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

[@bobsgammon]

Lots of questions I had to answer, here's my response, in a separate video, I even found a previously unknown regional difference. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4m3fahtipl1mc0

[@FraserCottington]

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

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@shaggymcdaniel3216]

A game that is so much more than the sum of its parts. You were blessed to have played this game. It’s one of the most incredible games ever made. Yet no one knows about it. Wish it came out on the Saturn.

[@Hairlesswookie62]

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

[@mahtimonni97]

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]

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

[@denzelmidnight8976]

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

[@bobsgammon]

Thank you 😊

[@versebuchanan512]

The PS1 opening screen and noise used to be low-key scary to me as a kid, 'cause I was playing Resident Evil and Silverload and such when they first launched unsupervised in a dark room lol.

[@bobsgammon]

Haha I actually have similar memories

[@drryanmorris]

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]

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

[@alexf836]

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]

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

[@alibenice]

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

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@copperbadge1]

9:04 that ad is so 90s, I feel the urge to undust my Skatebord, put on the walkman and meet with the rad kids at the mall.

[@bobsgammon]

Hey with the skateboarding at the Olympics it aint a bad idea!

[@Fersicas]

I remember that game. It scared me as a child quite a lot. And made me rage quite often to how unfair the game felt. Especially in the last level of the game

[@andraska724]

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]

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

[@macelius]

Had no idea this game even existed, thanks for the video. The "Amigos" seem to have inspired multiple races in the Star Wars prequels as well, lol.

[@Der_Andere_Da]

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.

[@shaggymcdaniel3216]

This game is everything I could ever want period. It’s the most Disney game ever. Growing up with 80’s and 90’s film, this hits the nail on the head for me. It’s just so incredible.

[@bobsgammon]

It definitely hits the nail on the head for the vibe. And for many thats the most important thing and its sad too many who'd appreciate it wouldn't have come across it.

[@user-tu2rc3oq7m]

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]

Thanks for the lovely words and glad you enjoyed :)

[@CommissarJake]

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

[@bobsgammon]

Cheers mate, I appreciate it

[@exiiesaid8004]

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]

That's very sweet thank you very much

[@wolfsamhain8886]

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]

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

[@sonneveld_]

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]

That's really cool thanks for pointing that out

[@TwoWholeWorms]

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]

Definitely a beautiful game

[@TwoWholeWorms]

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

[@bobsgammon]

@@TwoWholeWorms Thank you so much, does a lot for a starter like me :)

[@TwoWholeWorms]

@@bobsgammon Linked it to all my friends too :)

[@Dante3214]

I had this game rented for me once, around the time it came out. Played it for several days, returned it. Never forgot it because it was just SO WEIRD. I remember seeing the violent death animations and how unexpected and cool that was. It really captured some boyhood wonder and made the world feel real and dangerous (especially the damned man eating plants)

[@bobsgammon]

The plants are surprisingly scary

[@mickaelfrimann]

I played this so much as a kid i could lipsync every soundbite in this video.

[@docsaico]

I really loved this game as a kid. KINGDOM HEARTS and LORD OF THE RINGS both always reminded me of it. The heartless, obviously, reminded me of the shadows, and the fiery edge Andy hangs over at the end brings Mordor to mind. Great video!

[@bobsgammon]

Thank you, love the kingdom hearts comparison

[@bionyx6368]

I wish we could’ve gotten a film adaptation

[@bobsgammon]

I would like them to flesh out that whimsical world

[@OmegaEnvych]

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!

[@Dante3214]

agreed

[@bobsgammon]

I really think it did what it wanted to do and that was to be a proper adventure. It did no more or no less than that ambitious aim. I think a sequel would be very interesting, to see more of that craft, and perhaps some gameplay polish, sadly there was just so much burnout from the devs and I wouldn't want it done reluctantly.

[@CyrillKR]

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]

You're more than welcome

[@Calculon1712]

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]

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

[@astralodin]

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

[@sanctuaryBiscuit]

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]

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

[@djfifis835]

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

[@bobsgammon]

Same here, you're more than welcome

[@JoellJoelly]

Loved this game of a kid even when I never finished it. Ty for this video

[@bobsgammon]

You're welcome thank you for being so kind

[@scintillatedscarboroughfair]

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]

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

[@bocarlsson3rd]

Definitely deserves a subscribe. Good work chap.

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@Bootleg64DD]

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

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@MrGrae333]

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]

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

[@marclohnhardt6420]

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

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@chumpyman]

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]

I will give it a gander thank you!

[@clintonsmith8215]

Would love to see more like this! Great work!

[@bobsgammon]

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]

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

[@bobsgammon]

Thank you :)

[@YTPremiumWatch]

Thank you so much for this - keep up the excellent work

[@jakethorne8336]

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

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@perrobang8925]

Although I was a bit disappointed with the ending, I remember loving how the game was very immersive for me. This was one of the first games I played on PS1 and it did something quite different than other games. One thing that did stand out was the musical score as well as the cinematic formula. I have not seen another game at the time do this. And I wish there were more games like these.

[@zZiL341yRj736]

Game has amazing animations and art style.

[@chunkymilk]

my childhood.

[@Jonen560ti]

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

[@mikedoe525]

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

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@toongrowner1]

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

[@bobsgammon]

Love this

[@evan12697]

51:25 ayo?

[@bobsgammon]

You're the first person to have noticed that I put that line in there! Don't know whether to proud I hid it well or disappointed it took so long :P

[@evan12697]

@@bobsgammon 🤣🤣 great video mate, Happy to notice lol

[@bobsgammon]

@@evan12697 Cheers matey I appreciate it

[@ShattForte]

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

[@bobsgammon]

Glad you had fun with it

[@shinigamiauthor]

sees the logo for Amazing Studio: "oh nooo"

[@wuoarh0815]

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]

Glad you had a good time

[@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign]

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]

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

[@brockbooth630]

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]

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

[@brockbooth630]

@@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]

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

[@brockbooth630]

@@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]

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

[@coolcatshan5266]

Loved this game

[@toongrowner1]

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]

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

[@toongrowner1]

@@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

[@jesterofdimensionz]

Such a good game

[@twi57ed]

Great video!

[@bobsgammon]

Thank you

[@twi57ed]

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

[@novelezra]

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

[@bobsgammon]

It's not bad just weird

[@novelezra]

@@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]

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

[@AbdulJalil-zl5kk]

One of the best game of All Time 🔥(HEART OF DARKNESS)

[@bobsgammon]

It certainly is memorable!

[@amazinghayes1]

More of this type of stuff, my guy.

[@bobsgammon]

Thank you!

[@doltBmB]

While the intro is good, this is another sad case where you seem to have confused the words "Retrospective" with "Recap". This is mostly a recap.

[@lpdigit4363]

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]

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]

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]

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

[@goodlookinouthomie1757]

Man I would love a HD remake of this.

[@bobsgammon]

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]

@@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]

Good shout

[@Pettysburg]

Damn was that a mugshot??

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@thesidneychan]

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

[@bobsgammon]

That adventure feel and hope to it is missing somewhat

[@Danferplus]

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]

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

[@SurPatel-uz2fu]

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]

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

[@SurPatel-uz2fu]

@@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]

@@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]

@@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]

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

[@Der_Andere_Da]

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

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@MSDGAMEZ]

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

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@necrosadotor]

great game, too bad it's so short

[@bobsgammon]

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

[@ScaredLGMD]

Has Anyone ever said you sound like moogleftw?

[@bobsgammon]

I have no idea who that is, sorry

[@ScaredLGMD]

:) the ears know ​@@bobsgammon

[@bobsgammon]

I'll check it out, though from my time working in radio I know that we never hear ourselves how we hear others, so I doubt I'll agree :P

[@Artynos_YT]

Not gonna lie. The entire look of Heart of Darkness never looked interesting to me. And I’m into 2d puzzle platformers.

[@bobsgammon]

Interesting, as a 2D platformer it really stands out aesthetically to me. Any reason it doesn't look interesting or just personal taste?

[@martink.461]

Would love to see this game get a proper remaster.

[@GrumpyMunkyGameDesign]

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

[@jefferyjones8399]

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]

Is the book any good?

[@doltBmB]

"Puzzle Platformer" is an anachronism of the 2010's indie revival with games like braid and limbo etc. certainly those were inspired by these older titles, but the correct term is "Cinematic Platformer"

[@JJ-RUN]

Wow, how old are you? I'm so glad to see so deep dive into history) Want to make video about lossless scaling ps1 games and just dont know how it would work with 2d games.

[@bobsgammon]

That's outside of my wheelhouse a bit, but I'm sure that there are people and communities that can help ya, and I'm late 20s

[@JoeZUGOOLA]

"Excape"

[@bobsgammon]

😂