Strife: Veteran Edition

I love this game. I have a hard time accurately judging things these days because nostalgia is so strong with games I grew up playing. I loved this game when I was a kid, but it was too difficult for me. I finally beat it as an adult and I loved every minute of it. It's a FPS RPG, but it's simple. Games these days are too convoluted for me. This feels more like a classic run and gun FPS, but with a purpose.

When I first played Strife, it was as though I time-travelled. Not in a cool, futuristic way.
For a new game, it looked ancient. In 1996, the same year Quake shook up the FPS genre, Strife was still using the Doom engine – the last commercial game to do so. At a time that hardware acceleration was just beginning to become a thing, it seemed that Strife didn’t get the “3dfx revolution” memo.
Then I noticed something weirder. Strife actually made me… talk to people? And collect money? Why is an FPS making me negotiate with sketchy characters and collect cash like some sort of RPG?!
I was used to FPS games instantly putting you into the action, guns blazing. No pre-amble, no chit-chat, just carnage. But Strife wanted me to “make friends” and “gather intel”. What was this, Doom: The Social Experiment?
But then something changed. After awhile, I got it. This wasn’t just a mindless shooter. It was was an FPS in disguise, smuggling RPG aspects across the border. I was dealing with factions, ne’er-do-wells and rebels, and making decisions that actually mattered. When I went on a quest, it advanced a story – giving me a level of immersion I hadn’t yet experienced with a game like this.
When I finally go to shooting, the stakes seemed higher. Every pull of the trigger carried weight. An hour into Strife, I was hooked.
And what a story! Strife has to deal with a comet that falls on a planet, unleashing a plague, killing millions of people. The plague resulted in people mutating, hearing the voice of a god. And these mutants enslaved the rest of the population.
You got a mission: stop the mutants, end the oppression, and, naturally, clean up everyone else’s mess.
This was epic.
While the graphics weren’t cutting edge, there was voice acting. And while the acting sounded like dudes shouting into a tin can, it was a step above the grunts and growls of similar games. The fact real people were talking as characters put this over and above the standard FPS. The music and sound effects were decent as well.
Because this is based on the Doom engine, it largely controls like Doom too. That means directional keys for movement, ctrl to shoot, space to interact with objects.
In 2014, the legendary Nightdive Studios released The Original Strife: Veteran Edition, which is an enhanced version of Strife – giving it a needed facelift. While the original DOS version comes included with the game, you also get a modernized version in widescreen that has updated HD graphics, better controls that utilize WASD for movement as well as mouselook, and a map that actually tells you where to go.
I prefer Veteran Edition because, playing the DOS version on a big monitor, it gives me motion sickness. And as nostalgic as I am for the DOS version, WASD for movement and mouselook is way better than the original controls. Nevertheless, having the two options available in one package is fantastic. Nightdive Studios, you absolute legends.
Looking back, it’s clear that Strife was highly influential for later FPS games. I doubt that Half-Life and Deus Ex would be what they are if Strife didn’t pioneer those game mechanics first. Having an FPS where the story elements are mostly told through the game action, not cutscenes – that was revolutionary.
And honestly, back in the day, I was being a snob about the Doom engine. It’s an absolute classic – people still make games with it. While Strife didn’t wow with graphics, it gave us a game that made you think and shoot.
If you’re into classic games that blend brains and brawn, Strife is it. Just remember: you’ll have to talk to people. But in this game, it’s worth it.

The last commercial game made with the Doom engine (one month before a little indie title called Quake), Strife mixes light RPG elements with the usual Doom gameplay, and the result is quite impressive for the time, imho.
The beginning says it all: you escape from a prison cell after punching a couple guards to death, a nearby NPC gives you a crossbow and tells you to kill a prisoner that's going to spill the beans to the Order about the Resistance. Then you turn the corner and see a tavern, a destroyed city hall and a couple shops down the road that sell ammo and supplies. Again, on the Doom engine.
The shooting is what you'd expect, but now you get objectives to complete instead of hitting an Exit button and levels are naturally interconnected.
You can find and earn money to use in the aforementioned shops, there's some rudimentary stealth (only the fist and the poison bolts are considered silent) and you increase your health and accuracy by progressing through the game.
The arsenal is fine and kinda interesting, with a couple weapons also having a secondary ammo type. The most interesting one is probably the Sigil, which evolves and becomes stronger throughout the game, although it using your health as ammo means it can't be used willy-nilly.
There's also a bad ending you can get! It's kinda obvious which choice will lock into it, so don't worry about accidentally screwing your save file. I'd advise not taking it your first time through, since it skip, like, one third of the game.
Nightdive also added one little thing: there are now 3 talismans hidden throughout the game. Collecting them gives you a permanent Berserk effect for your fist, which is a cool reward even if it's only obtainable during the last leg of the game.
As for the negatives, the crossbow sucks: it's slow, not hitscan and the alternative ammo only works on one type of enemy. The sewer level is also annoying, being a confusing maze of gray bricks and green toxic water where it takes a while to get your bearings.
Besides that, it's a fun experience and one last hurrah for the Doom engine. Go for it!

Nightdive Studios <3
Hailed as the original FPS-RPG game that spawned countless imitators, Strife: Veteran Edition is a love letter to the classic from 1996.

After struggling through a string of bad games this was a refreshing one. I was a bit hesitant because I like modern FPS, I like late 90 FPS like Unreal or Half-Life but early 90s it starts to lose me. Doom was fun but I wasn't wild about it, Wolfenstein 3D I didn't enjoy, though Chex Quest, Rise of the Triad, and Dark Forces are fun. So where did this fall?

Despite being an older, non3d engine, this felt like a 3d game. Mouse moves freely, the game's length is about perfect. No map made some levels like the sewers feel annoying but these levels are all fairly small so easy to navigate. Fully voiced important npcs was nice. The weapons were all fun, though the 'shotgun' is treated as a end game weapon and I'd much rather have had a shotgun than the grenade launcher which was very encounter-specific due to bad range. The sprites at a higher elevation were immune to weapons besides the rifle or crossbow-- I had a few times where I shot a bazooka at a flying enemy to have it instead auto correct to blow up a civilian. There's secret passageways that connect all levels together, had it been a modern game it'd be a open world. There was minimal platforming and what it did have was fun, I think that was a product of its game engine. It just didn't do platforming well and the game's devs were well-aware of the limitations of the game engine.

Overall, I feel like Strife is a game that was made too early. It's got all the hallmarks of a modern great FPS. Had it been made 10 or 20 years later it would have been known as a great game like Bioshock or FEAR. Instead when people think of great 90s FPS, including the ones I listed above and System Shock or Marathon, no one really thinks of Strife, and I think that's a shame. It lacks memorable enemies like Nazis, demons, or monsters that say Rise of the Triad, Doom, or Serious Sam used. But it has a fun story and worth checking out.

pretty awesome game, could be a little frustrating at times, but the overall vibe, artwork, and soundtrack carry it. would deff recommend

it was interesting, reminds me of some old survivalcraft mod story maps because the game takes place in one area and has you going around doing things in different buildings