Ancient Evil

Well, I don't know. It's not that I wouldn't enjoy a good real-time hack'n'slash RPG. I've played Diablo (a lot!), I've played Diablo II (not quite as much, but still a lot), I've played Throne of Darkness, I've played Divine Divinity, and in one way or other I liked them all. But I couldn't develop any feelings towards Ancient Evil.

There are some nice touches. One of the first things you will find in the dungeon are torches. You can hold one of them in your left hand, instead of a shield, and it will light up the surroundings. Since the game, in spite of its isometric view, uses 3D-techniques throughout, this is quite a nice effect. You may find a chest where you can store stuff, a bed where you can rest and heal, just like in a console RPG.

I think it was mainly the controls. Smooth controls are important for this kind of game, and the controls of Ancient Evil are clumsy. It's basically the usual thing, left click to go, pick up, and use, right click to attack. But to pick something up, you can't just click on it from the distance. First have to go there, then, if you are near enough, the cursor will change and you can pick it up. To attack, your character has to face in the right direction, and sometimes you find yourself bashing thin air. Luckily, the monsters often just stand around and wait for you to come and get them.

In spite of the excellent graphics, there is something amateurish about Ancient Evil. But it was successful enough for a sequel in 2001 (Ancient Evil: Curse of the Snake Cult), and for a PocketPC port in 2005.

Reviews and Links

It was not easy to find reviews for this game at all, especially for the original Windows release, as opposed to the 2005 PocketPC re-release. The few I found tended to be enthusiastic.

• All in all, a great game that should not be missed, Aaberg & Kon-Tiki think:

  If you are the type of person who likes to play hack-and-slash games just to kill a lot of monsters, Ancient Evil will be a great game for you. If you are the type of person who likes a well-written story and a consistent plot, Ancient Evil will also be a great game for you. The plot in the game will not be clear from the start, but will be gradually revealed.

• Good attention to details and old-fashioned hack-and-slash fun, a meanwhile gone review praises:

  Presented in 3D isometric view, Ancient Evil boasts excellent graphics, with 30+ fully-textured monsters, realistic lighting effects, and a lot of interesting magical weapons and spells to find and use. Most combat is tough, but fortunately not too tough as to be frustrating. With huge dungeon maps (20+ levels) and an intuitive player interface, decent hack-and-slash gameplay, and lots of puzzles and exploration, Ancient Evil looks and feels like a solid RPG that offers enough well-developed gameplay to rekindle the interests of anyone who thinks he or she has outgrown SSI's AD&D classics. It's not as good as Blades of Exile, but it's by no means a "bland" game.

• Official Site