What do you get when you cross noir with Egyptian mythology, a dash of horror, and coat it in first-person shooter mechanics? You get a cult classic 3DO/PC exclusive game called Killing Time. But Nightdive Studios weren’t content to leave us with the 1995 version alone. Enter Killing Time: Resurrected, a remaster now available for all current consoles and PC.
Time To Kill
Killing Time: Resurrected casts you as a nameless college student eager to discover the mystery of the Water Clock of Thoth, last seen around the mysterious heiress Tess Conway. You make your way to her estate and find out very quickly that while she did have a hand in the clock’s disappearance, everything has gone awry on the island.
Tess was murdered, and in her last moments she activated the clock. Rather than giving her the eternal life she desired, it has instead imprisoned her and everyone else on the island as spirits, zombies, clowns, and other nasties. This is murder mystery and Egyptian-themed horror combined.
Outside of the intro cutscene, the story is told with FMV characters that appear throughout the island. Rather than full cutscenes, they appear in front of you as you play and offer further explanation as to what’s going on or what you need to do. I love this. Not only was it engaging to push the story forward, but it felt like a reward for exploring when you’d find one of these scenes in strange places.
I adored the story of Killing Time: Resurrected. The fusion of horror and noir elements created a good time that felt like a cheesy ‘80s movie. The hammy acting of the FMV characters paired with the fact you have gangsters shooting at you while exploring Egyptian tombs and witnessing scenes that would have easily fit in Guys and Dolls is such an outlandish combination, one which not only works but makes the game feel like a unique experience. There’s a reason why Killing Time garnered a cult following and I think the wacky story combined with the use of FMV was a big part of it.
Walk Like An Egyptian
Killing Time: Resurrected is a remake/remaster of a classic 3DO console and (later MS-DOS) first-person shooter. The 3DO version used FMV for characters and enemies alike (as does this remaster), while the DOS version sadly used more standard enemies which somewhat sapped the charm out of the game, but it did make some changes for the better in other areas. Fortunately, Nightdive Studios understood the assignment and brought together the best of both worlds for a modern audience.
The game was originally released around the same time as titles such as Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Powerslave, and Descent 2. So, while not exactly the bottom of the technology barrel, having an FPS with FMV enemies instead of polygons likely contributed to the game being overlooked by all but the most hardcore FPS fans. Not that the 3DO had a huge audience to play the game’s original release with, however.
What caught me off guard with Killing Time: Resurrected, and by association the original version, is that the game is just one giant world. This differs significantly from the more known mid-90s FPS which had separate levels. This open progression style leaves most of the island available to explore with minor loading times between areas. While it’s not quite the first FPS to do this, it was one of the earliest implementations of the concept and does it brilliantly. It works well with the mystery of the story and for a game as unconventional as Killing Time is, it makes it feel much more immersive.
Nile High Club
Despite the mystery story, Killing Time: Resurrected is still at heart an early ’90s “boomer shooter“, so the gameplay loop is nothing unfamiliar to people who play retro shooters. You spend the bulk of the game looking for different-colored keys, pushing levers, and fighting off legions of enemies. Due to the open nature of the game, this can cause issues if you miss one of the keys or (in my case) miss a lever. It’s easy to spend 15-30 minutes of time wandering around the giant map trying to figure out what you missed or where you need to go next.
Any item you pick up or enemy you kill stays permanently gone. While this is good for keeping track of progress with the amount of backtracking that’s possible, you’ll have quite a lonely walk across the collection of corpses if you do have to go searching for something you missed.
Combat is pretty basic in Killing Time: Resurrected. There are only a few weapons such as a pistol, shotgun, and flamethrower. The variety instead comes in the many, many enemy types you’ll come across, starting with generic gangsters and quickly leaning into zombies, clowns, slime monsters, vampire cleaners, two-headed poodle dogs, and more. It’s easily the most eclectic rogues gallery in a first-person shooter that I’ve seen and just another thing that adds to the game’s undeniable charm.
I can’t say that Killing Time: Resurrected is the most exciting of games. While I loved it, I can see the open nature combined with the key chasing and switch pulling is enough to put people off. It doesn’t help that the combat is about as basic as it can be for an FPS. But, with all the enemy types, the exploration, and the theme, I just couldn’t get enough of the game. It went from being unknown to me to easily one of my favorite classic first-person shooters and I would wager a lot of that is due to the work that Nightdive Studios have done with the game.
A Timeless Restoration
The remaster includes modern controls, massively improved visuals, FMV versions of enemies that were originally only included in the non-FMV DOS version, a vault of extras, and even a file containing the notes from a meeting of the developers. It not only makes this the most convenient way to play the game but also the best and most complete way. This is what I’ve come to expect of Nightdive Studios by now.
Nightdive Studios has done a fantastic job of making Killing Time: Resurrected look and sound great. They’ve added in animations, tidied up the artwork, and cleared up the audio. It all just looks amazingly quirky and the voice acting is so beautifully cheesy, and this is the best way to experience it. Killing Time harkens back to the origins of survival horror and the earliest janky CD-based games with all their oddities. It’s painfully unique and you’ll either love it or hate it. I’m sure by now you know which side of the fence I’m on.
The world looks fantastic and hammers that “haunted house” vibe to a point where the Egyptian treasures and the like just fit naturally. Even the bizarre enemies somehow manage to seamlessly integrate themselves into what is essentially a mansion and the surrounding grounds. Yes, it’s all a little ‘sharp’ looking due to the game engine, but it does a great job of being immersive and drawing you into this cheesy world.
The one thing I really didn’t like about the presentation in Killing Time: Resurrected wasn’t the weird music that was either toe-tapping or headache-inducing. No, it’s the gun sprite. This nameless college student can seemingly hold any weapon with one hand and no issues. Between that and the sky box in areas, especially the sewer section, the janky quality of the game really seeped through. Yes, it’s petty, but you’ll be staring at that gun a lot and my god did it annoy me endlessly.
Verdict
I absolutely love Killing Time: Resurrected and couldn’t be more surprised, when I saw the fact this has similar origins to the horrendous PO’ED as a 3DO shooter. I went in expecting the worst and came out with a new game for my top 10 classic first-person shooters list. It’s quirky, it’s fun, and in my personal opinion, it pushed the envelope at the time.
The game isn’t going to be for everyone. It’s almost punk in how janky and strange it looks and plays. But, if you can go in with an open mind and just allow yourself to get absorbed by the Water Clock and its mystery, you’ve got yet again another banger remaster by the kings and queens of remasters Nightdive Studios.
KILLING TIME: RESURRECTED IS RECOMMENDED
If you are looking for another Horror game, you might want to check out Hollowbody.
Many thanks go to Nightdive Studios for a Nintendo Switch review code for Killing Time: Resurrected.
Pride of utopia & greatest thing ever, I found the One Piece, Collected the Dragon Balls & won the Mortal Kombat Tournament in one night, it was quiet for me that night! Follow me on Twitter @powahdunk
