Agony Remake – No Magic And No Art
The original Art & Magic game AGONY is one of the best games I have ever played on my Amiga and yes that was thanks to the setting, graphics, music and the usual top-notch presentation seen in most Psygnosis games at the time and yes I find it rather amazing that neither Psygnosis or SONY ever went on an did a follow-up or a remake or whatever.
That was until 2016… when this PC title happened…
A now four-year-old remake and this is the first time I hear about it? Well, I might have heard about it before but yes I never bother much with stuff released on PC as I am after all still 100% ANTI PC and don’t want anything to do with anything except the Amiga so that’s maybe why I have not bothered much with this title and yes even though I am writing about it now doesn’t mean that I have tried the game or whatever now.
I have only watched Youtube videos and while I liked the idea of a remake and whatnot I must say that the hype faded quite quickly after watching the first videos, there ain’t much wrong with it but as with so many other remakes out there the game feels bland, wrong and very little of the magic from the original game is seen nowhere in the videos.
The demo is only from the first level of the game and while it bears striking resemblance to the original game in some places there are still many questionable things in the artistic approach and choice of colours and style that to me made the whole thing look wrong and bad.
The project is an unofficial thing and one should not expect too much from it but the guy behind it all must have worked very hard on it and believe me, it shows and I bet this could have ended up as a mighty fine game in the end if it had been continued on as the key formula is in place and some adjusting here and there could turn the whole thing into something really wonderful.
The video shows a few other negative things too, the music feels wrong and the owl itself seems out of place in the graphics style.
I am well aware that this was just a demo and so on and that this might not represent the actual finished product if there had been one but yes when working on old classics like this one there are lots of minefields and fans that can overreact to just about everything and I am sorry for being one of those but I got my hopes up when I saw the trailer and thought WOAH!… After watching the trailer 3 times I am just thinking meh really.
More info and a download link are found here, I hope you enjoy it more than I enjoyed the videos.
As a final note to the developer and the fans out there, I really wanted to like this and I am pretty sure I would love it if it had got a few changes. Keep in mind that I have only seen videos of it and not played the actual demo. Oh and finally, I love that the dev went out and did this demo, the creativity showed is a great start and I can not imagine what kind of magic he will do next.
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The colors are a bit off compared to the original but, as you said, this could have been a great remake. I hope to have time to try out the demo soon.
Sencillamente fantástico, unos gráficos extraordinarios
Well, I firmly believe that your criticism is based on your still unfair hatred of the PC. The only downside that I see in this remake is the music at the beginning, for my taste it is not properly finished … Exchanging the piano for that kind of violin that makes the melody doesn’t suit him much, let’s say … But, next, we see that piece of illustration with the animated sea and it is a real delight and then the game is wonderful, because it eliminates one of the things that irritates me the most from the original Agony (and that you have not mentioned): The music Ingame, it is very, very loud, and in this remake it is more in the background to avoid distractions, I like it much more. And the colors, well what do you want me to say, I really like the darker setting. Tell the truth, if in your day you had seen this game for the first time as a friend, you would adore it … but it is for being on PC, and not on Amiga, that makes you angry. Everything is taken care of in the smallest detail, and let’s not forget that it is the work of a single person, your criticism should be more constructive and praise the work and effort dedicated to honoring a classic piece of the Amiga, a computer that almost no one remembers since other platforms.
hey John, well, first of all, I must say that I have never felt the ingame music as too loud and from a design point I can relate to why they chose to make it like they did, the first track is very intense for a reason and yes a bit overkill compared to the actual gaming pace but as you probably know is that it settles down around the midsection of the second level.
The PC hatred is one thing you mention and yes I have never said that I like it either, unfair? maybe so.
The background might look wonderful in your opinion and that is fair, I do like it but at the same time it looks nothing like the original and the whole effect is ruined by the graphical look and design, but yes as I mentioned many things with this one man production could be easily solved (and no, one of them is not to move the project to the Amiga :p) and I am pretty sure the guy would have fixed them too if the project had a future where Sony would not kill it off in a heartbeat.
In my opinion as a gamer across many formats, I can say that this remake share the same problem as (Project-) X2 on the PS1, broken thanks to game mechanics and destroyed by mixes of design choices.
Cool to hear you liked it though, appreciate the feedback 🙂
I play this game on Amiga once in a blue moon. In my opinion it has a better reputation than Shadow of the Beast. The gameplay and graphics are phenomenal for the time, and playability is good. The game can be finished with enough focus, without a trainer.
Here is a comparison on the Amiga 500 to see the difference with the PC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExUsiii9y5w
So sorry for not seeing this post before now :/
I agree on all your points here really.. cooø vid too ♥️