Daikatana

"JOHN ROMERO'S ABOUT TO MAKE YOU HIS B1TCH." Oh, Daikatana. The 90s styled FPS that came out in the year 2000 after multiple delays that is responsible for a giant's fall from grace. John Romero, who worked on legendary games like DOOM and QUAKE, leaves ID Software after constantly butting heads with John Carmack. He founds Ion Storm and directs the most unbelievably hyped game of that era, which turned out to be a monumental flop. Basically, DOOM and QUAKE are such masterpieces because Romero had the style and Carmack had the brains. Which means: Daikatana is all style and no brains. Running on the id Tech 2 engine, Daikatana is an interesting piece of videogame history, but it's nearly unplayable without installing patch v1.3, a community effort to make the game bearable. This is a game that makes people either go "This sucks" or "Never heard of it". It's an incredibly difficult game to like. There's probably only a handful of fans of Daikatana, and I actually happen to be one of them. It mostly picks up later on, with Episode 3 being the highlight, but the first level (and Episode 1 to an extent) could very well be used in videogame design courses as an example of what …

This comes with a massive asterisk: get the fanmade 1.3 patch. It fixes so much of what is wrong with this game, but not everything. That said, I've heard of this game's reputation for years. Never really delved into what the game itself to see what's up. The sound "design" is the single worst aspect of this game. Sounds that should be continuous loops, instead are short, repeating loops that play over and over rapidly. Enemies make sounds that make me think a piece of the environment is animating and I need to be looking for it. Sound effects overlap in ways that are *deeply* unpleasant to listen to. Headphone users beware. Weapons *all* have bizarre quirks that make it difficult to use them like you would any regular FPS's arsenal. The Ion Blaster blows up in your face when underwater, the chainsaw hand has limited ammo as far as I can tell, it and the fist have odd hit detection, the Shot Cycler fires in bursts and can be used to rocket jump but none of the early game enemies can tank the damage from the first 3 shots so you always waste ammo, stuff like that. I'm sure once I hit later levels and get the other weapons I'll find other oddities. I have little to say about…

I love this game, I don't know why. It scratches some autistic part of my brain that makes me appreciate what Romero was trying to do and I love the aesthetic, strange weapons and atmosphere. After Episode 1 (which is genuinely awful) the rest of the game is amazing. Definitely overhated but patch 1.3 is essential. Teleporting sidekicks and unlimited saves will cause you less stress and frustration.

The Youngblood of video games by the Rob Liefeld of game designers. You'll know if this is your jam. Use the 1.3 patch.

Do you own Daikatana? I own Daikatana. You know who else knows Daikatana? Daikatana. Every so often out of the probably thousand of games i own by this point i sit down and write reviews of the ones i mostly fondly remember, whichever its easiest to talk about, or endlessly criticize a game. Ive gotten more personal with the way i write these reviews, part of it is that i also play a lot less games, and if i do its games i played before. Anyhow with that out of the way, i have not played the original Daikatana, ever, i have only ever modded the game and i think that is the way it should be played. This game absolutely rocks. Yeah its that '♥♥♥♥' game everyone on youtube knows about but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ actually playing it is super cool. There is ton of variety with weapons, levels are visually varied, you get 2 meatshields that will at some points in the game shoot the enemy and kill them for you, the story exists and its just fun. Its one of the more standout games i own, i mean its THAT game and it also happens to be very fun. Obviously when it comes to talking about games you are kind of expected to do the same thing over and over and- Screw that you buy yourself this game,…

John Romero is about to make you vomit