Mummies, Marines, and an alien menace made PowerSlave stand out in the 90s. In Neil Bolt’s PowerSlave Exhumed review, he sees if this remaster holds up.

It’s pretty impressive how Nightdive Studios has successfully had a hand in reenergizing so many classic and cult games in recent years. System Shock, Shadow Man, Doom 64, Quake, and Turok are among the polished-up ports in its C.V. and there are upcoming remasters of Sin, Blade Runner, and System Shock 2, as well as a ground-up remake of the original System Shock. In the middle of all that, a cult hit is resurfacing.

PowerSlave (or Exhumed as it was known to me back in the day) was once a PC, PS One, and Sega Saturn first-person shooter just as that was still an embryonic concept. Now it’s back using both names and touched up without sacrificing the original style. It sits mechanically between Doom and Quake, with a rather flat look to enemies, but with a jump button and fully 3D aiming.

 In terms of story, it’s a lot closer to the daft macho majesty of Duke Nukem 3D. A crack team of soldiers is sent into the ancient Egyptian city of Karnak to battle an invading alien force called the Killmat. These insectile foes have desecrated the African dunes by roping in the local wildlife, such as scorpions, and digging up some old Mummies and Anubis soldiers as well. All that stands between them and world domination is a hefty arsenal and the soothing words of King Ramses’ spirit.

A Pharoah Game

So what makes PowerSlave stand out from a legion of mid-90s shooters? Well, the Egyptian setting is probably the biggest draw. Compared to the rather drab genre-mates of the time, PowerSlave is positively Day-Glo. I’m a big fan of using ancient Egyptian history as a backdrop for things, so this was always my favorite thing about the original version. There are lots of blue skies and yellow sand to be found here, but it’s not a vacation experience. There’s a charm to the mixture of 3D and 2D elements that adds a suitably cheesy layer to a game that is essentially Aliens in the Desert.

While not exceptional when compared to the heavyweights of the day, PowerSlave continuously shows examples of really good level design, with satisfying looping pathways and secrets to uncover.

Also of note is the story. It’s not a masterful tour de force, but it tries to tell one beyond the usual ream of text before and after levels. Voice clips for Ramses’ spirit do most of the leg work, but at a time where voice audio was relatively sparse in games of this nature, it helps.

As for the gameplay, well, it’s quite clear that even with the magnificent work this port team does for old shooters (including the ability to actually save the game!), PowerSlave Exhumed cannot shake the ghosts of the past here. You can still very much tell that this was an early attempt at a 3D first-person shooter. Mostly because it struggles to make its freedom of movement count in traversal and in combat.

Needs a Nile Gun

Aiming lacks the smoothness found in something like Quake, or even Turok (Quake came out the same year as the Saturn version of PowerSlave), and the player’s hitbox feels oddly inconsistent. I’m sure it’s more fluid now than the original was (looking back at footage of that, it certainly seems so), but it’s a tad fudgy and slow to react by modern standards, despite moving at a fair old canter otherwise. It’s decent enough in mid-range combat, but extremely fussy at close range against smaller enemies and at long range for pretty much everything. 

The enemies are another issue, early on at least. Kicking off with diminutive threats such as birds, spiders, and scorpions is honestly a bit underwhelming, and they outstay their welcome pretty fast. The threadbare enemy roster is spread thin to compensate, and makes early levels tiresome. It’s a shame because when PowerSlave Exhumed does break out the big boys, they’re well designed and impactful.

Xeno Evil

While the game itself hasn’t aged particularly well in every sense, the work done by Nightdive to modernize it respectfully is commendable. Visually it’s been cleaned up and had a few rough edges smoothed out without polluting the original design, and there’s no denying that every effort has been made to tighten the controls in much the same way it did with last year’s Quake remaster. Short of messing with the core of what made PowerSlave Exhumed the game it is, there’s probably little else that could make it more appealing.

I suppose part of the problem lies in the fact this isn’t on the same cultural impact level as previous ports. Of the handful of FPS titles that were released on Sega Saturn around the same time, PowerSlave isn’t exactly Doom or Hexen: Beyond Heretic. All the same, it’s pleasing to see such an effort made with a fairly niche shooter. 

PowerSlave Exhumed review code for PS4 provided by the publisher.

PowerSlave Exhumed is out on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC now.