Strife: Veteran Edition
An enhanced port of the 1996 Doom-engine RPG-shooter.
Strife: Veteran Edition is an enhanced version of the 1996 first-person shooter role-playing game Strife, originally developed by Rogue Entertainment. It was released for Nintendo Switch on October 25, 2020, with publishing duties later handled by Atari after its parent company bought Nightdive Studios. The game is notable for being the last commercially released standalone PC title to use the Doom engine from id Software.
Quick Facts
- Original release
- May 1996 (North America)
- Developer
- Rogue Entertainment
- Publisher (switch)
- Atari (after March 2023)
- Nintendo switch release
- October 25, 2020
- Enhanced version developer
- Night Dive Studios
- Enhanced version release
- December 12, 2014 (Steam)
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Strife's gameplay follows the first-person shooter perspective, with combat against the Order's infantry and war robots. The protagonist starts with a dagger and can acquire weapons such as a crossbow or flamethrower. An inventory holds items like first aid kits, armor, and gold coins. Friendly or neutral characters allow conversation and trade, often assigning missions that advance the plot. Firing a weapon outside combat triggers an alarm and hostile guards, but the dagger and poisonous crossbow bolts enable stealth attacks. Unlike many contemporary shooters, Strife is non-linear: the town of Tarnhill serves as a central hub, and areas persist in their state when revisited. The player character has two numerical attributes—accuracy and stamina—that can be improved at certain points, increasing ranged weapon accuracy and maximum health respectively.
Plot
The game takes place after a comet impact brought a deadly virus, causing a plague that killed millions and mutated others into followers of a malevolent deity. These followers formed the Order, enslaving the populace, while a resistance called the Front opposes them. The unnamed mercenary protagonist is captured by Order troops near Tarnhill but escapes and meets Rowan, who recruits him into the Front. A female operative codenamed Blackbird provides guidance via a communication device. The rebel leader Macil sends the protagonist on sabotage missions, culminating in an assault on the Order's castle. There, the protagonist kills the Programmer and touches his weapon, losing consciousness. Awakening in the captured castle, Macil explains the weapon is one of five Sigil fragments. The Oracle reveals the second fragment is held by the Bishop; after acquiring it, the Oracle claims Macil is a traitor holding the third fragment. The player must choose to kill the Oracle or kill Macil, affecting the remainder of the story.
Development
Strife was originally developed by Cygnus Studios, creators of Raptor: Call of the Shadows, for id Software. Cygnus had been working on The Second Sword using the ShadowCaster engine when id requested a Doom-engine game and relocation from Chicago to Texas. After moving, Cygnus dropped The Second Sword to focus on Strife. Internal conflicts arose after Raptor's completion; employees split from founder Scott Host, who returned to Chicago, effectively canceling the project. The remaining employees founded Rogue Entertainment and resumed development. The shareware version released on February 23, 1996, and the full version on May 31. After official support ended, Doom source port developers created engine recreations through reverse engineering, including Vavoom by Jānis Legzdiņš, ZDoom by Marisa Heit, SvStrife by Samuel Villarreal, and Chocolate Strife by Villarreal and James Haley. In 2014, Night Dive Studios acquired the rights and released Strife: Veteran Edition on Steam, using a derivative of Chocolate Strife due to lost source code, with original programmers contracted for additional coding. The source code was released under GNU GPL-2.0-or-later. The Nintendo Switch version followed on October 25, 2020.
Reception
Strife received very positive reviews upon release, with praise for its novel gameplay requiring cooperation with friendly characters rather than indiscriminate killing. The story was praised, though Next Generation criticized it as too linear with illusory choices. Voice acting, particularly Blackbird's voice described by GameSpot's Tal Blevins as sexy, was rated positively. Graphics were poorly received due to the obsolete Doom engine, especially compared to Duke Nukem 3D or Quake, though hand-drawn dialogue illustrations were considered good. Some reviewers noted similar ideas in CyberMage: Darklight Awakening. The single savegame slot was criticized, as wrong decisions could make the game unwinnable. Retrospective reviews were more positive; jeuxvideo.com recommended it to FPS fans. PC Gamer's Richard Cobbett and Paul Dean both considered it underappreciated, comparing it to Deus Ex, though Cobbett felt it had not aged well.
More in Nintendo Switch Game Library
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced