Revenant

Revenant is an action-RPG computer game by Cinematix Studios, released in 1999 by the publisher Eidos Interactive.

Plot
The main character of the story is Locke D'Averam, a revenant named after the house of Averam, which raised him from the dead. His real name is never revealed in the game. Immediately after being brought back from Anserak (Hell), Locke is sent on a quest by his new master, Sardok, who is the advisor to Lord Tendrick, ruler of the island. The quest is to locate and rescue the Tendrick's long-missing daughter, Andria, who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult calling themselves The Children of the Change. The entire game takes place on the island of Ahkuilon, which is home to the town of Misthaven, where Tendrick rules.

As the player progresses through the story, it is revealed that Locke was once the king of an ancient empire centered on Ahkulion. This warrior-king made a pact with a demon god, but he found the price of the pact - his beautiful wife's soul - too much to bear and could not go through with her sacrifice. For this reason he was condemned by the demon god to an eternity of suffering in Anserak and his mighty empire was destroyed and pulled into the earth.

The cult that the newly resurrected Locke finds himself facing is in fact led by the avatar of the same demon god he betrayed ages ago. As he explores Ahkuilon in pursuit of the missing Andria, Locke finds himself facing enemies both new and ancient. Many characters in the game hint that there is a "darkness" surrounding Locke and some even seem to know of his past. As the story builds to a climax it becomes clear that not all is as it seems and that history may yet repeat itself.

Gameplay
The main aspect of "Revenant" was its unique combat system that came in two flavours. Locke could be controlled by the mouse, performing standard attacks. However, the player could control Locke with the keyboard, performing different attacks and even attack combos, some of which resulted in special death animations (fatalities). These specialized kill moves appeared to be enemy-specific, and ranged from a crushing stomp to beheading. A gamepad or joystick could also be used in a similar way to the keyboard method, with nearly every move or command able to be mapped to buttons or button combinations. Locke gained extra fighting abilities after a level cap had been reached (every 3 levels, seemingly up to 24), thus providing the drive to go through the level grind. It was also possible to combine certain movements to a fluid cycle of kicks and thrusts. A trainer in town provided Locke with the necessary instructions whenever he leveled up. As well as melee combat, there were also a number of talismans which could be combined to cast magic spells. Certain combinations could be found in scrolls starting with basic spells and progressing to more complicated ones. Spells varied from freezing to poisoning, and certain spells locked opponents in place allowing Locke to combine a magical attack with a special combat move, resulting in spectacular effects.

Presentation
The game had 3D visuals with attention to detail, that were quite advanced in its day. The game featured a day to night cycle and the sound effects and ambient music helped the atmosphere come to life. However the game demanded a high end PC at the time of its release, a problem which is obviously solved by now. Both armor and weaponry were excellently detailed, but the rate at which they were discovered made saving money for new items pointless. The game did, however, allow one to add and exchange any and all armor pieces, allowing for a near endless combination of gloves, boots, body armor and helmets, and thus a varied combination of looks. As these were excellently modeled, the end-result was stunning.

Movement of Locke and his human opponents was very smooth, and showed much more attention to detail. Apart from a few path-finding issues it was nearly seamless and perfect, and the animations were also excellently done.

Game problems
Revenant was unlucky enough to be caught in the fall of Ion Storm's Daikatana. Eidos had made handsome contracts and when Daikatana flopped, Eidos proceeded in budget cuts and attempted to cash in on its other projects. Thus in Revenant, NPCs will be completely oblivious after some point in the game and they won't respond to your heroic actions. There are even some NPCs who promise to join you later, but do not (though these 3 NPCs are playable in the multiplayer game). The game rather deflates after the middle of the story. After this point the game becomes somewhat of one big outdoor dungeon crawl. The vast variety of armor, combined with the lack of time between the pieces and the lack of accomplishment when acquiring new armor increases the feeling of a rushed game. And the story lacks certain vital details, leaving the player somewhat confused about the backstory and motives of the characters.