O tempora – Klardendum

O tempora: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – Master Collection Version

24/03/2025 24/03/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

For the longest time I’ve considered Metal Gear Solid 2 to be my favorite entry in the series, from the mechanical perspective. Not the most popular opinion, to say the least, given how much controversy surrounded MGS2 and how much more beloved MGS3 usually is. But in many ways, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was the final evolution of what Metal Gear was up until that point and a glimpse into what it turned into for the next couple of entries. And because of how much I liked that simpler stealth action approach of the earlier titles, it was very nice to see the idea taken to its logical conclusion. Still, it’s been decades since I’ve played the game so I was a bit worried if I will like it again, as it did before. I did. But it definitely didn’t age as well as I’ve remembered.

O tempora: Metal Gear Solid – Master Collection Version

13/03/2025 13/03/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Geez, when was the last time I played Metal Gear Solid?.. It’s been at least 20 years. This is a bit strange, because out of the entire franchise, I always had the warmest feelings towards the first two MGS entries. Apart from MGR: Revengeance, of course. Last time I’ve played MGS1 was with the interesting but flawed PC port of the game that is still available on GOG… but I’ll speak on the different versions of the game later. The main reason I’ve decided that it was finally time to replay a classic was the release of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1. Yes, it has been released back in 2023, but the original release was highly flawed, so I’ve waited for some time for it to get patched and it seems like the game included in it are at their potential best by this point. So it was time. And Metal Gear Solid, originally released in 1998, is still really cool but also far more flawed then I have remembered.

O tempora: Clock Tower: Rewind

03/03/2025 03/03/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Discussing Clock Tower is a bit strange. On one hand, the original game is still incredible in many ways and at the time was highly influential. On the other – it never figured out how to become a franchise, despite 3 further attempts. The latest entry in the franchise was released back in 2002, but several other attempts to re-create the experience were made since then… only for all of them to mostly fail as well.

Clock Tower: Rewind is the first official international release of that inventive original game. And it’s a mixed bag of a release, with a lot of good and some very bad.

O tempora: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered

15/02/2025 15/02/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Legacy of Kain has been one of the most important franchises for me personally. While it has not been a series I replayed very often, unlike a lot of survival horror classics, it has remained a benchmark of worldbuilding, character writing and storytelling. The incredible work Silicon Knights did when creating the world of Nosgoth for Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain still holds up. As do the stunning writing and cutscene direction of Amy Hennig and her team with later entries, as Crystal Dynamics became the owners of the franchise. There has been only one dud in the main series (Blood Omen 2), and even that game had its moments. Franchise consistently had incredible music, some of the best voice acting in games and one of the most cleverly written storylines… That to this day remains unfinished. Legacy of Kain: Defiance, the final “proper” entry in the series was released in 2003 and was an ending, but not the ending to the incredible tale started in 1996. And since then only cancelled projects, including some incredibly misguided ones, followed. By now, with almost all of the original team spread across the industry (or sadly not among the living) getting a sequel is not just unlikely but may even be preferable. The industry is too different and Legacy of Kain requires a strong vision and choices that development studios and especially publishers would simply not risk to make.

So, given that getting no future games in this wonderful franchise might be the best outcome possible, let’s look at its past with the recently released Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered.

O tempora: Half-Life 2 (20th Anniversary)

18/01/2025 18/01/2025

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

For how influential, important and beloved Half-Life 2 is, I always struggled replaying it. I’d start, go through several opening chapters in a blink of an eye, loving every second of it and then stop somewhere in the middle of Ravenholm or right after. I dunno, the original Half-Life, despite also having weaker segments, always felt more exciting to me overall… Not that I disliked HL2 – I still felt that it was a great game, just, not quite as good as the first one. Which is funny, because at the same time I did love Episode Two a lot and even though it had horrible grindy achievements, first game to add them back in the day, I did all of them.

Except, it’s been around 14 years since I’ve played them last time. And after revisiting the original Half-Life with its expansions and later the fan remake Black Mesa, I was meaning to revisit the sequel as well. What stopped me was the state of the game – HL2 has been somewhat broken for years, having lots of visual issues and some logic bugs too. In 2023 Valve has brought a fantastic update to the original Half-Life, which got me excited about the possibility of getting the same treatment for Half-Life 2. And now that the 20th Anniversary update is out, I’ve decided to finally revisit the game and both Episodes, as they are now part of the same package.

O tempora: Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged

22/11/2024 22/11/2024

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Guess, it was about time to replay Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars anyway… A classic from 1996, the original Broken Sword has often been considered one of the best point and click adventure titles. You had one good way of experiencing it (original release played via ScummVM) and one average way (Director’s Cut from 2010). But now there’s a perfect way of enjoying this title, with the new Reforged remastered release.

O tempora: Castlevania Dominus Collection

26/10/2024 26/10/2024

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

I’m glad that Konami keep releasing games and collections from the time when they developed good games and were respected. Three years ago they released the really cool Castlevania Advance Collection that collected all “IGAvanias” (Castlevania titles with “metroidvania” world design, usually produced by Koji Igarashi) released for the Game Boy Advance. That collection was full of absolute bangers, though it was a bit of a shame that the games were just emulated originals, with all of their faults and bugs intact. But at least it was preserving the classics.

Now its time for the titles, originally released for Nintendo DS, with a cool bonus game added in. Surprisingly, revisiting these games was somewhat less enjoyable overall.

O tempora: Doom + Doom II

11/10/2024 22/11/2024

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

Well, it finally happened. I’ve finally played both classic Doom titles start to finish and even all of its official expansions. It might sound weird to some, given how huge and important Doom has been for the development of FPS and game industry as a whole, but it just so happened that I was never much of an id Software games player. Even though Spear of Destiny was my first introduction to this type of games, I just never really played through any of their titles start to finish until decades later. Which includes the classic Doom games – I have played and finished the original Doom (that is, the first three episodes) a very long time ago, but I’ve never played any other title in its entirety apart from the Playstation version of the Final Doom, which was my only point of contact with the Doom II expansions. And yes, I did get it back in the day, because I thought it was the “final definitive version of Doom”, not realizing that it’s a completely different game…

But now Doom and Doom II have been officially re-released on all modern platforms in a remastered package by NightDive, with all of the official, and even some previously unofficial, releases combined into one game. And I’ve decided that it was finally time to give it a proper go.

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Thoughts on: Hebereke Enjoy Edition and Gimmick! Special Edition

24/09/2024 24/09/2024

A lot of people have nostalgy for games from Sunsoft and I can see why. However, for me it was never the case. I did play Blaster Master and perhaps Batman on NES a bit as a kid, but the only game of theirs I’ve played a lot was their PS1 Hard Edge/T.R.A.G. (which I do love). So, seeing the company return to making games recently and re-releasing their old classics on their own or through other companies wasn’t a big deal to me. I was curious, however, since some of their games are considered cult classics.

Two of such titles were re-released over the past two years in the new format that emulates the original NES game, but with cool quality of life editions and bonuses. These are Hebereke Enjoy Edition (known as Ufouria: The Saga in the European and Australasian release on NES) and Gimmick! Special Edition (also known as Mr. Gimmick in Scandinavian NES release). Which I was glad to finally play, because I don’t ever want to play them again.

O tempora: Kanon

28/07/2024 02/10/2024

O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.

I’m not much of a fan of visual novels and barely ever play them. I tend to prefer adventure game titles, so even if the VN-part of the game is still there, it’s not the focus is instead the game just uses the format to drive the story forward, while emphasizing choices and actions you make. Nonetheless, back in 2007 or so I got curious about Kanon, a game that at the time never had an official version released outside of Japan. And also a game that in most (if not all) PC versions was an eroge. I don’t remember why exactly I got interested in playing it, most likely a combination of hearing that the story was pretty good and also seeing the “ugu~” jokes/references on the internet. Though, remembering myself at the time, I won’t completely discount horny interest too. But point was – I did get the game via dubious means and played it with a fan translation. While very simple, it did click with me, so much in fact that I decided to then also watch both anime adaptations of the game.

Now, the game is finally officially available internationally on PC 25 years since its original release. And I had to replay it and see how I feel about it today.