Reah | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | |
Publisher(s) | LK Avalon (EU) GT Interactive (NA), Project Two Interactive, Black Friar |
Engine | V-Cruise engine |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Adventure, puzzle |
Reah: Face the Unknown, known in North America as simply Reah, is a 1998 first-person puzzle-oriented adventure game with a non-linear plot, described as a Myst -clone. It was developed by Project Two Interactive / Black Friar and published by Detalion and LK Avalon. It was distributed by Erbe in Spain on October 10, 1998. [3] It was published by Project 2 Interactive in the Netherlands, and distributed in the U.S. and Canada by GT Interactive in 1999. [4]
The game was originally made in the Polish language before being dubbed into English, and has subtitles available in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian and Spanish. [5] A sequel of the game was released entitled Schizm: Mysterious Journey (a.k.a.Reah II). [6] [7] [8] [9] The game was originally released in two different formats: a CD version and a DVD version. [10]
The game is a first-person perspective puzzle-oriented adventure game. [10] Elements of the gameplay have been compared to Myst, Riven , The 7th Guest , The 11th Hour , and Zork Nemesis . [11] [12]
The game has over 150 scenarios, a supernatural-sounding musical landscape, and a non-linear plot. [13]
The main player is stranded at a human colony base of a planet named Reah which had been set up to investigate an alien artifact. The player must return home to reveal their shocking discoveries. [14]
The game was developed in Poland by LK Avalon and Detalion. [10] The Detalion founders had met in the early 1990s while collaborating with Polish developer-publisher LK Avalon, and soon began working on ambitious projects. [15] The game was intentionally designed to be non-violent so as to appeal to a broader range of players. [16] The full-time team who worked on Reah and its sequel, Schizm: Mysterious Journey , consisted of six people, though the productions had an extended roster of hired help including actors, text writers, and sound designers. [15] Resources were increased in later games due to the industry standards of professional outsourcers, localization and animation studios, while maintaining both quality and low costs. [15]
The game used the V-Cruise gaming engine, [16] the QMixer sound engine licensed from QSound Labs, and the DVD-ROM version used MP3s from Fraunhofer Institut. [17] Once the gameplay and text were completed by the in-house staff, it was sent to the relevant people to flesh out. However, the staff felt a sense of confusion and uncertainty about their work, and decided that in the future they would hire a professional sci-fi writer to develop the story from the very early stages of production. [15] While this was not the case with Reah, Detalion decided that as a rule of thumb, the story writer should also be the gameplay author. [15]
As the Polish video gaming industry was still in its infant stages, everyone involved in the production knew each other. There were no tertiary courses to teach people the required skills, so they learnt while making games with more experienced colleagues. The small teams in the production of games such as Reah had no issues with communication or bureaucracy that appear in larger organisations. [15]
The Computer Show thought the game could have been a surprise hit upon its original proposed release date of April 1998. [18] PC Action announced the game would be released in August 1998. [19] However, PC Zone noted that they had still not received a copy of the game by January 1999, remarking that such was usually indicative of one of two things: that the game is bad and the company is therefore scared to have it sent off for review before it is sold, and that they hadn't yet decided on release dates.[ citation needed ]
Project Two Interactive revealed in May 1999 that the DVD version of the game would be released in retail outlets in June through GT Interactive's affiliate label program. This version was 10 gigabytes with a compression ratio of 50%, compared to the CD-ROM version which was 3.6 gigabytes over six discs with a compression ratio of 80%. This made the DVD version one of the largest games in the market [20] [21] when it was officially shipped on June 16. [22] [23]
Author Terry Dowling, who was playing Reah at the time, contacted Detalion and was propositioned with writing the sci-fi story of the sequel, Schizm, which he accepted. [15]
On October 24, 2017 digital distributor GOG.com made Reah: Face the Unknown and Schizm: Mysterious Journey available without digital rights management restrictions [24] after the game had been unavailable for sale for a number of years. [16]
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
GameRankings | 56% [25] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Adventure Gamers | [26] |
AllGame | [27] |
Computer Games Strategy Plus | [28] |
EP Daily | 1/10 [29] |
Game Informer | 7.75/10 [30] |
GamePro | [31] |
GameRevolution | C+ [32] |
GameSpot | 4.9/10 [33] |
IGN | 5/10 [34] |
PC PowerPlay | 78% [35] |
The game received mixed reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. [25] The general consensus was that the scenery was beautiful and detailed, while the writing and plot were underdeveloped and without forward momentum.[ citation needed ] Reviews regarding the puzzles and gameplay mechanics were mixed.[ citation needed ] However most critics felt that despite the downsides, they ultimately had an enjoyable experience.[ citation needed ]
When reviewing Schizm, Just Adventure 's Cindy Kyser commented that the prequel Reah was "a visually stunning yet dismal game [design and writing] that ranks high on my personal list of 'worst of genre' ", adding that Schizm "corrects almost every flaw that made Reah so painful to play". [36] Tap Repeatedly criticised the game's "three too-too-hard endgame puzzles" which when completed led to an unclimactic resolution, and thought that Detalion had committed the same error in Schizm. [37] IGN implied in 2000 that the game was not remembered by the public. [38]
Schizm: Mysterious Journey is an adventure-genre computer game created by Detalion and LK Avalon and published by DreamCatcher Games. Its script was co-authored by Australian science fiction writer Terry Dowling and Polish science fiction writer Tomasz Kołodziejczak. Within a year of release, its sales had surpassed 250,000 units worldwide.
NBA Live 2000 is the 2000 installment of the NBA Live video game series. The cover features Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs. The game was developed by EA Sports and released in 1999. Don Poier is the play-by-play announcer with Reggie Theus on color commentary. The game features Michael Jordan in his first official appearance in the series. The PC version of the game introduced EA's "Face in the Game" feature, allowing players to use custom facial photographs on created players. It was also the final NBA Live game released for Nintendo 64. NBA Live 2000 is followed by NBA Live 2001. A cancelled Game Boy Color version was in development by Handheld Games for THQ, but it was scrapped during testing.
FIFA 99 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It is the sixth game in the FIFA series and was released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation and Nintendo 64.
Detalion S.C, was a Polish video game developer founded by a partnership of six people, that first met in the early 1990s, working from game developer and publisher LK Avalon.
Croc 2 is a platform game developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive. The sequel to Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, it revolves around the title character going on a quest to search for his missing parents, as well as saving the Inventor Gobbo from a revived Baron Dante.
Sheep is a strategy puzzle video game released for PlayStation, Microsoft Windows and Game Boy Advance. In 2001 it was released for Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. The Game Boy Advance version was supposed to be released in North America in the spring of 2002, but was canceled for unknown reasons.
Rollcage is a racing video game developed by Attention to Detail and published by Psygnosis for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation. A sequel, Rollcage Stage II, was released in 2000 for PlayStation and Windows.
NHL 2000 is an ice hockey video game developed by Electronic Arts Canada. It was released in 1999 and was the successor to NHL 99. The game did not boast great improvements to the game from NHL 99, nor did NHL 2001 feature any idea the two previous versions did not until NHL 2002.
Starshot: Space Circus Fever is a platform game for Nintendo 64 and Windows. It is one of the few games on the Nintendo 64 to feature 16:9 widescreen. The Nintendo 64 version had been scheduled to be released in North America on April 16, 1999, before it was delayed to June 29.
Test Drive 5 is a racing game developed by Pitbull Syndicate and published by Accolade for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows in 1998.
Centipede is a 3D remake of the 1981 Centipede arcade game from Atari, the original of which was and designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey. It was published by Hasbro Interactive in 1998 under the Atari Interactive brand name.
Jane's World War II Fighters is the 1998 combat flight simulation video game. Set in the European theatre of operations during World War II, it is part of the Jane's Combat Simulations franchise. The game was considered a commercial failure, and contributed to the end of the Jane's Combat Simulations line.
Slave Zero is a 1999 action video game developed and published by Infogrames North America.
Avalon Hill's Squad Leader is a 2000 turn-based strategy video game developed by Random Games and published by Hasbro Interactive under the MicroProse label. It is a tie-in to Avalon Hill's board wargame Squad Leader.
Montezuma's Return! is a 1997 action/adventure video game and the sequel to the original Parker Brothers game Montezuma's Revenge. While the original game was a 2D platform game, the sequel was a 3D first-person puzzle platformer. According to Steve Bergenholtz, the Utopia Technologies spokesperson, the musical score was written by a TV and film veteran. A port for Nintendo 64 was in the works but was cancelled.
Lego Rock Raiders is a video game developed by Data Design Interactive and published by Lego Media for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation. It is based on the Lego theme of the same name. The Windows version was released in 1999, while a differently built game for PlayStation was released in 2000.
Mysterious Journey II, also known as Schizm II: Chameleon, is an adventure game developed by Detalion, published by The Adventure Company, powered by Lithtech: Jupiter, and the sequel to Schizm: Mysterious Journey. Like the earlier game, the plotline was authored by acclaimed Australian science fiction writer Terry Dowling. While Schizm utilized 360 degree panoramas, Mysterious Journey II uses a first-person shooter interface.
The Mummy, known in Japan as Hamunaptra: Ushinawareta Sabaku no Miyako, is a single-player video game for Game Boy Color, PlayStation and Microsoft Windows, based on the 1999 movie of the same name. It was published by Konami.
Sentinel: Descendants in Time is a "puzzle-adventure, Myst-clone" video game released in 2004.
Art of Murder: FBI Confidential is an adventure video game, first game in the Art of Murder series. Originally released by Polish developer City Interactive in 2008, the game has been released on Steam.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)