Anachronox (Moderate Spoilers)

Anachronox! You know! The last of the three big Ion Storm original properties; the one that came out just before they closed the Ion Storm Dallas offices. The one with the comedy and the JRPG mechanics and the vaguely Ron Gilbert sense of humor. The one made by Tom Hall! That Anachronox. No? Well, listen up...
Sources:
www.ign.com/articles/2000/10/0...
www.pcgamer.com/the-history-o...
Masters of Doom, David Kushner
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This episode was made possible by generous support through Patreon!
/ errantsignal
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[@mawnkey]

Having worked on the game doing QA and limited bits of animation (fresh out of animation school, leave me alone)... fuck I'm so happy people still love it. Yeah it's flawed as fuck, but we had so much fun working on it and I absolutely loved the characters that needed another game or two to be developed. I hope some day it gets finished. Hell if I were super lucky I'd love to be involved. But that being said: please play it. These days it's cheap, and Richie's story will entertain you in the end. I absolutely promise you'll have fun.

[@MrCobalt]

Following Deus Ex, it's my other favorite Ion Storm title. Highly underrated, off-beat and fun. I also wouldn't be shocked if Mass Effect drew some inspiration from its story.

[@jordanjamison97]

As low poly as the graphics are, I just gotta say I'm super impressed with how flawless the hand animated lip-syncing is. It really does sound like the voices are coming from these characters rather than just a voice over. I'm so used to low effort mouth moves to mimic talking, even in semi-modern games, but this is just perfect.

[@zetetick395]

Yeah, it's actually kinda amazing how well it still looks! We see heads with 1000x more poly's that really aren't as convincing (when speaking) just a fixed high res virtual jawbone bouncing up n down inanely @_@

[@varzin6140]

13:45 *suddenly realizes the potential inspiration for the "Sans pick up your sock!" joke from Undertale*

[@kingcole5977]

Or perhaps that scene in Guardians of the Galaxy film, where Star-Lord is instructed by Rocket to negotiate with a one legged man for his prosthetic leg.

[@BearOldcastle]

Never clicked a video faster, such a strangely overlooked game. I wish the sequel would ever come.

[@Oxxyjoe]

yes. Some games deserve sequels more than a good book or a good movie does.

[@Oxxyjoe]

I never heard of this game, but it looks like one I would have adored in the 90's

[@Get004]

This game is an incredible journey. I still remember the music in each level, each world that one visits feel unique and diverse. ION Storm was ahead of its time, hopefully, one day a game studio can recreate the second part of this game

[@EST84x]

Immediately fell in love with this game when it came out and went back to replay it for years afterwards. I'm actually surprised this isn't more popular, it's so odd, funny and broken you'd think there would be *some* kind of PC cult following there. Anyway, i love it and this video went quite a way to help me understand why. So thanks.

[@MiguelMaravilla]

The charm and humour of this game vaguely reminds me of West of Loathing, and that makes me really happy. Thank you for introducing me to this old piece, Errant!

[@amedicalmystery]

Not to spoil what it is but there's a genuinely tragic and affecting bit regarding the AI companion near the end that hints at what a complete Anachronox or Anachronox 2 could have been. I wish the game didn't land in obscurity cause if it was just a little more of a cult classic a Kickstarter revival wouldn't be out of the cards.

[@ZazuYen]

So much this. I still hold out hope for a official resolution. It was a punch to the gut in the final seconds of the final cutscene.

[@SuperQuadocky]

I love Anachronox. Even if its not really 'that' great. I can forgive it for spinning a decent yarn.

[@Arawnthesouldweller]

This was my favorite videogame for a long time, and it is good to see that there are people who remember it fondly. Thank you for making this video, and I hope it makes more people aware of this funny, quirky game.

[@hemangchauhan2864]

So glad you mentioned *Tom Hall* He is almost never gets mentioned in the western video game discussions.

[@randomnerd23]

Hemang Chauhan I assume because his impact on doom, what made Id famous, was very minimal (albeit due to his ideas being rejected). Commander Keen where he was heavily involved, which was big in the pc market at the time but not big enough to make Tom Hall to be heralded alongside Carmack and Romero.

[@kevinmiles5857]

He had a big impact on Doom (Flying enemies, teleporters, projectile weapons, etc). He was the main designer after all, even if most of his story-related work went into the trash. He also made several levels that were later finished by Sandy Petersen. The reason he isn't mentioned more often is because he was left out of the credits, which is the standard practice in the industry if you leave a project early.

[@SEGAClownboss]

I didn't know Tom Hall made anything besides the Keen games. I'm really glad he did, and brought his trademark humour with him. When can we get a Keen game for the current era?

[@MintApplez]

One of my favourite games from this time. Thank you so much for casting a lens on this. If only we had that sequel - the cliffhanger at the end was particularly painful T T

[@philipjohansson3949]

This game has been in my Steam library for years, I don't know when I got it, and I didn't know what it even was. I might check this out now.

[@scotchbox]

If you google the Widescreen patch it's very playable. Seeing the Quake II engine doing such novel things gave me such a buzz when I was a kid, and there's still something about the aesthetic that wows me.

[@tithund]

I also have it on steam, I think it may have come as a bonus with some other game, though I can't recall which one.

[@antfer1976]

As mentioned in the video, it does not have a real ending, everything was supposed to be solved in a never to come sequel.

[@Atypical-Abbie]

The humor reminds me of LittleBigPlanet, a bit of Archer, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I should check this out, it's written me all over it.

[@chriskarpetas]

17 years later, still one of my top RPGs of all time.

[@Medytacjusz]

You've just given me that kick that I needed to restart the game after I've lost my saves (fortunately only 3 hours in). I snatched the game during GOG's autumn sale, on my wishlist since forever. Still, gotta finish Hollow Knight first, almost there (man, so many games, so little time....). The blocky graphics in Anachronox are so adorable and I love the quirky camera movement on cutscenes.

[@Kevin-jb2pv]

I'm playing through this right now. And, yeah, what you said about the walkthrough problem is 100% correct. The second walkthrough doesn't even _try_ to hide the fact that they're just taking over from where the first one abruptly ends, and _none_ of them even get everything! It's bad enough that if I like the game enough by the time I'm done with it, i might record a video walkthrough and/ or rewrite the FAQ. Also, I think that all this game really needs is for a couple more youtubers to show off this game for us to see a fan-made kickstarter for the second hald to get made. I mean, it's made in the Quake 2 engine, which has been open source for decades, now. Fans could pretty easily make a wildly more polished sequel with all of the improvements made to the engine since then, even if they did stick mostly with existing assetts.

[@eideticex]

The really amazing part about this game being missed by so many. Despite being overshadowed by multiple other landmarks in gaming history (not just the ones presented in this video). It failed with ample advertising. I have old gaming mags from when it came out where for half a year you couldn't flip through without seeing an ad for Anachronox. It had TV commercials when that was unusual for anything other than the highest profile games on consoles. Even all over the internet there were a lot of banner ads on the popular gaming websites for it. Honestly I think what ultimately killed any interest in the game was installing the demo to find it crashed very often. It wasn't even a case of being picky about hardware configuration or picky about what software was running like a lot of modern games are. It was unstable even on computers that had every care given to compatibility, kept in pristine condition and configured just for giving games the most power possible. We never seen any patches to fix that either, at least not until fan patching became a thing in which case it's still unstable just not as bad.

[@SianaGearz]

I tossed the demo into trash upon trying it because it looked offensively UGLY. When you see the mobsters or the bartender, that's straight up 1997 standard of models in a 2001 released game. It doesn't help that the game starts off in a really drab section and only reveals its visual ideas gradually. Dreamcast was long out by that time! I was really apprehensive of this trend to press every game, whether it fits or not, into a 3D mold, because somebody thought 2D games could no longer sell, because it resulted, often in this kind of uglyness. I had bought and tossed King's Quest Mask of Eternity just weeks prior, it was horrible. I also couldn't get along with Grim Fandango, even though it is a good game, but the character rendering was just so ugly. On the other hand, i was fine with FF8 and The Longest Journey. But i played Anachronox almost 10 years later and loved it.

[@greenlemon9155]

18:50 "SFM video created in garrys mod" my heart stopped when i heard that

[@BlackINKim]

What does that even mean?!

[@greenlemon9155]

SFM is a software, an exellent software

[@BlackINKim]

No I mean, I know what Source FilmMaker is, I was just confused about the phrase "SourceFilmMaker videos made in Garry's mod"

[@greenlemon9155]

That exactly what he saied, its a quote

[@BlackINKim]

I know, and I'm still wondering what he meant by that.

[@gamedesignwithmichael]

It's great you still cover older games. So good to look and see how far the industry has come in both a positive and negative light.

[@KingLich451]

Democratus has got to be one of my favorite ideas for a character, im glad it was not done to death.

[@breadmoneyarchival]

It’s not often when I see music theory in my game reviews, which is why 3:06 was such a pleasant inclusion and I’m glad it didn’t get edited out.

[@jamesmason3734]

Man, Anachronox is the kind of game I want to make (Well kind of, I have certain Ideas I want to do that are different but it's pretty damn close to what I want to do.) I hope I can learn from it how to do the kind of game I want to do.

[@Biouke]

When I was in high school I was involved in a project with some fellow gamers on the internet. We wanted to do a T-RPG similar to Front Mission 3. Turns out the farther we got to was a playable demo and by this time our game looked a lot much like Anachronox (humour and 3D point & click feel included) than FFT or FM3 :p

[@jamesmason3734]

Huh, small world.

[@WraithMagus]

It's available for cheap on Steam if you are interested.

[@bagandtag4391]

Same here :P

[@carpemkarzi]

Man it has been forever since I thought about this game. Thx for the vid. The humour reminded me of Citizen Kubuto..a lot.

[@karry299]

Well, yeah, although whereas this game's humor is pretty much exactly the same as one found in a witty comedy book, Kabuto's humor is more of a something heard in a filthy British gutter. Veeeeery similar. Almost the same really. Kabuto is trash, is what i'm saying.

[@carpemkarzi]

karry299 yes,yes it is and that is why I loved it. Neat story...waaaaaay back then when Kabuto came out, I was reviewing games online and in my review I mentioned that I loved the humour and I got an email from the Devs surprised that I got the jokes and loved it. I still love that game for its bawdy humour and fun play style and the switch between characters.

[@planescaped]

@@carpemkarzi I love Giants Citizen Kabuto. One of the few games I ever actually played multiplayer on... I think I was partially responsible for ruining the "meta" when I realized one could place builidngs high above the map, and would stick them above the enemy bases and add gyrocopter production and teleporters to it. Never saw anyone do it before then, next thing I know it is in _every single match_ XD

[@NicolasAlexanderOtto]

Damn, I love that you dug this up. I loved that game - being a JRPG fan back in the day. And mostly still this day. So for me getting something like that on PC was amazing. Not to mention the quality of the product. Too bad these classic jrpg tropes didn't last past the next generation.

[@somethingbenign]

The first game that ever made me cry. When I found out what happened on "that night"

[@markdangerchen]

Oh man, thank you for making this video! I loved Anachronox. The joke set ups! socks!

[@BadHatNZ]

So I guess what you're trying to say is that the game is a little anachronistic? *hold for applause* *clear throat* I SAID I GUESS WH

[@Ugunark]

*claps*

[@wedge_one]

"I'm a professional" This game trailer at the time was hilarious. It got my attention and I played it a lot on release but didn't finish. I have it on my Steam Library for quite some time gathering dust, trying to find time to re-play it and maybe beat this time around.

[@julio_scissors]

I've been playing games for almost 35 years. This is my absolute favorite game of all time.

[@TheBlokeBox]

Anachronox is a true epic of a game, well deserving of both a remake and a sequel. I've found little hidden things playing through it that aren't even mentioned in any online walk-throughs. Like, did you know you can pick up the blood stone with Democratus's tractor beam? Of course some of those little secrets would be less daunting to find if the game did the sane thing and let you swap party members without back-tracking across two entire planets.

[@robertnewman4854]

Honestly, one of the most underrated games of it's generation. I hold Anachronox right there with Omikron for that gloriously batshit turn of the milinium cyberpunk goodness.

[@edgepixel8467]

Omikron was so promising, but the shooting and the fighting was horrible. The world was awesome for its time, and it had atmosphere in spades.

[@noshow]

Great video. Just the look this game is so nostalgic.

[@Exarian]

You know, with how much the freudian model was mentioned in this I can't help but notice an interesitng parallel between these three Ion Storm games and the Freudian Trio. As such, while the stark and broodingly cerebral Deus Ex is the Superego, and the "badass action" Daikatana is the Id, this game really seems to read as the Ego counterpart to those other two when viewed as a larger body of work with the other two.

[@TehBurek]

+

[@zetetick395]

Now THIS is the kinda title I'd like to see Night Dive studios do their magic on! I'd *totally* play this on PS5! 😸_👍 (This is one of those games that completely passed me by at the time, though I was aware of it (on the shop shelves) - gotta give this one a go!

[@Skip-Towne]

I would love to see a sequel or a remake of this! What you've shown here is so charming and endearing. Also, I know this is an older video, but I love your review style.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

I’m recommending this to a bunch of rpg reviewers with a lot of subscribers because I find it hilarious that you’re the biggest youtuber to talk about it

[@vroenis]

Someone sent me to your Far Cry 5 video which was excellent & I was browsing your uploads & saw one for Anachronox... Immediately subscribed. I'll now watch the remaining 20 minutes. Thank you.

[@vroenis]

To be fair, I'm actually much more keen on all the indie coverage but your combination of indie & AAA commentary is perfect for me, but saying that in the first comment would have lessened the impact.

[@lloydparker]

Great video - this is scaling my to-play list for 2018. I think it's worth mentioning that the cinematic in-engine cutscenes, while fairly impressive for the PC at the time, had been thoroughly outdone by Shenmue a year before on Dreamcast. A definite outlier to be sure, though.

[@willydirt9355]

I loved this game and thought it was halarious, remake now!

[@chrisdaniel7903]

Near the end of the video, you say that there has not been a mash of point-and-click adventures and linear RPG since Anachronox and while that may have been true it no longer is. Sunday Gold is a point-and-click adventure/linear RPG comedy. Sunday Gold is very different in terms of setting and tone, but it is of the same genre, so now there is another game kind of like Anachronox.

[@seanmabry7383]

Love it. I've been watching your vids for a few years now and loving every one of them. I especially liked your observation here about the game being a dead evolutionary branch.

[@zehh]

Well written and narrated. Thanks for creating and sharing this video.

[@PancakeTransmission]

I *loved* this game in high school and was sad as I realised there wasn't going to be a sequel after that cliffhanger of an ending.

[@scruffmutt]

Grumpos' "annoyance" skill reminds me of Nern from the RPG Lisa; he joins your party after you're forced to listen to him talk about lemonade and his failing marriage for five minutes straight.

[@uglybaby001]

i bought this game years in eidos bundle on steam and then the other day i was browsing thought my steam games when i noticed this game and at first i was '' When the F did i buy this game !? '' having nothing better to do i downloaded it and played it for couple of hours. This game is a gem and wanted to learn more about this so here i am, learning its a great game with a dead end that i missed all this time because i was busy playing DeusEx. FML

[@DStecks]

Goddammit, now I want more than anything to see DoubleFine attempt a JRPG.

[@Crocogator]

I've heard of it, I've seen pictures, but I've never seen it in action. As soon as I saw combat break out, I knew I had to play this game.

[@blankadams3120]

There's a quote out there somewhere about that Doom game bible, where Carmack, I think? Came in and told Tom something to the effect of 'No point in a deep story, people want to kill demons'...

[@shkeni]

Septerra Core is another often overlooked western JRPG that came way too early and felt weird for the PC.

[@SianaGearz]

Septerra Core IMO just isn't good, but then i played it a very very long time ago.

[@scotchbox]

I am elated to see Anachronox covered by Errant Signal! I literally never got the hang of the insects / magic system. It was so obtube; I completed the entire game with level 1 spells.

[@scotchbox]

What always struck me about Anachronox is that it was the kind of game Tom Hall always wanted to make, the kind he talked about in the DOOM and Quake design documents. And he created a world! He created a space station as psychicly complete, and certainly more interesting, than Mass Effect's citadel, with technology a decade older.

[@planescaped]

I remember always seeing this game on the sleeve of my Deus Ex disk and wondering wtf it was. I never gave it a thought honestly, but I think I'd have actually liked this game.

[@willrigby8202]

This is all very interesting. There are a probably a fair few games like this, which despite being interesting in their own way didn't really leave a notable legacy.

[@Flackon]

Fantastically charming game. A bit janky even at its time but the cutscenes, writing and worldbuilding are pretty unique and fun

[@Nukle0n]

Amazing game. Currently on sale on steam for less than a dollar.

[@Kenshiro3rd]

New Errant Signal... instant watch!

[@zetetick395]

Heyyyy, I Just watched Rodney Dangerfields *Back to School* (1986) for the first time....What a GREAT comedy movie, it's like being machine-gunned by funny , just about every single line is a joke!

[@Cage532]

I have never heard of this game but now I want to find it. I kind of like Western attempts at a JRPG style game like Septerra Core.

[@dayp68gaming20]

Cage532 store.steampowered.com/app/242940/Anachronox/

[@chriskarpetas]

Septerra Core was just bad compared to this. I got it on a whim when it first released and up to this day Anachronox was one of the most memorable RPGs I'd played. The combat felt weird at first, especially in the beginning when you just had 1 character, but holy shit did it leave me wanting a sequel.

[@taliaparkinson4454]

I had never heard of this game before, so I can't really testify to the sense of humor throughout, but based on the clips from the video, I was greatly reminded of Armed and Dangerous from the original Xbox. It's been a long time since I last played it, but I remember having a bunch of fun with it as a kid, and the humor is definitely in a similar vein: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_and_Dangerous_(video_game)

[@damazywlodarczyk]

I loved this game, i played it right after the release. It was quirky in places, but also dramatic. Great music, very varied worlds, incredibly ambitious, lots of heart!!!

[@MrSnaztastic]

I remember seeing a trailer for this on one of those ancient PC Gamer magazine demo discs, looked amazing. However there was no way my poor little laptop could run it back then, so I never got round to buying it. I did pick it up on Steam not too long ago, but after like 17 years I don't know if I'd be able to get into it anymore. You've prompted me to seek out an LP though.

[@N1CKSO]

I swear, the guy is literally Nathan Fillion from Firefly

[@Bedinsis]

This was a neat episode. It's always interesting to see big devs' dead-ends. Have you tried Princess Remedy? It looks like its humor is similar to Anachronox.

[@fmsyntheses]

It's a shame that so many people have forgotten this. I remember waiting for it for years back then. It's a shame that it was a broken mess and won't ever get a sequel. At least it's better than Septerra Core.

[@ShinoSarna]

People do point'n'click adventures in true 3D, they just base them on interactive hotspots.

[@AnimeOtaku2]

shinobody Grim Fandango?

[@ShinoSarna]

I mean, I was thinking Broken Sword 3 specifically (which I believe is heavily underrated and unfairly panned on release only because it was different, especially considering that it basically single-handedly set trends and gameplay loop/style for all future point'n'clicks, including Telltale games) , but sure, that works too.

[@Biverix]

I always hated how much flak Broken Sword 3 got, I thought it was a great game, and that having previously played loads of classic point'n'click adventures. Gaming audiences just don't like having genre expectations challenged is I guess the takeaway from both that and Anachronox, so as a developer you have to work your way around that while still doing your own thing if you want to make any money at all.

[@superquokka]

The Tex Murphy games come to mind (not true 3D but still exploring a 3D space in point and click context). You sometimes have to look at the right angle from the right distance to see that one thing you need.

[@CountZeroOr]

(*sees the Emergency Parole Button bit*) (*dies laughing*) (*comes back as a ghost to type this comment*) Well, Campster, you just sold me on this game. Or... would have sold me, if ghosts could spend money.

[@Soundole]

I really enjoyed your coverage of this. I remember following it up until release in magazines at the time, and it felt like it just had no impact whatsoever on the industry.

[@ChrisAkaMastermind]

thank you for this video! itas awesome like all of the others but i had never heard of this game and i will vuy it now. i am very interested in gamedesign myself and this seems to have multuble things i really like!

[@AdamTrevorJackson]

never heard of this game either. don't remember any advertising or ever seeing it in a store. it looks so up my alley and weirdly ahead of its time.

[@cIownzone]

absolutely love this game. nonstop charm

[@JamesCrawfords]

I have been convinced.

[@JediMB]

Anachronox is... a game I've been aware of since around the time it was released, and I've regularly looked at it on store shelves or (more recently) digital storefronts, been reminded of how clunky and aesthetically unappealing it looks, and never actually given it a shot. It seems like a game I could enjoy, though, given what you compare it to.

[@silverharloe]

Around the 10 minute mark, you talk about how the game feels like it's from an alternate timeline, and yet avoid the word "anachronism". Hooray :)

[@domscards]

The Phantom Tollbooth is my favorite book from elementary school. So good.

[@illustrious-jaco]

also imagine if there were sequels to anachronox :'(

[@icarusinspace4413]

the camera angles in this game seem ridiculous, i love it.

[@fireaza]

The game design of Anachronox is anachronistic? Who would have thought!

[@zookwick]

Hah, funny that you'd make a video on this game now. I've just started playing for the first time. About 8 hours in currently.

[@Bluehawk2008]

RIP Commander Keen

[@DWOBoyleMusic]

If I had known this game existed at the time, I could see it being a favorite of mine.

[@CrossKnights]

When I saw this video pop-up I had not heard of the game but it's name somehow seems familiar to me. Sure enough it seems I own the game on Steam... And have since 2014. Got to love Humble Bundle.

[@At0micPunk90]

Just seeing some of this game's humor makes me want to try it. Too bad I've got no funds on my Steam account to buy it.

[@blaze595]

never even heard of this game before; but it sounds really interesting... its a shame the story was never completed.

[@chooseymomschoose]

Ah, the 90s, when cinematic game cameras looked like they were mounted on a trick quadcopter.

[@TheArtkaw]

Oh I remember Anachronox. Magazine previews kept mentioning how it was thid Final Fantasy-style RPG built using the Quake engine, and how it was constantly delayed. I really liked it, loved the humor and the trip to the ice planet, playing a superhero, going to an old arcade, the lil robot sidekick and all that. I haated the ending, which ends with the old guy betraying you and a damn cliffhanger!!! PS. It was really buggy on launch, and I played the patched version later and I appreciate the fast forward feature, along with the fast travel taxis.

[@willhart2188]

I might watch a playtrough of this.

[@qaenyin]

I'm suddenly contemplating if this game inspired Guardians of the Galaxy in any way. Like, the aesthetic and tone and setup seems so similar.

[@adiveler]

Shame, because both RPGs and Point & Click Adventures are considered as best genres of storytelling!

[@RushofBlood52]

Did you ever make that Daikatana video or are you saving it for Children of Doom?

[@gamingspacemonkey]

I’m not gonna lie. I generally dislike older 3D games, but this game looks amazing (in a “I want to play it” way, not a “oh my god those flat faces look so good” way)

[@boggo3848]

Hey, have you ever considered doing a video on The Longest Journey or Dreamfall?

[@mrjavascript]

Oddly enough I've been considering playing through this game, and the timing of this video couldn't be any more opportune.

[@TheArtkaw]

Ooh, I do remember getting stuck at Hephaestus!!

[@IEatYourSandwiches]

This game looks awesome, but if it's destined to be unfinished, I can't bring myself to play it. I've been burned before...*looks furtively at Broken Age*

[@SianaGearz]

Play it. Don't think about it, just play it. Also Broken Age is finished?

[@emilsej1]

Had to stop watching and go buy the game on Steam. I'll be back when it's completed. Never heard of the game, but it reminds me of Beyond Good and Evil, and I'm always up for a humorous RPG.

[@urulai]

One of my favorite games I have never played.

[@Selestrielle]

How have I never heard of this game before? It's so awkwardly relevant to what I'm working on right now. I'm a bit shaken.

[@AJCherenkov]

I've actually had this sitting in my steam library for a while, but the surface resemblance to Omikron made me leery of actually trying it. This certainly makes me want to give it a proper chance.

[@PGMT22]

Omg can you do a jazzpunk episode?