hypersleep

In Tempus Irae you play the role of a heavily armed Vitruvian Man helping Leonardo da Vinci track down his missing tax receipts while 3 eyed Italians attempt to swat you with brooms. (Description generated by AI).

Seriously though, the original Tempus Irae is one of the seminal works in the world of Marathon scenarios, Nardo threw down the gauntlet in a big way, back when we were all just learning how. This update is a beautiful and faithful modernisation of that brilliant work. It's absolutely worth experiencing once more, or for the first time.

Audacious, fun, overflowing with imagination. Play it.

These 6ish levels almost feel like lost Double Aught maps in the best way possible – Angular, rambling architecture that tastefully employs the base textures with handsome lighting and composition.

The maps sprawl and fold back on themselves. There’s a few moments I was left pondering what to do next, but the solution was never difficult to arrive at. I appreciate the attention paid to creating flow, with hubs and landmarks that make navigating these massive, non linear levels a breeze.

Resources are everywhere, I had every weapon except the rocket launcher by the end of the second level. I didn’t mind, I’ve spent decades with these weapons and there’s no need to learn the ropes. Let it rip.

On Total Carnage, there’s a gradual and steady increase in difficulty that will take you from melting the Pfhor during the intro to really having your reflexes tested by the time you reach the end. The fighting is great, with lots of brawls, surprising ambushes and layered encounters. The author understands how to craft layouts that highlight the monster behaviour and allow the player to manoeuvre in response to the challenge. It's the exact approach to combat that I love.

It ends on a cliff hangar, I hope this means we’ll see more one day. I was surprised at how engaged I was by a “classic” scenario in 2023, and I think that’s testament to the author's hard work here.