izigame.me

Thanks to the recent surge of boomer shooters in the wake of DUSK, a ton of overlooked and forgotten classics are getting a second lease on life. Not only can old-school enthusiasts get to live like the 90s never died, but cult classics are getting a second wave thanks to modern ports and re-releases. Once such title is Chasm: The Rift, a mostly unknown game that really only sprang to public consciousness thanks to the efforts of DUSK's main developer, David Szymanski.
While he wasn't directly involved in this new port, it's not hard to understand the influence DUSK had in making this happen.
All that history aside, is Chasm: The Rift worth a damn? If you've exhausted all of the well trodden classics or have had your fill of modern boomer shooters, absolutely. Just know that Chasm wasn't some genre-defining masterpiece waiting in the shadows. There is a reason the game came and went back in the day, even if its design is mostly good and occasionally brilliant.
Taking a page out of the Quake playbook, Chasm: The Rift is a dark, foreboding game that doesn't make things easy for the player. That isn't to say its level design is obtuse or anything. Being built on a fairly primitive 3D engine that actually fakes most of its verticality, you won't often find yourself scratching your head about where to go next. There are an unfortunate number of fake out traps and dead-ends, but that can be overcome with persistence and memorization. No, the biggest flaw (if you want to call it one) with Chasm is that it is janky.
What do I mean? Well, that primitive 3D engine has excellent modeling for its age, but clearly visible gaps can't be traversed. You'll try to sidestep past enemies and despite having a route, you'll end up being stuck. Your weapons, as well, seem to have massive hitboxes and will often explode in your face even when you're not near a wall. It's the kind of stuff that can be infuriating if you take the game too seriously, but is often chuckle worthy.
Where Chasm shines is with its atmosphere. I can completely see where DUSK gets all of its level design aesthetics from. Even with its rather simplistic design, Chasm feels like a lived in world. The soundtrack isn't heart pumping or even fear inducing, but very slow and tension building. It gets you checking corners and doing 180s when flipping switches because of how uneasy you'll feel.
The enemies, as well, add to that atmosphere in that they are built like brick houses. Playing on Hard is maybe not the best way to first experience this game -the damage scaling makes the enemies almost too spongy-, but even on Normal, you won't be able to blindly fly through encounters. In true old-school Doom fashion, certain weapons deal with certain enemies better and it makes you think about what you're using to deal with each battle. You can absolutely grenade launch a spider, for instance, but is that really wise when it goes down in three shotgun blasts?
The boss fights, as well, are incredibly creative for not only their day, but nowadays. Most games default to the "shoot it a lot" style of boss encounter, but Chasm was practically doing the Half-Life thing before Valve. Instead of shooting these super foes, you'll need to navigate the environment and solve small puzzles to open them up. In a nice twist, you can actually let a few of the bosses live, but killing them is much more involved than just clicking until they go away.
It's thing like this that make Chasm: The Rift very enduring. As I said, I understand why this game wasn't praised more extensively back in 1997. When things like Quake 2 were releasing with Half-Life soon around the corner, Chasm feels almost antiquated. With enough time between the graphics race of the late 90s and the indie boom of the 2010s, Chasm feels like an especially considered boomer shooter that was released just last week. It doesn't really compare to DUSK, but then what does?
So, what I can say for those looking to buy this is that you may have some problems with Chasm. It's not a flawless game by any means. A lot of its design choices were ahead of its time, but then others feel more like an inexperienced developer hitting up upon limitations with technology. I wouldn't expect this new port to change that as it would then destroy the atmosphere that Chasm has going on.
As for this remastered edition, if you have a decent PC it should run brilliantly. My rig is way beyond the recommended requirements, so I was able to run it a 4K with no problems. Interestingly, the artwork scales beautifully, though that may just be the new port updating things to modern standards. This is very clearly a game from 1997 with wobbly texture warping and such, but it looks great.