PowerSlave: Exhumed

It’s such a rare occurrence for a game to age this well when it comes to its gameplay. And being able to re-experience this jewel on modern platforms is a special kind of treat. An absolute evergreen, full of fast and fun activities and dozens of secrets that make you go „yay“ every time you discover one. A huge recommendation, if you can get past the old school graphics and level design.

Honestly, it's tempting to give Powerslave a 10 just for being available again, but no. That would, of course, be naughty. Here it is, though, in even more than all its glory — a brilliant, beautiful reworking that captures the very essence of what made it so awesome back in the day while giving the best of both the Saturn and PlayStation's distinct versions. For such a prototypical take on Metroid Prime, it's alarming and impressive just how much confidence Powerslave Exhumed shows in its design, making it the best kind of retro game — one that's even better today with full knowledge of how ahead of its time it really was. An easy recommendation to FPS fans of any vintage, Powerslave Exhumed will keep you playing and playing, searching for those last niggling secrets.

Will you like PowerSlave Exhumed? Well, if you have played the genre's greats, or even its cult classics, you won't find it to be something special. It's a good shooter, no doubt about it, and the fact that it sort of plays like Metroid Prime many years before the latter saw the light of day is quite the feat, but at the end of the day it's just a decent-to-good FPS. If you view it strictly as a remaster, though, it's something more. It combines the best elements from all its versions, beautifies it a bit for the modern era, and adds all the typical buttons and levers that Nightdive tends to include in its fantastic repackagings. More like a collector's item than a great blast from the past, but boy, what a collector's item!

Playing PowerSlave: Exhumed today, it’s clear that the game is deserving of more critical and commercial success than it achieved in the 90s. It’s a lot of fun; a retro FPS that feels entirely relevant on the Switch. Highly recommended.