Requiem: Avenging Angel

Lore & Background

The plot is set in Heaven, where God is dissatisfied with humanity's greed, corruption, and stupidity. Some angels, known as The Fallen and led by Lilith, descend to Earth to interpret God's presumed desires. In the mid-21st century, The Fallen control humanity's leaders, pushing toward completion of the Leviathan, humanity's first interstellar craft. The player takes the role of Malachi, an angel and servant of God, tasked with stopping the Fallen and averting Armageddon. The game contains many biblical references, including character names like Malachi, Lilith, Jonah, and Elijah, and powers explained with biblical quotes.

Reader's Guide

Requiem: Avenging Angel holds significance as the first video game to implement a bullet time mechanic, a feature that later became common in the genre. Despite this innovation, the game received only above-average reviews and was not as well-received as Half-Life, released six months prior. Critics praised its character models and animation system but found level design boring and multiplayer lacking. The game lacked pre-release hype compared to contemporaries like Kingpin: Life of Crime, and its lukewarm reception, coupled with commercial failure, meant it was the last game Cyclone Studios released before 3DO's demise. Its legacy is as a cult title remembered for its unique angelic powers and biblical narrative, though it never achieved mainstream success.

Did You Know?

• Requiem featured a bullet time mechanic, but it was not the first video game to do so.
• The game's concept was heavily inspired by John Milton's poem Paradise Lost.
• The player character Malachi is named after an Old Testament prophet, and the name can mean 'my messenger' or 'my angel' in Hebrew.
• The game was re-released on GOG.com on April 14, 2016, and on Steam on July 7, 2016.