If you’re interested in me covering the Blair Witch Trilogy in a future video, give this pinned comment a thumbs-up so I get a feel for how desired such a video would be! Also while we’re here, here are the resources mentioned in the video: How to Get Nocturne Running on Modern Systems: www.tumblr.com/ragnarrox/725720420628758528/how-to-get-nocturne-running-on-modern-systems If you want to support the Channel, you can do so on Patreon: patreon.com/RagnarRoxShow Or you can become a RU-vid Channel Member by clicking the “Join” button right below the video. (Sorry, the latter one doesn’t work with a link or card as far as I can tell so far)
I just wanna know how much tonally incompatible lore gets rammed into th BW cannon thanks to these games :) your mention of al capone's army of nazi frankenstoids really peaked my curiosity
I'd love to see you and Grimbeard do a collab. You guys dwell within the same sphere but have two very different goth outlooks and I want my two goth boys to go on goth playdates
I wrote the strategy guide for this one, and helped produce the manual and box contents. I LOVED this game, if only just for the story/atmosphere. I remember, despite playing through it a ridiculous amount of times so I could write the guide, still had the ability to jump scare me.
And now modern PCs break it, apparently due to physics being tied to CPU speed. If you see Stranger's coat try to reach escape velocity when ingame cutscenes play, you know why. But hey, it sometimes make for unintentional comedy.
I would love to see you cover the Blair Witch sequels. Even if the games aren't that polished the atmosphere speaks for itself. The games deserve a place on your channel. Cheers! : )
@@davivignola5895 The controls were quirky but I gotten over them plus the game isn't so hard. I think it has an option to turn the controls into Point + Click which is easier to move around.
Whenever I see a video of Ragnar I don't see him immediately, I set aside a quiet moment and really watch the video because I feel that it's one of these videos that I don't just want to listen to but also see the game itself that he is talking about or recommending. The quality of your work is greatly appreciated.
OMG THE FLASH BACKS !!! No joke, i had vague memories of this game from when i was younger playing it with a friend but it was in this realm of " does it exist or did i imagine it ? " : the part of being stuck on the train especielly ! Thank you Ragnar as always for the interesting and entertaining video and for giving me back a little piece of my childhood, i have to go take my revenge on this damned train's ladder now !
ME TOO, I ALSO PLAYED WHN I WAS A LITTLE CHILD. my dad bought the cd and I was enamored with it. gotta admit I couldn't play it all that much because I was still baby but it never left my mind. dad always bought the coolest games at the time
This is definitely a game that doesn’t get mentioned often.. I remember reading an article about this game in 1999 and it was immediately on my radar. I unfortunately couldn’t run it until I’d get a new computer for graduating HS in 2001 lol. Played through this with a friend one Friday. Great memory. Have a sub
I would LOVE IT if you actually covered the old Blair Witch games. I actually played them (and Nocturne) as a kid and the atmosphere definitely left an impression on me. I remember in Blair Witch 2 you're like a civil war soldier fighting zombies. It's wild.
Covering the first Blair Witch game (the one where you play Elspeth Holiday from Nocturne) would be a nice continuation, for sure. It was quite literally a "Nocturne Episode: 1.5" sequel, which thinking about any further starts to make me feel sadder knowing Nocturne 2 is never going to happen, while absolute dumpster-tier kiddy-horror like FNAF is almost certainly in the process of another sequel while we speak.
I remember being blown away by this on release. Partly due to the graphics (I remember the cloth mechanics on your characters coat being particually impressive) but mostly becasue of the (at the time) insane 1gb hard drive space requiriemet. That was the size of my entire hard drive back then!
I managed to play and finish this obscure 1999 classic 2 times this year thanks to a patched version with modded settings that ran surprisingly well in Win10. A really unique old school horror experience I'm forever grateful for. 😊👍👍
Nocturne, System Shock 2, and Deus Ex were my absolute JAM in 1999! I was 16 then, and still living with my parents -so I had the free time (and money... gods, I miss those days...) enough to crank in some serious Double-Oughts Friday Night Marathon Gaming. Didn't need WiFi, didn't want WiFi, all was well. I still remember seeing that box on the shelf in my local Media Play (RIP), and I was IMMEDIATELY sold. It was a pain in the ass to get installed and running properly, but good GODS was it worth it! Thank you for this review, and exposing more people to this absolute bizarre gem of a game -sure, it has flaws, but you're not getting an experience like it. Period. I still feel like it should have sold at LEAST a quarter as well as Resident Evil 3, because it's at LEAST twice as cool. More horror games set in the USA of the 1940's, please! That was an era RIPE for all kinds of terrifying supernatural horror... and NOT just CoC (sod off, Chaosium. You haven't allowed a single game which wasn't absolutely wretched since, like... Daughter of Serpents? Jeez...). I kinda feel like I should take a crack at it myself, since I can't imagine I'd do worse than the latest offerings to the digital dumpster.
I really would love to see a remake of this game. Such a freaking cool concept, and the Stranger is an amazing character that deserves to be explored more in-depth. I remember playing this game as a kid at my friend's house and loving it, but being very frustrated with the difficulty. I hope this game gets a second chance.
So happy to see this pop up! I begged my parents for a copy of this after seeing my friend's older brother play it back in the day. They finally gave in and eight or nine year old me proceeded to give himself nightmares over and over. Never finished the game because my imagination would go wild with what might be around the next dark corner and make the game scarier than it actually was. Lots of great memories. I think it might be time to give it a full playthrough.
Great retrospective. Nocturne absolutely deserves a try. The setting, atmosphere, episodic levels, interactions between the characters, variety in levels and places you can go and visit are all worth. I think it's time for a remaster or remake
Holy shit, so cool to see you do a Nocturne review and finally give this game the proper spotlight it deserves :'D I made a video for it last year on Halloween. One of my favorite horror games of all time.
In the German verrsion of Nocturne, the dialagues of "Stranger", the main character were spoken by Mark Lehmann, the German movie voice of action star Bruce Willis. And I agree that "Stranger" is indeed looking similar to that one in "Blood 2 - The chosen" which I used to play more often, because it was a real 3D shooter, thus much easier to control while also located in the cool bloody horror genre. If I am right, Blood 2 had these Shikari monsters, which used to scare you whenever they spawned and attacked from behind. However, Blood 2 did not have these phenomenal real-time light and shadows we find in Nocturne, not perfect but still a masterpiece of its time.
There's a certain look games from this period have where we weren't quite the at the point of vast 3D worlds but were striving to push outwards from the poor draw distance of games on the Playstation. Character models were starting to get really good but the limits were still being bumped against. This has it, American McGees Alice, Max Payne and even Shenmue has it. I think it died when GTA showed a good stylized look is a fair trade off for scale but man does it take me right back to the late 90's.
I was obsessed with this game in 3rd grade but I was too terrified to play it for very long, I was always terrified. When I'd get really scared I'd load up the mobster levels and turn on infinite ammo and just go crazy with the tommy gun. The Texas levels especially scared me, the zombies were more disturbing to me than the ones in Resident Evil. I loved the time period and variety of settings and the style. The trench coat physics, blood splatters/pools, dismemberment, gunsmoke and bullet casings were all really sexy at the time. Not to mention, it had a lot of voice acting with NPC's throughout the levels.
I remember this one from back in the day because A) It had a manual with some pretty interesting lore I shamelessly ripped off for a TTRPG campaign I was running at the time, and B) When I loaned it to a friend, they had a problem with their CD drive that ended up snapping one of the disks in half, which was something I'd had no idea could happen.
Oh yeah, that happened to my "Die by the Sword" CD at a friend's computer. I was devastated! And now that you mention the manual I want to slap myself for forgetting to cover the manual, which was totally something I wanted to do but didn't get to for this video.
Never played this but was introduced to Grim Beard via his 2nd Nocturne video. It's cool that your Nocturne videos don't overlap but compliment each other. There's some difference in interpretation in a couple places that are interesting. Respect + enjoy you both so I have a nice "double feature" or triple if I pop Grim's first Nocturne video in too.
I'm actually quite excited to finally watch his videos on Nocturne in full. I found that he had covered it, but only watched a few minutes because I didn't want to bias myself too much before writing my own "thesis" on it.
Nocturne definitely gives a good creepy feeling. But you are right, camera angles and controls should have been easier to handle. Back in 1999 I had to look up in a Walktrhru of a gaming magazine in order to escape the cemetery, because I did not know I had to find a vine to climb onto the top of a tomb building. I think there was one last thing to do to break that voodoo resurrection spell. So at first, I ran all about the place, searching the exit, killing countless skeletons which were resurrected over and over again until I was out of ammo. Thanks for refreshing my good old memories.
I honestly wish you had made this into a 5 hour retroperspective deep dive into not just nocturne, but all the BloodRayne and Blair Witch games, maybe even touching on the movies related.
This game has a special place in my heart. Played it a lot on my Windows 98 PC. I still have my copy of the game, but sadly don't have the manual for it. Always loved the "stock" horror music bits that would occasionally play when an enemy would appear. One thing I still remember is the sound the game would make whenever you would type in a cheat code. One of the features that the game tried to incorporate was a first person view mode. It used The Stranger's goggles and gave a sort of "night vision" view where everything was black and white and, if I remember correctly, everything was solid without any textures or detail. I think you had to use a cheat code for the mode. Edit: forgot to mention. In the Texas mission where you are killing zombies, there is a jump scare part where a zombie jumps out of the house through the window (shown in this video). I still remember the glass break sound being so insanely loud that it nearly blew out my speakers. It was the only part of the game where the sound mixing was screwed. Wonder if it also happened to anyone else.
before i continue watching there is a thing i wanna write down here regarding when one feels like they missed out on something during its height I completely understand some of the idea you missed out on it and ended up not supporting it when it needed it. you couldve told your friends about it back then and who knows how far it couldve gone. but as someone who has grown up playing a bunch of different games because money wasnt great for me. You gotta take a moment and appreciate not only the game but yourself when you do find your way to a game you love but its sadly being left behind. Theres always a chance you wouldnt have liked it when it was brand new because you tastes or priorities were different back then or you liked it but as time moved on you simply forgot it again because you didnt love it. its weird to say but even when it comes it comes to what you enjoy and how much you enjoy it luck is a still a big factor you as a person your situation and the game itself all lined up at the right time whether it helped you get you through something or you simply had the time and patience for it you can never really know how much you'll enjoy something until you are experiencing it and with life forever learning creating and forgetting the fact that you manage to catch it offstage is a small miracle in itself
Omg, I adore this game. And so good to see a channel covering it because other than Grim’s video I’ve rarely seen people mention it I would absolutely love to see you cover the “sequels” set in spookhouse (which is still the coolest name for a secret government anti-monster agency I’ve ever heard of) Most especially because I never played those Blairwitch games, so didn’t know there ever was follow ups
It made me laugh because you said "Kelly Edward Tale" around 37:42, and I've been doing that for years, fully knowing that it's "Elly Kedward" and not "Kelly Edward", but refusing to think it's not the other way around.
this is one of my favorite games of all time. I loved your review of it. I too have always been sad there was never a sequel. I loved the Stranger, and think he could have easily been one of those gaming characters that would have become iconic and remembered, but without a sequel it never happend sadly. I'd give anything to see someone update this game.
Whoop! It’s a good morning when a new video is up. Thank you for creating such carefully crafted, enjoyable, and thoughtful videos. Wishing ya all the best!
The moment I set eyes on this game, the first thing that popped up in my mind is Remedy’s Control and Alan Wake. If it ever get a remake, it’s have to be Remedy
Thank you for your videos! Always good to see you posting. It gets me more involved in games history and finding games I missed than any other channel 😊
I’m working on a horror story that is directly inspired by Nocturne, Bloodrayne, house of the dead, resident evil, Nightmare Creatures 1+2, blood, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and other horror games and low budget movies from the 90’s and 2000’s. I haven’t finished it yet so it’s not currently readable but once I finish and find a platform to post I’m absolutely looking for someone who wants to make a game out of it. I’ve got tons of ideas for stories, characters, different abilities, settings, and even soundtrack choices such as Marilyn Manson’s wrapped in plastic for the intro song. If any of you guys know any game modders who think they can makeshift something let me know.
Thanks for covering this! I had the Blair Witch trilogy, since those were included in a Blair With movie box set, and heard that they spawned from a game called Nocturne. The more I looked into Nocturne, the more I realized it was up my alley, but I never had the chance to play it. Here's hoping Nightdive takes notice.
2:53 - Funny you mention that, because _BloodRayne_ absolutely stinks of that early 2000's idea of "cool", and to this day I resent it for depriving us of a proper sequel to _Nocturne,_ which ends on one of the most painful cliffhangers in gaming history.
nocturne deserves a "enhanced edition" style remaster, with a control overhaul and an updated rendering & light engine and ofc native widescreen (all toggleable for a custom experience, like the quake & quake 2 remasters)
I don't think Svetlana hates the Stranger, it's just that _he_ hates _her_ for being a vampire (nothing personal), so she has no recourse other than being defensive in return. She would like him to accept her but it's not so simple.
I must admit that this was one of those games that passed me by back in the day; I was a bit more obsessed with Diablo, Silent Hill and Resident Evil 2 at the time. That said, it really does look intriguing, and I might try to get it running just for the experience, I played BLOOD on your recommendation and had a blast!
I love the clip of the stranger falling off that staircase right at the bottom then the camera cuts to him flat on the ground like one of those Rubber monkey videos.
I owe one of the biggest scares in my life to a certain moment from the voodoo chapter in this game, when a zombie broke the window from the outside while i was exploring this murky wooden creaky house .I was not prepared how loud & crisp that sound was & remember flailing with my arms for a few seconds, almost falling backwards on the floor. I tried Nocturne again few years back and for me the biggest issue still is the damn controls and how the movement feels. But man, what an ambitious cool game, mixing several classic horror settings pretty seamlessly while creating cool world building. The gaming magazines in my country actually gave it pretty high scores, but the main problem they listed was this game was a system hog at launch. Few years later Terminal Reality took some of Nocturne's DNA and made Blood Rayne 1 - the moody environments, engine, cloth physics, dismemberment and blood effects , even the main character up to a point, but fixed the controls and movement.
Hmm, I wonder if the choice of camera angles tried to follow the same philosophy as with Resident Evil where camera angles would purposefully not show every enemy in a room you just entered in order to cause more anxiety with the player?
Was so happy to have experienced this game back in the day. Despite its logistical issues, it remains one of the best games I’ve ever played. The narrative world it set up is so good, I still think it’s criminal that it hasn’t been adapted to any other media product.
Man, it's so cool to see old gems like this pulled out of the rubble. Ross, who runs Ross' Game Dungeon on the channel Accursed Farms has been doing a lot of work with abandonware and game conservation for years, you guys could probably do some incredible work together.
I had so much fun with his game back when it first came out. It's one of the few games that my lemon of a PC actually managed to run, at least until windows 10 came along and all my games stopped working lmao.
I completely forgot this existed. Played it on release and was floored by the graphics. The real time lighting was soo good at the time. But don't remember anything from the story anymore. Thanks for the find and the member berries.
I'm so glad that other people remember this game. I managed to find a complete box way back when, it's so cool. I would definitely love for you to cover the Blair Witch Trilogy, because unlike Nocturne, I never managed to find those.
Inverse kinematics were used in Virtua Fighter 2 in the arcades (and Saturn port) when fighter drop off from the ledge of the arena and in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 on Link's legs/feet.
Bought it in 2000 with my b-day money after seeing a review of it on Gamespot TV rerun. Was blown away by the game since it was before I knew Resident Evil had PC ports, even though I played it on a shitty a Celeron office pc it was a fucking amazing experience. It hit all the notes rights. Was pleasantly surprised that Bloodrayne was originally suppose to be a spinoff of Nocturne back in the day.
What doesn't seem to be mentioned here is that the game has a kind of 1st person mode. You can turn on your goggles to activate 1st person view, which offers a stylized presentation of the 3d elements of the environment. This was often the only way for me I could discern the topography of rooms for jumping. As a side note, this 3d view also allowed me to recognize the vampire castle as the same one you enter in the first Bloodrayne game. It actually has identical 3d architecture in places, so it can't be a coincidence. Edit: Erm, I just did a quick check of a few let's plays and couldn't find anyone using the first person view mode goggles. Am I going crazy? Or is this feature so obscure that noone even knows anymore that it exists?
Fun fact: shin megami tenshi : nocturne references this game at the title screen because atlus had to license the word nocturne from the makers of this game
Ohhh that's so cool! I know that there are quite a few people who *listen* to the videos, so I've actually been doing a pass on the scripts for a while to ensure they are narrated in a way that they also work without visuals. Been thinking of making specific podcast versions of my videos for a while - I hope I can find some time to give this a try in the future. Thanks for the kind comment!
A game where you investigate a strange town filled with monsters lurking in the night. Is indeed a well made survival horror game to play. Nice enough it gets the recognition it deserves. I really like to see Night Dive do a remaster for this.
I'm all for Notrurne getting the Resident Evil 2 remake treatment. I think a change in camera angle and gameplay while still staying true to the look, feel, and story of the original would be amazing.
If I recall, only the first Blair Witch game was Terminal Reality, the other two were outsourced so the publisher could have 3 quick budget games to release. From what I hear, the first one (With the Nocturne cast) by Terminal Reality is considered the best by a landslide, I've heard mixed things on the other two but Terminal Reality's work on those mainly consisted of helping the other dev studios learn the Nocturne engine to my understanding. I did find the first person night vision mode helped with combat alot, since it allows you to get a first person camera. (Even if it's clearly "Night vision" to excuse the fact that the 3d environment is completely untextured due to how these games usually work, basically a blank 3D environment with the 2D pre-rendered camera angles laid ontop of it.) While I got stuck on the final episode and have yet to go back and finish it, I love the premise of Nocturne, a remake or reboot would be great since it provides an interesting world and a brilliant concept for a game in general.
There is a mod on moddb that extends the final chapter so it doesn't end in a cliffhanger, it's not perfect but an improvement nonetheless. There's also a map editor released by the developers themselves, yet it's hard to know how moddable the game can be.
I love your reviews, they're peak gemütlichkeit (without compromising on having something to say other than SHINY GAME MUCH WANT, you made a point that how we approach a piece of art heavily influences our reception of/fun with it, that was quite the revelation to me because oh God, it's so true) to watch when night falls. Last night I watched your Alone in the Dark remake review, all the while it was pouring cats and dogs outside (I love rain pouring against my window for reasons prolly 95% of us here on your channel need not having explained), which then prompted me to finally pick playing up Alan Wake 2 again. Thanks a lot, man. P.S: Quick question, do you recommend the AW2 DLC, Night Springs or what it's called? I'm a sucker for all things Twin Peaks (again, ain't we all on your channel). 2lazy2watch your playthrough, sorry. P.P.S: Love your inclusion of the X-Files soundtrack when mentioning the show during the review of Nocturne, especially those moody, piano-heavy parts are one of my favorite things about the X-Files ever.
I remember this game. I could only play it in my uncle's computer because the one in my house couldn't run it at all. I also remember there was a button to switch or at least aim and shot in first person view, which you could use in fights where the camera angle was problematic.
I remember buying this and it had something like four CDs for the four different settings for the price of one game. I've always loved this game and the Blair Witch spinoffs. The only problem I had with Nocturne was the fixed camera angles. I never got into Bloodrayne though. I tried it but it does not have that offbeat and far more creative concept Nocturne has.
I never heard of this game, but the setting seems to be right up my alley. However I can't help but feel that I'd probably find it even more appealing if it was more oriented towards survival horror, with ammo scarcity, limited saves and hard, nailbiting fights. 😄
How do you keep finding such awesome games? Guess I'll be adding Nocturne to the backlog, it looks like so much fun to play and a really interesting concept (especially being an episode style story, would love to see more games try that). The janky platforming looks less fun haha, but the design and characters all have a lot of personality to them (definitely want to see more of Svetlana now knowing she's the predecessor to Rayne). Another excellent video on a fantastic topic, you never fail to create incredible content for us Ragnar. Also I would love to see you cover the Blair Witch Trilogy. I saw a video on the games a while back and have been quite fascinated by them so it would be awesome to hear your thoughts on them (especially now I know they're related to Nocturne).
One little correction to this otherwise brilliant video: Blair Witch Volumes 2 and 3 weren't made by Terminal Reality. Each game in the series was designed by another studio and that's partially why they vary in quality so much. The Legend of Coffin Rock was made by Human Head Studios and The Elly Kedward Tale was made by Ritual Entertainment. I'll gladly see your next video about them though!
I also agree that Pathologic Classic HD is a better game than God of War and I'm glad Pathologic is getting a bit more cult buzz in the past couple of years because this game is my third favourite of all time and more people should give it a try
OMG i remember that game!! the zombiefied village was sooo atmospheric and creepy it was perfect! i remember finding the copie abandoned on a sale and with the cd cover i thought it was a metal band album haha i would so love to see a sequel,a remaster or a remake of that done right!
Nocturne wasn't perfect, but it is a criminally underrated horror/noir gem with unique style, interesting concept, and excellent eerie atmosphere. Also the graphics were mind blowing at the time. I loved it back at release, despite the jank and difficulty, and I quite enjoy the whole Spookhouse concept and c1920s setting. I'd play it just for the atmosphere and horror/noir aesthetic alone. It's really a shame the franchise died with this one entry. I keep holding out hope the franchise will be resurrected, or maybe at least remastered one day. Stranger things have happened... Yes, it's technically part of Blair Witch and spawned Bloodrayne, but there's still never been a true sequel or even anything close. Speaking of old horror games, I feel exactly the same way about Clive Barker's Undying and Realms of the Haunting: Neither were jank and both got great ratings, but they remain extremely obscure and never got any sequels. Also re: Stranger being Blood's Caleb in an alternate universe, I agree 100%.
Ah, yes, the actual first horror video game I played that gave me jump scares after jump scares. I knew about the BloodRayne and the Blair Witch connections, too - because I was kinda obsessed with this game back then. Thank you for the nostalgia ride! Cheers!
Blair Witch Vol. 1 was the first horror game I've played. I was about 9yo and that game was one of the main reasons that I have become huge horror nerd. It would be awesome to see your analysis of the whole trilogy!
