A Detailed Analysis of Heart of Darkness (1998) | Gaming Retrospective

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Heart of Darkness (1998) is a game renowned as a cult classic by many but with lots of questions that I look to answer with this detailed look at a beloved classic from the late 90s.
Known for its gruesome death animations, Heart of Darkness was supposedly released at the wrong time to really hit the heights of what was expected. Is this true, was Heart of Darkness released too early? Find out with this in-depth retrospective video analysis!
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| Video Chapters |
00:00 Introduction
01:30 Development History
11:36 Opening Cinematic
24:07 The Canyon
38:50 The Swamp
47:31 Underwater Caves
56:37 Amigo Village Cutscene
1:02:34 Start of Disc 2
1:09:31 Lava Climbing
1:17:18 The Power Stone
1:20:26 The Castle of Darkness
1:28:18 Losing Power
1:39:30 The Ending
1:41:54 Review & Conclusion
Background Video sampled from:
Heart of Darkness Trailer: • The Heart of Darkness ...
Another World: • Out of This World (a.k...
Flashback: • Flashback 25th Anniver...
Silent Hill: • Flashback 25th Anniver...
Thank you to friends who I have sent drafts to for feedback, my amazing wife for support and you for watching. Also a thank you to / @ifinishedavideogame for inspiration and also for allowing me, without knowing, to copy the format of this description.
No part of this video was made with AI.
All media in this video is used for the purpose of review, commentary or criticism and is defined as fair use under US Copyright law. Even though I am English.
#retrospective #retrogaming #gaming #psx #playstation

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29 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 134

@bobsgammon 2 месяца назад

Lots of questions I had to answer, here's my response, in a separate video, I even found a previously unknown regional difference. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mXTLu7U4Bck.html

@FraserCottington 3 месяца назад

Out of all the heart of darkness videos I've watched, this one is 100% the best

@bobsgammon 3 месяца назад

To be fair you did see the drafts of this and this much better than them

@Hairlesswookie62 25 дней назад

Man, you took so many of us back before we really knew what time was. Good times, time.

@denzelmidnight8976 3 месяца назад

The most underrated heart of darkness video of all time, you definitely earned a sub for me

@bobsgammon 3 месяца назад

Thank you 😊

@CyrillKR Месяц назад

Boy, what a trip. I remember playing this game as a kid in the early 2000's, grinding my teeth every combat screen and trying to beat the game thinking it was just way too difficult at times. I've had a box copy for the PC and it contained the blue-red 3d glasses. Sadly, by the time I actually beat the game, I had already lost them. Thank you for this retrospective, it really took me back to the past. You've expressed some of those experiences I've had and it's good to know I wasn't the only one.

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

You're more than welcome

@wolfsamhain8886 12 дней назад

I been loving seeing all of these hour + long gaming retrospective/deep dives/ docs, what have you. great video and well formatted. keep up the good vibes.

@bobsgammon 10 дней назад

I am trying but they do take an age to make so sorry for delays!

@martink.461 26 дней назад

Would love to see this game get a proper remaster.

@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign 21 день назад

get me a 2d artist to rip the sprites, il make it happen

@alexf836 Месяц назад

Hey man, great video, always awesome to find new, high quality retrospective content creators, I know the work that must go into making feature length videos like this must be massive but stick with it! Can't wait to see the next project and where your channel goes from here

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

Cheers man, I'm working on another retrospective at the moment for the telltale walking dead, probably will release series by series. Have some other different bits of analysis written too but getting round to it is a pain. Stuff like your comment really does makes me wanna spend more time doing it though so a big thanks

@nimonabeturbulon9390 12 дней назад

As a massive enthusiast of this game, this Heart of Darkness video was incredible, the best I've seen so far. This game deserves a lot of respect and recent indie platformers such as Inside and Limbo owe a lot to this game. If it HOD came out at the time it was supposed to, it would have done better for sure. Odd world was actually inspired by this. What a work of art, so thanks for giving this game some genuine love.

@bobsgammon 10 дней назад

Definitely, the way that the art works so well with the mechanics makes it unique at the time as graphics weren't just a theme but a conscience part of the whole thing

@mahtimonni97 3 месяца назад

I played this at age 6, when a box of cereal had the demo disc. And I'm pretty sure it didn't scar me for life! Edit: It might've also had a positive impact! Since it just oozes *style* and creativity in the artistic sense. Perfect for a developing mind!

@bobsgammon 3 месяца назад

It very much is an artists game both for good and ill. Certainly something inspiring creatives should look at to see how different elements pull together to one whole

@alibenice 28 дней назад

A forgotten gem indeed. Fingers crossed for a remastering project... A guy can dream.

@bobsgammon 27 дней назад

A man can dream, a man can dream...

@user-tu2rc3oq7m 3 месяца назад

I went into this video with no knowledge of the game nor you to begin with, but I came out of it extremely pleased by both your presentation and analysis of the game as well as the game itself! Really good work for sure [:

@bobsgammon 3 месяца назад

Thanks for the lovely words and glad you enjoyed :)

@andraska724 Месяц назад

Watching that first sequence in the beginning of the game when you get out of the spaceship and get overwhelmed by the lurkers unlocked some core memories. Excellent video.

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

It is probably my strongest memory as a kid that or the bit where your gun gets eaten just after! Literally can remember my cousins playing it and me behind a sofa

@TwoWholeWorms 6 дней назад

Strewth, I love this game. The fact it starts with a nigh-on-10-minute short film with a tailored score that'd make Spielberg happy, the story, the _bastard_ hard platforming that 12-year-old me somehow managed to master (I've had the PC version on CD since it was released, and no joystick when I played it at the time).

@bobsgammon 6 дней назад

Definitely a beautiful game

@TwoWholeWorms 6 дней назад

@@bobsgammon Great video BTW, I spammed the link at all my friends as soon as I finished it xD

@CommissarJake Месяц назад

Well done, this is an excellent effort for a first release. I look forward to seeing you do more going forward.

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

Cheers mate, I appreciate it

@exiiesaid8004 Месяц назад

Had an urge to watch a vid about a game I used to love. Found a new youtube channel that I do love. Keep the content coming brother! Loved this vid more than you could even imagine!

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

That's very sweet thank you very much

@Der_Andere_Da 16 дней назад

I really wish this game would get a HD release/remake similar to Another World. This is the far better game and just imagine what this game could look like in HD or even 4K on a nice OLED screen in 60 FPS. Although the old PC game is still playable on Windows 10 it still would be very nice to play it with higher resolution. I guess the biggest problem with this games success was that it was released during a time where 3D was just the hype and nobody really was interested in 2D games anymore. IMO this game could really benefit from being rereleased today on GOG or Steam to maybe get the attention it actually diserved.

@bocarlsson3rd 14 дней назад

Definitely deserves a subscribe. Good work chap.

@bobsgammon 10 дней назад

Cheers mate, I appreciate the kind words, goes a long way!

@wuoarh0815 Месяц назад

never realized how the master of darkness relates to the teacher 🙈 awesome vid! thanks for looking into this forgotten gem :) one of my favourite nostalgia trips

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

Glad you had a good time

@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign 21 день назад

u never saw how the master related to the teacher?! DID YOU SEE THE TEACHERS MODEL! Chekovs gun if ever i f**kin saw it!

@bobsgammon 20 дней назад

@@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign Tbf you don't spend a lot of time with either so easy to miss.

@sonneveld_ 26 дней назад

I'm sorry if this has been pointed out already but did you notice the "Tim Shafer" under the Thanks in the credits? Turns out that's Tim Schafer of Doublefine. Apparently he met up with the devs and told them how much he liked their games during development.

@bobsgammon 26 дней назад

That's really cool thanks for pointing that out

@clintonsmith8215 19 дней назад

Would love to see more like this! Great work!

@bobsgammon 19 дней назад

I'm getting there with my next video, though I'm jumping to 2010. Work and life are slowing me more than I'd like but comments like this make me push through. Thank you

@clintonsmith8215 19 дней назад

@@bobsgammon I really enjoyed it. I’ll be looking for the next one! Hope you are doing well!

@bobsgammon 18 дней назад

Thank you :)

@ShattForte 29 дней назад

loved this game when it came out. it took a lot of effort to beat it! great memories, thanks for the video

@bobsgammon 29 дней назад

Glad you had fun with it

@djfifis835 2 часа назад

Thanks for this, this game made quite an impact on my childhood 😅

@marclohnhardt6420 Месяц назад

I played it as a kid,totaly forgot it existed until your video popped up randomly. Nice work brought back some memories ❤❤

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

More than welcome, glad people are finding it and enjoying it

@drryanmorris 22 дня назад

I rented this game, back when that was a thing you could do. I found it too hard, put it down, returned it, and never heard of it again, until now

@bobsgammon 20 дней назад

I rented some games with my older cousins now and then, but stopped being a thing before I could do it on my own

@jakethorne8336 Месяц назад

Was always curious about this game. Glad you put this video together

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

Thank you for this, comments like this helps me keep going

@astralodin 15 дней назад

hey old school game, didnt hear from ayone about it in a long time. as a kid this game was so scary and anxiety enduceing. it impacted ne nassively

@chumpyman 12 дней назад

insane video. ps1 era of gaming was amazing and heart of darkness is one of them. wild 9 I feel is another underrated ps1 game

@bobsgammon 10 дней назад

I will give it a gander thank you!

@zZiL341yRj736 24 дня назад

Game has amazing animations and art style.

@unfille991 29 дней назад

I remember being so hyped for this game when it was being teased in all the gaming mags back in the day. I love this game. Me and another kid at my school would sit around and talk about this game and Resident Evil 2. We wrote fanfics about this stuff, lol. When I was playing it the first time around I was getting heavy "imagination" vibes, because well I was 12 I think when it came out and I was always daydreaming about going on crazy adventures, braving deadly traps, and yeah my thoughts on the death animations, during these imagination sessions I was always having I definitely thought of all the ways it might look to get eaten by an alien you made up in your head. The one death I always hated about this game, the worms. And you nailed it during your description. Thank you for bringing back all these wonderful memories.

@bobsgammon 29 дней назад

I'm glad it tickled them memories, I was 4 so slightly different memories but I totally get that sense of imagination it invokes

@OmegaEnvych 28 дней назад

I really want to point one thing up - I played Heart of Darkness when I was a kid - around 10-11 years old, in 1998-1999 and I think that game works perfectly for that age. It looked like my favorite movie of the time - Toy Story, it had incredible animations and I didn't care that it was not 3D - I was still mostly playing games either on my uncle's computer (on which I played this game) or on my Megadrive at home - I only heard about Playstation and best 3D game I saw was Duke Nukem 3D - back then my uncle's PC was barely able to run Turok and other 3D games like Heretic 2 so smooth 2D game with beautiful graphics that ran well, was so nice to see! And it was one of few games that I was allowed to play and was able to complete on my own! I think this game is good for its relatively good balance between light-hearted tone and darker themes. It has issues and boy, level 8 was a difficulty spike! But I still consider it highlight of my childhood gaming. Also, it was one of the first games I really wanted to see a sequel of. I was imagining things - like return to the space island to see it drained of life by a new enemy and Amigos being mostly gone, Andy trying new weapon that would work as a combination of his gun and magic power and more things like that. Of course those were ideas of like... 11y.o. me, but still, that's thought that counts!

@MrGrae333 28 дней назад

I've never played this game but man,nthose are some beautiful gameplay animations for a retro side scoller. Honestly puts Contra to shame, and I grew up on those games.

@bobsgammon 28 дней назад

But their gameplay is probably superior, not that I don't enjoy HoD gameplay

@thesidneychan 29 дней назад

This game oozes Robert Zemeckis and Spielberg. Especially especially the music. I miss movies that had similar orchestral soundtracks.

@bobsgammon 29 дней назад

That adventure feel and hope to it is missing somewhat

@mikedoe525 27 дней назад

I wish so bad to someone make a remaster of this game, but I guess it's almost impossible

@bobsgammon 27 дней назад

The way the game is kindve requires a holistic vision and intense desire and I think you'd need the two Devs back for it to happen

@Jonen560ti 2 дня назад

I have a weird story about this game. I did play it at some point, probably 2003 ish. But I'm not sure exactly how I got it. I have a vague memory that I got it from a cereal box and I believed it was a licensed game to market that cereal. I remember the FMV's running terribly and I always assumed my disc was damaged or my PC was too slow, but apparently that was how they were always supposed to play. From what I remember, I only got a couple of screens into the game. Then years later, I learn this is actually an older 1998 cult classic and not a cereal advertisement. My mind was thrown for a loop

@Bootleg64DD 19 дней назад

I remember playing the demo of this game that I got from a cereal box early 2000s

@bobsgammon 19 дней назад

Miss demo disk days, kinda forced you to try things you'd not think to play

@toongrowner1 25 дней назад

1:21:20 always looked to me like gray potatoes, so I kinda call them potato warriors XD

@bobsgammon 24 дня назад

Love this

@shinigamiauthor 21 день назад

sees the logo for Amazing Studio: "oh nooo"

@twi57ed 23 дня назад

Great video!

@bobsgammon 20 дней назад

Thank you

@twi57ed 20 дней назад

@@bobsgammon No, thank you! Keep up the great work,man!

@coolcatshan5266 19 дней назад

Loved this game

@jesterofdimensionz 26 дней назад

Such a good game

@Calculon1712 19 дней назад

I remember seeing footage back in 1995 on GamesMaster and looked forward to it. Then i rented it on PS1 in July 1998 and thought it was okay but couldve been better. I like a lot of Eric Chai's work especially his most recent VR game Paper Beasts. Love the soundtrack as it was done by Bruce Broughton whos done quite a few films and TV shows. The soundtrack i must associate him with is the music for Tiny Toon Adventures

@bobsgammon 19 дней назад

I saw that he done that but can't really play VR ATM

@jefferyjones8399 Месяц назад

I clicked on this thinking... they made a game out of that book? And then he was like, it has nothing to do with that. lol

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

Is the book any good?

@Pettysburg 10 дней назад

Damn was that a mugshot??

@bobsgammon 10 дней назад

I am a mug but I assume you mean of the teacher?

@toongrowner1 25 дней назад

I swear I got this game as an extra in a cereal box once as a kid. Still love it (and still have it, but the ps1 version so I can play on my ps2). Thanks to oddworld and mortal kombat 3 (for which I, like many others, where clearly too young for) and some disney cartoon shows, had already a certain fascination with death animation and dark transformation XD I still play it from time to time though can not tell if it got easier or more difficult for me XD

@bobsgammon 18 дней назад

It got easier for me but a ton of that is patience

@toongrowner1 18 дней назад

@@bobsgammon well it kind of switched for me. some areas I had trouble as a kid are now easy but easy areas are now harder for me XD

@brockbooth630 3 месяца назад

If I had to asked you something in the future QnA if the unmade film for the Heart of Darkness was made what would you want in the film ps did you see some Wizard of Oz stuff in the story in the game

@bobsgammon 3 месяца назад

Interesting, I'll have a think and will get back to you. Either here or in video form :)

@brockbooth630 3 месяца назад

@@bobsgammon take your time if you want I can point all of them out for you and if you want I can tell you the rumors if Heart of Darkness was going to be a movie but I don’t know if it’s true or not

@bobsgammon 3 месяца назад

I mentioned the rumours briefly but maybe not clearly, but they were related to speilberg

@brockbooth630 3 месяца назад

@@bobsgammon I know he was one of the founders of DreamWorks I don’t mean to possibly tell you info about the rumor you may have heard but it Spielberg or someone at DreamWorks say the cutscenes for the game in between 1996 to 1998 and know they struck gold so they called for a meeting with Eric and it lead to the studio telling him and his team to drop the game development and give the rights to DreamWorks for good reason they Eric dropped the deal and finished the game sorry if it was a long comment it’s a habit

@bobsgammon 3 месяца назад

It's good info, I knew some of it, not all, I'll definitely dig deeper. Thank you

@novelezra 23 дня назад

I wanted to play this so bad as a kid. Thank fuck I didn't.

@bobsgammon 23 дня назад

It's not bad just weird

@novelezra 22 дня назад

@@bobsgammon Oh no! I probably would have loved it as Flashback was one of my favorite games as a kid I meant, thank God I didn't play it because it would have scarred me for life haha

@bobsgammon 19 дней назад

Haha if I'm anything to go by, then yes you'd end up weird

@MSDGAMEZ Месяц назад

My local game store has a mint copy of this game for $29.99. Is that a good price?

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

I tend to use the link below as a metric, but not always the best (prices can be volatile) and not recommending any purchases on it purely on monetary value. Saying that it seems very reasonable and not gonna blow the bank. Really depends on what you think old games are worth. The emulation is good and representative, I love having hardware but don't think its the be all and end all. Though this is a case of a game I've owned since I can remember so maybe someone else around here can help point you in the right direction. Sorry thats a wishy washy answer www.pricecharting.com/game/playstation/heart-of-darkness

@goodlookinouthomie1757 29 дней назад

Man I would love a HD remake of this.

@bobsgammon 29 дней назад

I think a remaster for the FMVs and backgrounds to make them pop on new systems would be good but I love the pixel art I'd be apprehensive of doing too much

@goodlookinouthomie1757 29 дней назад

@@bobsgammon Yeah the pixel art is great. It's a timeless classic. But imagine a studio like the Rayman Ubisoft team making a sequel.

@bobsgammon 19 дней назад

Good shout

@lpdigit4363 Месяц назад

I remember always beating the first disc pretty easily but the second one fucked me up instantly. I still love this game, probably one of the best games for the psx. Also, how could anyone call this game bland? 😭 Thank you for the great video btw, thats an instant subscribe vor me ❤ Editing this comment for the third time now but wouldn't it be awesome to get a remake to this game like the oddworld games?

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

I am still to play new n tasty but would love to see this game to get the same treatment from what I've seen. I found oddworld too hard as a kid as I was terrible at remembering to save

@lpdigit4363 Месяц назад

I remember playing abes exodus only to the end of disc 1 and having to start a new game all the time cause we didn't have a memory card but I'm sure I would never have finished it even if we had one 😬

@bobsgammon 29 дней назад

We had a memory card but I remember getting so far into a game just to find out it was full

@necrosadotor 15 дней назад

great game, too bad it's so short

@bobsgammon 10 дней назад

One of its biggest criticisms, though I suck at platformers so it took me longer than most

@SurPatel-uz2fu 2 месяца назад

Great retrospective video essay. I didn't have the patience to get through this when I first played it on the PS1, so it was nice t know more about it. If ou're taking requwsts I personally would like to see ones on: Impossible Creatures and Bandits: Phoenix Rising

@bobsgammon 2 месяца назад

I've never heard of that,I'll definitely have to look it up!

@SurPatel-uz2fu 2 месяца назад

@@bobsgammon Great, thanks. They are quite obscure titles, and may not have the smoothest gameplay, but I think they have a certain charm to them.

@bobsgammon 2 месяца назад

@@SurPatel-uz2fu There is a few obscure titles I am thinking of looking at but have a few things in the pipeline beforehand. However doesn't mean I won't get round to them, even in a shorter form vid!

@SurPatel-uz2fu 2 месяца назад

@@bobsgammon O, very cool, I look forward to knowing of those obscure titles too. No pressure, you may not even like those games anyway haha

@bobsgammon 2 месяца назад

Honestly views also come into it but if I can get some vids under my belt and more returning viewers, I'd make time to follow this ip

@Danferplus Месяц назад

nice retrospective video, Heart of Darkness is a great underrated game, but if I have one complaint about the video it's the wrong aspect ratio, why stretch it to wide screen when it's clearly a 4:3 game...

@bobsgammon Месяц назад

I play it in 4:3 but the game constantly cuts the top and bottom off and so I cropped pure black screen out

@Der_Andere_Da 17 дней назад

34:15 btw you can just hold X to grab on again, you don´t have to time pressing X

@bobsgammon 17 дней назад

I never knew that, nearly 30 years and I never tried holding it