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PowerSlave is one of those games I discovered well after it released. It appealed to me because it looks like a Build engine game and I’ve enjoyed all the Build engine games I’ve played. As it happens, the DOS version runs on the Build engine but I think I read somewhere that the consensus is the Saturn version is the best. I don’t know if that’s actually true because I haven’t played every version but at the time, I had recently acquired a Saturn and was working on building a collection of games for it so I nabbed a copy. I never did beat it and if memory serves, the controls took me some time to get used to even with the 3D Control Pad. But I remember enjoying what I played so when the enhanced port released, I jumped on it immediately.
Developed by Labotomy Software and published by Playmates Interactive, PowerSlave was released for Saturn and DOS in 1996 and PlayStation in 1997. An unofficial port based on the PlayStation version called PowerSlave EX was released in 2015. An official enhanced port combining elements from the Saturn and PlayStation versions, called PowerSlave Exhumed, was developed by Nightdive Studios and released for PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2022. For this review, I played PowerSlave Exhumed for PC. Nightdive Studios is a developer known for releasing enhanced versions of older games. These include Doom 64, Turok, Turok 2, System Shock, and Blood among others. The enhanced versions all run on Nightdive’s KEX Engine and I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve played so far so I’ve been looking forward to jumping into PowerSlave Exhumed.
The story goes that extraterrestrials known as the Kilmaat have seized the Egyptian city of Karnak and stole the mummified body of the great King Ramses. The protagonist is an operative deployed to infiltrate Karnak and eliminate the threats. The operative’s helicopter is shot down and as a result, they are cut off from all contact with the outside world. The operative travels to the Tomb of Ramses where they are greeted by the spirit of King Ramses and learn his eternal sleep was broken by the Kilmaat who intend to use his body’s power to spread chaos and control the world. Ramses tasks the operative with finding six artifacts that will aid them on their mission to defeat the Kilmaat and recover his body. The story does feature two endings and the good one is achieved by finding all the Transmitter Pieces. The game opens with a narration providing the setup and the story is primarily conveyed through Ramses as you progress. You can also visit his Tomb any time for guidance on what you’re supposed to be doing. Overall, I think the plot is a fine setup for the gameplay and I actually really enjoy the Egyptian theme mixed with sci-fi.
When I first discovered PowerSlave, I remember seeing some players describe it as Metroid Prime before Metroid Prime and I would say that’s pretty apt. They’re not exactly the same but do share some similarities. There is a world map where you can navigate to any unlocked levels and many have multiple exits that take you to different levels. You will need items to access certain exits or in other words, you’ll have to revisit previous levels after acquiring items to gain access to new areas and exits. In this case, the items are the artifacts. They grant you special abilities including increased jumping, floating down slowly, breathing underwater, partial protection from poison and lava, nullifying force field barriers, and levitation which basically enables you to freely fly around. For a first-person shooter released in 1997, I think what it was doing was somewhat innovative.
If you’ve played Build engine games or other classic shooters, I think PowerSlave is going to feel familiar. You run around the levels shooting enemies and hunting for keys. In this case, the keys are symbols and you will need them to open specific doors. There are secrets to find, hazards to avoid, objects to break revealing pickups and/or traps, and you can blow through walls and certain parts of the environments. PowerSlave does contain some cool weapons and decent gunplay. The arsenal consists of some typical weapon types for the genre along with some more exotic weapons with an Egyptian or fantasy twist. PowerSlave doesn’t feature traditional ammo. Instead, it features weapon power. Each weapon consumes weapon power when fired but weapons don’t share the power. They each have their own power meter. Weapon power can be dropped by enemies and revealed by breaking objects. I like this simply because it means every level has ammo for every weapon. To acquire power or ammo for a weapon, you must be holding it when you collect the power.
As I said before the gunplay is decent. The weapons look cool and have good audiovisual feedback for the most part. Some enemies explode when killed, others fall down, there’s some gore but it’s not super graphic, and the death animations are okay at best. Unfortunately, while I do like the weapons, I feel the cast of foes is a bit underwhelming and lacking. Some of the most common foes include small types like Terranians, Omen Wasps, and scorpion-looking things and all of them are prevalent throughout the whole game. They sometimes appear in numbers and can be annoying and they just don’t make for very intense or exciting battles. More threatening foes include the Anubis Zombie, mummy, and Bastet (or what I call the cat lady). Outside of a few others that only appear in certain levels, I feel the cast lacks variety.
I feel like exploration is more of a highlight than the action. To be honest, I was basically annoyed with enemies and encounters by the end of the game. Foes felt more like obstacles in my way rather than threats I was excited to face if that makes sense. The small foes are just unexciting to engage and even some of the tougher foes can prove to be annoying at certain points. For example, mummies unleash homing projectiles making certain areas populated with them tedious to navigate. But I did get a sense of satisfaction from discovering things like keys, secrets, and exits. Despite getting stuck on more than one occasion, I enjoyed exploring and the artifact abilities make for fun ways to get around. Seeing an area in a level I couldn’t access yet would stick in my mind and then I would get excited to revisit the level later when I had a new ability. And to be frank, once I got the levitate ability, I was having a blast just flying around everywhere.
In addition to weapon power, other pickups include health power which replenishes health, weapon boost which is a temporary power-up, and a map of the area or level and I do believe these pickups are randomized. I say that because I’ve played through most levels multiple times and can tell you that I did not find the pickups in the same spots every time. A breakable object may contain health power on one run and weapon power on another. The pickup that appears may be dictated by certain factors (although I can’t confirm for sure) but the randomized aspect can sometimes be annoying. For example, if you need health but weapon power keeps appearing or vice versa. There are other pickups which are found in specific locations like the Ankhs which permanently increase your health, full weapon power, full health power, the transmitter pieces, and team dolls. As mentioned before, collecting all the transmitter pieces will allow you to see the good ending. Team Dolls are more or less collectibles and I found that many are pretty well hidden. In fact, they can be quite hard to find without a guide.
PowerSlave is the kind of game that requires you to pay attention and check every nook and cranny. It’s the kind of game where it’s easy to get lost or stuck because certain paths and/or ways to progress can be easy to miss. Some levels are quite intricate with multiple floors, rooms, and paths and you’ll sometimes need to blow up parts of the environments to progress. You can also find and unlock shortcuts. I think many levels are well designed but some of the later ones have tedious platforming, poor design choices, and some annoying hazards. There is quite a bit of platforming in the game and much of it will require the increased jumping and floating abilities which basically equates to long jumping. In general, the controls and platforming feel fine, at least on PC, but some of the later levels can be frustrating to navigate. Poor enemy placements, hazards that can kill you instantly, and one level in particular features a series of lasers you have to levitate around and it’s awful. Touch a laser and die. It’s just not fun. In that same level, there’s a room where you collect a symbol and then must disable the lasers so you can backtrack safely but how to disable them is borderline obtuse.
I do like PowerSlave’s presentation. It’s got the look and feel of a Build engine game with diverse environments and good sprite work. I do like the weapons and some of the enemy designs look pretty cool. The presentation does a good job at conveying the whole Egyptian thing with bits of sci-fi thrown in. In fact, the design of the final levels really drive home the sci-fi aspect of the game. The lighting and visual effects look pretty good and the action is backed by solid audio work and a pretty good soundtrack. In my opinion, the music really helps add to the atmosphere of the game and perfectly fits the Egyptian theme with tunes ranging from ambient and moody to more melodic and intense stuff. On the technical side, the game ran great and I encountered no major issues.
I admit I’m a little disappointed with PowerSlave. I think I was expecting something more in line with Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood but it just doesn’t reach the same highs as those games. PowerSlave is certainly not a bad game but I guess I just expected something a little more exciting. The enemies are underwhelming and many encounters are just not that great. The game often pits you against many annoying small foes, especially in the beginning, and in general, I feel the enemy variety is a bit lacking. I enjoy the Egyptian sci-fi theme, somewhat non-linear progression, and the Metroidvania inspired style of gameplay. But I do think the action is one of the weaker aspects of the game. On the plus side, exploration and discovering things can be quite enjoyable as is utilizing the special abilities to get around and I enjoyed revisiting previous levels with newfound abilities to see if I could access new areas. While I think the level design leans towards the good side most of the time, how to progress is not always obvious or clear and I felt some areas in certain levels are poorly designed, making navigation more tedious and frustrating than fun. Ultimately, I enjoyed PowerSlave but I left it feeling it could have been better.
I would recommend PowerSlave because it’s fun. But I also think its contemporaries are better. I think PowerSlave’s mix of Egyptian and sci-fi is great and for the time it released, it showcased some cool ideas. It is a first-person shooter, an action game, and, unfortunately, I think the action is its biggest sore point. The weapons are cool but I feel the enemies and encounters are just lacking. Nevertheless, PowerSlave is still a pretty good time, overall. You might want to wait for a sale but definitely check it out if you’re interested.