Review: “Amid Evil: The Black Labyrinth” (Expansion For “Amid Evil”)

Back in August last year, I was looking at GOG when I happened to notice that a new expansion for the 1990s-inspired dark fantasy shooter game “Amid Evil” (2019) had been released. Given how much I loved the main game, buying this expansion seemed like an absolute no-brainer, especially since it had been reduced to about £8 at the time and I had birthday money left over. *Sigh*

As you might expect, this expansion requires “Amid Evil” in order to run. Whilst it is technically a prequel, I’d strongly recommend playing the main game first – and I’ll be writing this review with the assumption that you’ve already played the main game. Likewise, this review is of a version of the expansion from close to its original release day.

I don’t know if it was the game or my PC, but there were bugs that might have been patched out by now. As well as reflective shields sometimes crashing the game and a lift not working properly (requiring cheat codes to bypass), I encountered a game-breaking bug halfway through the final boss battle.

So, whilst I’ve played most of it, I haven’t technically completed it…. because the game froze, threw up an error message and crashed to desktop whenever the final boss teleported to the second arena of the battle.

I may have survived most of The Black Labyrinth, but I was bested at the final hurdle by the Unreal Engine…

Anyway, let’s take a look at “Amid Evil: The Black Labyrinth”. This review may contain moderate SPOILERS and the game itself contains some FLASHING LIGHTS.

Set before the events of “Amid Evil”, the game follows a warrior who wants to become Champion Of The Ancients. In order to do this, he must venture through the “Black Labyrinth”, a tough test of worthiness….

One of the first things I will say about this expansion is that I both loved and hated it. Some of the levels are amazing, epic things that were an absolute blast to play and were even better than the main game 🙂 On the other hand, as well as the bugs I mentioned earlier, some later levels contained so much frustrating puzzle-platforming that I eventually resorted to dishonourable cheat codes just to end the torment.

In other words, this expansion is a mixed bag. And I feel slightly bad for saying this because you can tell that the developers really poured their imaginations, hearts and souls into this expansion.

For context, I’m running along a giant dagger which has suddenly impaled itself into the side of a giant wall-fortress. This expansion was clearly meant to be cool and it certainly CAN be, some of the time…

And, on paper, it’s a more spectacular game than the main game. The levels are considerably larger, there are some really epic set-pieces and clever moments and stuff like that. When it “works”, it is amazing.

The highlight of the expansion is probably the fifth level – “The Wall”. It takes place on a giant metal wall fortress in a red mountain range. Think “Lord Of The Rings” meets “Game Of Thrones” meets a Dwemer ruin in an “Elder Scrolls” game. This level is jaw-dropping. Not only the scale of the location, but cool moments such as jumping between giant metal daggers that fly towards the wall, some epic battles against groups of monsters, a cool “GoldenEye 007” (1997) reference at the end etc…

And the third level also rules as well – the first two levels are very gloomy and grungy “Quake” (1996)-inspired things, with rainy fog-shrouded swamps and magical ruins (which reminded me a little of the amazing “Arcane Expanse” episode from the main game). They’re cool, but all of this gothic gloom got a bit dull after a while… and it initially seemed like the third level would be more of the same.

But then you walk down a corridor and are greeted by this amazing “Riven” (1997) and/or “Elder Scrolls”-esque beach filled with ancient ruins and it is SO COOL! Oh and I almost forgot the boss battle against a dragon in the fourth level too. And the clever design of the final boss as well (which I won’t spoil…).

Yes, you get to take a trip to the seaside here, and it absolutely rules. As well as an epic battle in shallow water, there’s also an awesome bridge which is like something from the “Lord Of The Rings” films, a beautiful sunset and… honestly, this third level is so cool:)

When this expansion wants to, it can be a seriously cool and fun action game that easily surpasses the main game in terms of sheer epic drama and scale. There were moments that felt like a playable scene from a “Lord Of The Rings” movie. Moments where my only reaction was “This is so cool!“. On a visual level, this expansion is stunning even on the lowest graphics settings – with a larger-scale version of the sort of genuinely creative interpretation of the fantasy genre from the first game. Plus, as ever, the lighting design is absolutely sublime sometimes as well 🙂

Both of the new weapons are also awesome too – with your melee attack being a pair of “HeXen” (1995)-style gauntlets, which are also useful for hitting purple switches that either smash things up in dramatic ways or throw you around. These gauntlets have a real feeling of heft and impact and are actually useful throughout the game.

Likewise, the game’s “BFG” is now the “Voidsplitter”, an awesome purple scythe that launches a wide energy beam. When you activate soul power mode, it literally obliterates every monster on the screen in less than a second – and this was very useful more than once.

Seriously, this alt-fire is so satisfying! Especially against crowds of monsters or against groups of the game’s very worst monster (more on them later...).

But, for all of the praise I have for this expansion, I have a lot of criticisms too. Whilst it isn’t too bad during the first five levels, everything from the sixth level onwards is a frustrating torture of puzzle-platforming. Yes, the puzzles aren’t usually too bad and there are usually clues nearby. There are fun fights between the puzzles too.

But the platforming, oh god the platforming. You play as a large hulking warrior and your movement reflects this – with the main character being a bit sluggish in the air (eg: it’s sometimes difficult to land precisely) and not always that precise whilst running around corners and stuff like that. For an action game, this adds immersion. For a puzzle-platformer game, it is torture.

And if the expansion was actually properly designed around the main character’s movement, then it wouldn’t be too bad. But expect to have to do things like precisely punch buttons whilst hurtling through the air at speed (with the punching animation taking a fraction of a second between punches, which means you might miss).

Expect timed platforming segments where you have to punch a stone block and then run along relatively narrow catwalks to wherever it lands before it moves back. Stuff like that. It’s frustrating and stressful. And, as mentioned earlier, I eventually just resorted to using the “Aero” cheat code in order to bypass as many of these annoying, flow-breaking platforming puzzles as possible.

Again, the magic spell for defeating these evil, accursed platforming puzzles is the word “Aero”. Just type it during gameplay and you will gain the power of flight. Type it again to return to normal…

The sixth level is probably the very worst in this regard – at one point, it forgivingly allows you to choose between fun “Trial by combat” or annoying “Trial by movement”. You can choose to enjoy a fun fight or a frustrating platforming segment. No prizes for guessing which choice is best 🙂 This got my hopes up a lot… only for them to be cruelly dashed in the very next area, where the game forces you to do an extremely annoying timed platforming puzzle. And it certainly isn’t the only example of mandatory puzzles and/or platforming in that level….

The latter half of the game is ruined by this heavier emphasis on platforming and puzzles. Yes, I get that it’s meant to be a “challenging trial” or whatever. Yes, I get that it was probably meant to add variety to the gameplay. Yes, I know that “HeXen” (1995) was notorious for its puzzles. Still, “Amid Evil” is at its very best when you are locked in thrilling mortal combat with hordes of tough monsters, rather than trying to make precise timed jumps or solve boring puzzles.

Talking of combat, I should discuss the monsters here. Most of them are really good but, since the expansion takes place on just one planet, expect to see the same monsters throughout the game. Again, most of them are fairly decent – with enemies that can jump, a couple of flying monsters, archers whose arrows you have to dodge, purple crystal dogs that breathe fire etc… Most of the monsters are great…. and then there are the f#(<ing shield knights! I hate those monsters so much!

Woo hoo! It’s an epic castle! Wait a second, what lives in castles…

They are tall knights who carry large shields. “Ok, so I can only attack them from behind“, you might think. Technically yes, but not only is it very difficult to get behind them but their shields will also reflect your projectiles back at you. Leaving aside the bug I encountered where this reflection would sometimes crash the game, I could only find a few – temperamental – ways of dealing with them.

Sometimes, if you get close and start punching wildly, it can work. Sometimes, if you aim the Celestial Claw just right, you can use splash damage. The only reliable way of defeating them is with the Voidsplitter – especially its alt-fire… but ammo is scarce and chances to use the alt-fire aren’t that common. Most of the time, it’s best to just run away from them. So annoying!

As for length, this is an expansion and – on paper – it is about a third of the length of the main game. I counted nine levels. However, in practice, the larger and longer levels almost make it feel more like a full game. It’s more difficult than the main game as well. Not to mention that the increased emphasis on annoying puzzles and/or frustrating first-person platforming during the second half will make it feel longer, in a bad way.

All in all, this expansion is a mixture of good and bad. When it is good, it is REALLY good – actually being better and more epic than the main game during some levels. However, whilst I can appreciate that the developers were trying to innovate, the increased emphasis on puzzles and frustrating first-person platforming during the later parts detracts from the thrilling fast-paced action which makes “Amid Evil” so much fun to play. At the very least, the first five levels were an absolute blast – less so with the rest of the game though.

If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get three. Some parts are a solid “five” and some are a low “one”… and I’m willing to round the average up to three because the good parts impressed me that much.