D/Generation HD
The year is 2021, and Genoq has become a leading corporation in bio-medical research. However the tower, some 90 stories high, is not all that it seems. Somewhere within the tower, highly illegal bio-weapons research has been conducted in secret. June 26th, disaster strikes and the lethal organic weapons have escaped and threaten not only the staff members stranded in the tower, but the world itself.
You arrive on the 80th floor with an urgent package addressed to Derrida, the lead scientist at Genoq working on the bio-weapons research. Set back from your goal, you must climb the tower, assisting those in need or focusing solely on your task at hand, and stopping the virus from escaping the tower and threatening all life on the planet.
Will you help the stranded survivors or hinder them? Can you deliver the package to Derrida in time? Can you prevent the impending catastrophe and escape with your life?
Key Features
- New high res graphics
- New music by Mark ‘TDK’ Knight
- New control menu
- Can save at any point in the game
- Leaderboards
- Achievements
- Same great gameplay
Steam User 85
I'd like to start by saying I played this game on the pc many years ago and I remember loving it. I got pretty far but never quite beat it. Since it was so long ago there are various things about it I don't remember so I looked up a Youtube vid of the original to remind me. The game was originally made in 1991 but don't let the age fool you because the gameplay was quite solid.
The game is an isometric puzzler. Your goal is to deliver a package to a guy on the top floor. As you play you can talk to people and learn more about what's going on. You run around activating switches to open doors, finding security passes to open others, shooting enemies, dodging traps, and rescuing people (though that's optional). You die in a single hit from all enemies and traps and you have a finite amount of lives (though you get an extra life for every person you rescue. And don't forget, you can always save scum!).
Given I'm a big fan of the original I decided to take a chance despite the steep price tag ($25) and check this game out. At first I gave a negative rating due to the bugs and some cons. But since then the devs have made good strides in fixing them, so I feel now that this game is overall on par with the original. If you liked the original you should definitely check this out. The only problem is the price which is a bit high. $15 would be more reasonable to most people I think. Therefore if you think the price is high don't hate on the game but instead wait for a nice sale.
There have been various bugs but the devs continue to work on fixing them.
Cons
-There is no tutorial of any kind, nor any explanation of game mechanics. It's true the original was like this, but that was 1991. It's not obvious anymore you have to step on the grate spawning the red balls to stop them from spawning. If you never played the original you will go in this completely blind and likely get frustrated fast. Essential gameplay tips are at the end.
-The original game gave you clearly visible switches and items, and the walls were only about half your character's height for visual convenience. In this version the switches are more on par with the updated graphics which is fine, but they can be harder to see, especially when on a southwest/southeast wall. This problem is compounded by the fact that walls are now a realistic height and only become transparent when you, an enemy, a friendly, or a moving trap gets behind them. This means there are buttons and even electrocution pads hidden on and behind these walls you can't see through. The items are harder to see too and the pistol is hidden behind a desk where in the original it was clearly shown. There are now yellow chevron symbols (arrow-like) located on top of walls that point to the switches. Most electrocution pads are visible behind walls, but some aren't. I assume the ones that aren't are a bug and will get fixed. The laser pistol is now in a luminescent box on a wall next to the desk. These changes are from patch 1.1 Oct 26, 2015.
-You can't rebind the controls for the controller (but you can for the keyboard).
-There are no graphics options of any kind in game, not even the ability to change the resolution (it used my native resolution for me which is 1280x720). If you want windowed you have to press alt+enter. In patch 1.3 Oct 29, 2015 there are now resolution options and even graphics options in case your pc is a potato and has difficulty with this game.
-The game is limited to 30fps. This isn't a con to me but many people consider it one. I personally don't mind 30fps in non-shooter games and there's certainly no issues with it here for me. V-sync has been turned off in patch 1.1 Oct 26, 2015 that unlocks the fps. I was getting 200+ and the game does indeed play faster (perhaps too fast :P).
Neutral
+-Doors that slid up and down have been changed to horizontal laser doors. This is significant because a very useful trick (which I think is necessary a couple times) is to stand on an open door, ricochet a shot off a wall to shoot the switch closing the door, then move off the door allowing it to close. With the new laser doors this technique is far from obvious.
Pros
+Same great gameplay of the original.
+The updated graphics are very nice (excluding the realistic wall height, detailed in cons).
+The new music is pretty good and best of all plays as you explore the floors, instead of having almost no music as you explore like in the original.
+The new UI is really great and you can toggle it at any time. It is especially nice that it informs you how many people there are and how many you've saved, how many rooms and the number you've cleared, and even how many destroyable objects you've destroyed so you can work on the achievement.
+Some nice achievements that add replayability such as kill everyone (very hard considering you start with 5 lives and rescuing people is the only way to get more), rescuing all people, destroying all breakable objects, and more.
Some basic tips for new players that are essential
*Rescuing people is the only way to get more lives. Once you've lost all your lives the game immediately starts over at the very beginning. Or you can save scum (save at the beginning of every room and if you die reload). You rescue people by leading them to any room exit.
*The pistol can ricochet off walls. Use this to hit switches and enemies you ordinarily couldn't. Be careful not to hit friendlies! But don't worry you can't be hurt by your own shots.
*You can stand in the middle of a door and use your gun to shoot the switch that closes it, then move out of the door allowing it to close. Use this to solve puzzles or make them easier.
*See those blobs spawning from a grate? You have to walk over the grate to close it and prevent more from spawning.
*Grenades can be used to destroy those periscope-looking things that shoot explosives at you. Learn to avoid them instead because grenades aren't very common.
*Bombs can be used to blow open doors. Careful because they can kill you if you're too close. Do this very sparingly because bombs are rare and there's always a legit way to progress if you're careful.
*There will be other tricks you will learn as you play :).
(Personal note: 43 of 48 people found this review helpful when it was negative).
Steam User 31
I'm a huge fan of D/Generation, I played the hell out of the original version and was very excited to hear about the HD remake. Having just finished a full playthrough of the HD version my opinion is very mixed.
On the one hand you have absolutely gorgeous colorful graphics, an amazing soundtrack that makes exploring even more fun than in the original and the same smart gameplay as the original as well.
Make no mistake, this is very much a thinking man's game. Although it may not look it at first, you'll quickly find that puzzles and discovery of the games rules are the primary gameplay mechanics here.
This leads me to my major problems with the game.
- Some of the animations are extremely stiff, literally an eyesore, a far cry from the hypnotizing smoothness of the original (I'm looking at the A/gens and B/gens particularly...)
- I had a little trouble at times figuring out what objects could be intereacted with and with which ones I couldn't. There are inconsistencies, like desk chairs you cannot shoot and desk chairs you can shoot. It doesn't make sense.
- Although a nice touch, the new realistic height for the walls sometimes hides hazards and items leading to some unfair deaths.
- The floaty controls are nearly unforgivable. Gone is the sharp precise movement of the original, now we have an uncomfortable floaty feeling as if you are on an roller skates the whole time. Your character's long strides do not match up with the speed or distance you move.
- Lastly, some small bugs nothing too annoying or major, but worth mentioning: NPCs occasionally change when you enter and exit a room, the floor sometimes flickers, I had issues leaving Derrida's room, C/Gens got caught on corners quite often and disappointingly make you explode instead of decapitating you, and the transporters take way too long. Also, you can pick up the laser fences with a shield but you can't fire them anymore.
If you are not familiar with the original game, some of the mechanics of D/generation may be difficult to figure out because of the new art style. Check solaris32s great review for a breakdown of the essentials.
All in all I really enjoyed playing through this game although $25 seems a bit steep for a game you can beat in 45 minutes. Wait for it to go on sale and stick with it for great time.
Steam User 20
Bought the original 20 years ago, and remember exactly where I was & what I was doing.
This remastering of D/Generation into HD was done very well, and is a service to the isometric room puzzler genre of videogames.
Pros:
+Great remake
+Thriller atmosphere
+Controller support
+Story keeps you playing until the end!
+Rewarding experience
Cons:
-Save your game frequently!
-Doesn't save the state of the current room (until you leave it)
Steam User 2
I had the original CD-ROM on my Amiga CD32. The game was awesome with an amazing soundtrack. This remake has an amazing soundtrack. The Game is terrible compared to the original. Bad controls, Poor movement animation and poor wall fading that leads to you not being able to see where you are going. Whilst playing I had a bug where all conversations would stay on screen covering nearly 80% making it impossible to play. It's Jank! However the soundtrack is brilliant. I'm recommending it for that alone.
Steam User 4
So many bugs.. you can get stuck in terminals and have to alt+f4 out of the game. text gets stuck on the screen so you cant see any future conversations until you exit the game and restart. If you change graphics options all the textures go weird until.. you guessed it.. exit to desktop and restart the game. The music randomly stops playing and you can hear the game clicking where the music should be.
The game is fun but these bugs and constant restarts are starting to get annoying.
Recommending for nostalgia reasons.
Steam User 1
I use to play this game about 20 years ago, once I upgrade my computer I could no longer play it, then I found Steam they had a new download version of (D/Generation HD) I love the new design and ease of play and YES I do recommend game.
Steam User 0
Just a blast to play especially if you have played the original back in the day.