This is an action-packed campaign, but it has some major problems with the modern Aleph One engine. The biggest problem is that you’re going to have to use the level skip cheat to bypass level 7 (I go into more detail about that in my level-by-level analysis). Though the combat is generally fun, there are some questionable design choices, and Aeon was never finished. On the combat side, most of the enemies have been haxored and sport a new look and new capabilities. Aeon’s baddies present some nice variety; those looking for challenging combat will not be disappointed.

Graphically, Aeon is a mixed bag. In terms of the sheer variety of textures, Aeon is in a class by itself. It uses all the default Infinity textures, plus it poaches textures from a large number of third party scenarios. I don’t know if the author got permission to use those textures; hopefully he did! But the result is a curious and confusing sort of graphical hodgepodge that, aesthetically speaking, doesn’t look so good. In just one level you’ll see Jjaro textures next to Pfhor textures next to 3rd party medieval castle textures; there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, in fact in many cases it just seems to be variety purely for the sake of variety. There are also many, many doors placed in every level, but most of them will never open. My “tab” finger got worn out trying to figure out which doors were “legit” and which were nothing more than window dressing!

In terms of architecture there’s a lot of variation in elevation, and large numbers of polygons are used for even small areas. In some ways you could almost say that the levels are overbuilt, but the good news is that they are simple enough that they can be easily navigated, which is a huge plus in my book. There is some nice looking chapter artwork, and some new sounds/music that I think also came from other 3rd party campaigns. My level-by-level analysis (minor spoilers ahead):

1. Our Lives a Mimicry. At first glance this seems to be a plot exposition level, since you start out near a terminal that will take you to the next level. But if you take the time to explore a bit you’ll find lots of weapons and ammo, as well as some baddies to fight. At first I wasn’t happy about this, because it seemed that people who didn’t explore were getting heavily punished and might end up under-prepared due to their lack of stuff. But it turns out that this campaign is not stingy with either weapons or ammo, so my fears about unbalanced gameplay did not come to fruition. However, I was unhappy that there was one ammo cache in a cage that (apparently) could not be reached by any means. Taunting players with inaccessible ammo caches is never a good thing, though even Bungie was guilty of that sin.

2. Apoptosis. Right off the bat you’re dumped into a massive firefight between Bobs and Pfhor. At first I thought it was a pretty cool set piece battle where I could help turn the tide…until I realized that both sides were having an unlimited amount of reinforcements teleport in, so all my heroism was for naught, and I was just wasting ammo. Once that unfortunate fact had been established, it was a simple matter to explore and complete the rest of the level, which was small.

3. Founder Effect. More firefights. Better firefights! This was an easily navigated level that still provided interesting tactical opportunities for combat. Fighting against the buffed up new Pfhor enemies was fun. There were a few teleport ambushes in which bad guys teleported in directly behind the player, which I don’t agree with. On the whole, though, this was a really solidly designed level.

4. Eternal Lucid Dream. You’re assaulting an enemy base perched precariously on the side of a cliff. I liked the aesthetics, and the combat was intense. New enemy types were introduced, and they were tough! Unfortunately, the problem of enemies teleporting directly on top of the player did recur a few times. At one point the player is given two switches to toggle. One of them opens the path forward, but it is not set to “trigger only once”, so if the player gets confused about what switches they have hit, they might hit it again, closing the path forward. The fact that the other switch uselessly closes a nearby window just adds to the potential confusion. Switches that open the way forward should always be set to “trigger only once”! At another point I found an unmarked teleporter next to a staircase, the sole purpose of which was to teleport me a paltry two meters away if I should happen to wander into the area. I’m guessing that there was some kind of clipping problem with some polygons and so the dev didn’t want me traversing that area. But rather than fixing the problem, the dev came up with the rather bizarre solution of teleporting the player away from the offending polygons!

5. Pfherrous Oxide. A short level in which you’re tasked with grabbing a chip. A rather nasty ambush occurs shortly thereafter, but you’re explicitly warned about it in a terminal, so I’m OK with it.

6. The Rise and Fall of Digit. You’re dumped into the middle of a huge firefight. Hopefully you live long enough to get your bearings and use the nearby save terminal! After that it’s a fight through an impressive-looking river and temple area.

7. The Asphodel Meadows. Oh no! The game crashed on attempting to load this level! Even using the level skip cheat didn’t work. I had to level skip past this level to continue the campaign! After consulting knowledgeable people, I learned that this level will never open in modern Aleph One due to having too many lines/points/polygons/sounds.

8. In our Dreams Awake. Plot exposition.

9. Frameshift Mutation. Apparently some important plot points were revealed in the level that I had to skip, because now I have no idea what’s going on — some Bobs, Defenders, and Pfhor are shooting at me, but others are on my side??? OK, I looked it up, and apparently, some bioweapon was released that’s causing everyone to go crazy. In level 7 you have the choice to side with the infected or un-infected people. By level skipping to level 8 I started on the infected branching path. One last note: there was a big unfilled polygon near the initial save terminal that looks bad.

10. Vae Victis. You board a UESC ship, and it actually looks like a ship if you pull it up on the mini map! That is so cool. Architecture is good. A lot of the combat involves fighting Bobs at long range with pistols, which is a nice change from the normal close quarters combat focus. The biggest problem with this level is that there isn’t a single pattern buffer, and that, coupled with some unfair teleporter ambushes, made this level frustrating. It did have a catchy soundtrack though.

11. Jjaro jjaro Evolution. It’s a Rebellion level, and you start out with nothing but your fists to take on hordes of fighters, as well as a trooper and hunter. Yuck! Combat is absolutely brutal; the only health recharger and save terminal are at the start of the level and quickly become inaccessible. To make matters worse you’re fighting on a series of precarious lava ledges and it’s all too easy too strafe too far in one direction and fall into an inescapable lava pit. Towards the end of the level you end up fighting some extremely dangerous defenders and compilers that will shred your health in no time. With so little cover to work with you have to engage in what might colloquially be described as “door fuckery.” Open a door, take a few potshots at some aliens, close it before their return fire eviscerates you, rinse, repeat. At the end you’re teleported back to the main menu (even though the plot is clearly unfinished) so I guess that’s it for the “infected” story branch!

12. Blaze. The start of the un-infected story branch. Lots of firefights! One time one of the new infected compilers hit me so hard that I got knocked into a rock formation and couldn’t get out!

13. Lapsus Linguae. This level has some really nice lighting effects! Good combat too.

14. Words Which I Command. This is nothing more than a rehash of the level “Vae Victis” from the infected story branch. Only this time you’re fighting Pfhor in vacuum. Although the combat is easier, the total lack of any save terminal or oxygen recharger really sucks. There were a ton of terminals to read but who has the time when the O2 clock is constantly ticking down???

15. Asking A Shadow to Dance. You get a ton of ammo and health canisters in order to take on a huge horde of infected. Carnage ensues. Architecture is really impressive: Much of the fighting takes place on a huge spiral staircase that looks beautiful. Completing the level kicks you back to the main menu, even though the story is not finished, so I guess that’s the end of the non-infected story path. It’s probably years too late to make this observation, as the dev seems to have moved on, but I don’t see any reason why the storyline of Aeon couldn’t be completed just using the existing levels. 90% of the story had already been wrapped up; with just a few terminal re-writes the story could be considered fully completed.

16. More Dakka. This must be a secret level, though I have no idea how to get to it normally. I entered via the level skip cheat. It is identical to level 6, but with a lot more combat. I wasn’t able to beat it though. A telepad took me to a cavern area with a lot of baddies. Once they had been disposed of, I found a pattern buffer, two flavor terminals, a non-functional terminal, a locked door, and a chip insertion outlet. But there was no chip anywhere on the level that I could find, and in any case once you take that telepad you can’t backtrack. The end of the level was probably behind that locked door, but with no way to open it…I had to give up. Perhaps the player was expected to already have a chip with them when they entered the level?

17. Illumination. This is multiplayer version of level 15. It’s based on a big circular arena with lots of opportunities to shoot at people from different elevations, which is good. But it’s a big map that would work best with 4+ players, and finding such a multiplayer Marathon game in the year 2024 is gonna be tough.