Old-school first-person shooters were my bread and butter back in the day. First being ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ and then graduating to the all-time classic’ Doom’. ‘Rise of the Triad’ was the next to follow originally developed to be the sequel to ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ which is very evident in its enemy design. Personally, I never played ‘Rise of the Triad’ as ‘Doom’ was taking all my attention. Well now I have been afforded the opportunity with ‘Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition’ developed by Nightdive Studios, and published by New Blood Interactive and Apogee Software.

Now you may be saying “Ash, I’ve played Rise of the Triad and its many expansions, you can’t show me anything new”. Well, you’ve got some attitude gamer, because Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition not only comes with all those expansions, but it also comes with a 4K glow-up, a higher and smoother frame rate, and all new never seen episodes and levels.

So, for those like me who have never played Rise of the Triad, what’s it all about? You are a member of an organisation called ‘The Hunt’. The Hunt is a high-risk task force established by the United Nations. You have been dispatched to the Pacific Islands to stop ‘The Death Cult’ and their leader, El Oscuro. Your mission is to infiltrate the monastery and brave its many traps, 100’s of cult members and leaders, all to stop the signal being transmitted leading to the destruction of the world.

So as previously mentioned, Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition is an old-school FPS through and through. Warts and all, this is a balls to the wall, no hand-holding shooter. If you have played the aforementioned games, ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ and’ Doom’ you are going to get the exact same experience here.

So,  brutal deaths restart you at the beginning of the level with basic equipment, scouring maps for trigger points, rubbing up against walls to discover secrets, endlessly looping through the same area to find keys, backtracking constantly to get to the exit, and getting stuck or glitching forcing reloads annoy you, then this game isn’t for you.

For those wanting that nostalgic FPS hit, then Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition is for you. When starting a game, you get to choose a character, and each comes with different speeds, health, and accuracy. You can then choose one of four difficulties, and after that away you go. Basic FPS WASD keyboard and mouse controls and gamepad controller support is available. With easy key rebinding, you can set up your controls to whatever is most comfortable for you.

Being very familiar with this style of game I used keyboard and mouse and didn’t have to change a thing. Best of all Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition comes with cheat codes. From an era of gaming where entering a code could reveal all the map, give you weapons, or activate God mode. Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition comes with those and many more cheats to enjoy.

Speaking of weapons, it should be noted that Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition only comes with three weapons. There is some variation on those weapons specifically with the rocket launcher having different ammunition types.

Graphically Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition isn’t going to win any awards. With its simple pixel graphics, it still looks nice, and more so with its 4K uplift. The upside with such basic graphics the resolution can be turned up super high and a very high and smooth frame rate can be achieved.

The audio also will not win any awards. The music is repetitive but not annoying. You can choose between the classic soundtrack or the 2013 ones. Sound effects are just as basic, heralding from the mid-90s like all the other games from that era.

Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition is a great FPS. If you enjoy the old-school shooters, then you are going to be more than happy with this title. If you have played Rise of the Triad and enjoyed it, then returning to this edition will not disappoint. With all the additional content it makes it worth returning to for those that have played it before and newcomers alike. Though it does not reach the heights of ‘Doom’ it certainly is better than ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ which it what it was improving on.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove