing dalliance with the 3DO version, I was unprepared for how much I would enjoy the game. I knew it wasn’t going to be another PO’ed, but I wasn’t expecting it to be in bingewo??rthy territory. I ate through it, consistently entertained by the weird aesthetic and amazed by the excellent level design. Damn.

This might be Nightdive’s most important remaster. While the developer has helped polish up already popular games like Quake and System Shock, Killing Time benefits far more from their tender touch. It was already great, but this remaster makes it easier to digest. It really brings out its highlights, allowing the whole thing to shine a lot brighter. If you have never explored Matinicus Island, Killing Time: Resurrected is easily the best way to do so???, and it’s high time you did.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: Killing Time: Resurrected appeared first on Destructoid.

It’s almost here. Nightdive Studios and Ziggurat have announced that Killing Time: Resurrected is just around the corner. It wi??ll l??aunch on PC and consoles on October 17, 2024.

As a fan of retro 2.5D FPS games, I’ve been waiting for this. Killing Time is one of the few games I actually own on 3DO. However, I started playing it, discovered the framerate is ridiculously choppy, and stopped??. There’s a PC version, and I figured that would be a better way to experience it, but apparently not, as a lot of changes were made to the PC version, some of which alter the game’s aesthetic. Nonetheless, I still don’t really want?? to play such a choppy FPS on console.

For Killing Time: Resurrected, Nightdive, and Ziggurat were able to get the best of both worlds while upgrading everything for higher-resolution displays. I spoke to Nightdive about it back around when the remaster was announced and got the skinny. For? a lot of it, they had access to a backup of the original photographs of the original monsters, since they were played by ??actors. For PC version monsters that weren’t in the 3DO version, the art team had to upscale them by hand.

Killing Time is a unique FPS for 1995, as it contained cutscenes featuring real actors. It also walked the line of humor and horror to great effect. It’s maybe not the most amazing FPS out there, but it’s not PO’ed. It’s worth playing, even if it’s not as entertaining as Doom or Duke Nukem 3D.

Nightdive has made some excellent remasters in the past. While the games vary in quality, they all get the same loving attention when remastered. While we now know when we’ll be playing Killing Time, we still have The Thing to look forward to, which doesn’t currently have an announced release date. I’m also not going to let them forget about SIN: Reloaded and an enhanced edition of System Shock 2 is also in the pipe. They’ve been keeping busy, but here’s hoping we’ll soon hear that they’re working on a remaster of William Shatner’s TekWar. (Disclaimer: the existence of a TekWar remaster has never been discussed with me or confirmed. Whenever it is brought up, the team usuall??y reacts with understandable revulsion.)

Killing Time: Resurrected wi?ll arrive for PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on October 17, 2024.

The post Nightdive and Ziggura?t’s remaster of Kil?ling Time is out this month appeared first on Destructoid.

Killing Time feels like such an obvious choice for Nightdive to tackle for a remaster. Initially released o??n the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer console in 1995, it received a port to PC in 1996. It’s an underappreciated gem that could use a polish and a second chance.

One thing that struck me in the recent trailer is just how much of an upgrade the new enemy sprites and textures look. Their remaster of Star Wars: Dark Forces was already an impressive touch-up, but the assets in Killing Time struck me as something that would be more difficult to really improve. Many of the enemies are digitized actors �pictures of people?? in costume. Others are 3D models turned into 2D sprites. How do you improve these without losing the feel of the originals?

Nightdive artist Albert Marin Garau sent me some details on the magic?. Prepare to learn.

“We had access to old backup CDs that contained the original photographs they took to t??he real-life actors for the 3DO version of the game, and also higher resolution renders of other non-human enemies,�Al?bert told me.

The important thing to note is that the PC version of Killing Time was?n’t a direct port. The map was expanded and changed, and all the enemies had different sprites. These new enemy appearances weren’t always bette?r. They were often just different. Notably, they removed the actors. This may look less hokey, but also changes the feel of the game.

Albert explained, “All this backup data was for the original 3DO version of the game, so we don't have hi-res sprites of the enemies' PC version.�/p>

As I mentioned, the PC version added (and technically removed in a couple of cases) new enemies. So, without having high-resolution versions of the assets, Albert had to do things the hard wa?y.

“Since some of the enemies are exclusive to the PC version (the Gardener, the Sexy Maid, the Tough Guy, and even the final boss, Tess, for example) we needed to do something to get a good quality balance between the backed and non-backed up assets. I modeled, rigged, skinned, and animated those exclusive PC enemies and rendered hi-res sprites that match the quality of the other hi-res a??ssets,�he told me.

When the trailer flips from classic graphics to the remaster, the change in enemy design might seem a bit jarring. That’s not because Nightdive’s artists took liberties with t?he art style, it’s because of the change between PC and 3DO versions. “The low-res ones are the PC enemies, the hi-res are the 3DO enemies,â€?Albert explained.

As for the textures, which also have been upgraded for the remaster, the team once again had access to higher-quality ver??sions from backup dataâ€?some of them, anyway. 

“All backup data we have is for the 3DO version,�Albert explained. “Most textures used in the PC version came from the 3DO version, but around 25% of them are exclusive to PC. But thanks to the hand-drawn look nature of this game art style in the stage textures, it was possible to upscale and hand-draw all missing details with excellent results. All assets dimensions are 400% bigger than the original assets.�/p>

Altogether, while Nightdive’s upgrades to the visuals seem pretty stark, a lot of effort was taken to ensure it’s true to the original experience. Despite sporting a gloss that feels more at home on modern displays, you still get a sense of the �0s sensibilities. It’s true to the studio’s attempts to ensure that their remasters are the new definitive versions, compiling all the original content, and changing as little as possible, while presenting them with modern comforts. After all, if you’re interested in playing Killing Time: Resurrected, it’s probably because you want to play Killing Time; not somebody’s weak facsimile.

The post ?Nightdive outlines the process of remastering Killing Time appeared first on Destructoid.

Nightdive Studios announced their next remastering project at the Guerilla Collective today. This time, they’re teaming with their fellow retro enthusiasts at Ziggurat to put the polisher on 3DO’s 1995 cult-classic FPS, Killing Time. Killing Time: Resurrected will be released later this year.

Killing Time is one of the few games I own for my 3DO Interactive Multipl??ayer, one of the doomed consoles o??f the �0s. While playing through the first area of the game, I stopped myself because, while the game is fine, it was obviously not the ideal way to play it. The 3DO version is rather choppy, and the controller affords little comfort. There was a PC port, and I already owned it on GOG, so I figured I might as well just play that version.

But I never did.

Now, I definitely will. Nightdive is bringing us what will most likely be the definitive way of playing Killing Time. Beyond simply being ported to a modern engine, the trailer shows off com??pletely updated sprites and textures, mouselook, and smoother movement.

I spoke to Nightdive about the new sprites and textures. Some of the updates are drawn from original source p??hotographs and models whereever ??they were able to find backups of them. Some, however, were exclusive to the PC version, and Nightdive artist Albert Marin Garau says that to remake them he "modeled, rigged, skinned and animated those exclusive PC enemies and render hi-res sprites that match the quality of the other hi-res assets."

I'll write about it in more detail soon.

Killing Time is a rather obscure FPS, but don’t get it twisted with PO’ed. While both games were initially released on the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and both games were ambitious for their time, Killing Time just stuck the landing b??etter. Rather than a series of levels, the world was more open-ish. It told a story using digitized actors and was fully voiced.

The story involves an island where an ancient Egyptian curse cau?ses a number of high-society people to vanish. Your task is to undo that c??urse, but standing in your way is a number of sometimes bizarre enemies. One of the first types that you fight is ducks, which is sad. The only thing you should be firing at ducks is bread.

Killing Time: Resurrected is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, ??Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and PC so??metime later this year.

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