Hello bluethief!

Thank you for keeping this series of threads alive!
Unfortunately, I forgot to post about my gaming session regarding the year 1998.

Before the end of September I managed to finish once more the cinematic plattformer "Heart of Darkness". When already knowing what obstacles and traps lie ahead and how to deal with the swarm of shadow creatures, then the game is actually quite easy and finishable in a few hours of play time.

Only three times I had to repeat a screen or scene due to being a little bit off in my timing--a jump sequence, a diving scene and fighting two self-reproducing enemies simultaneously towards the end.
Other than these, it was a breeze and a fantastic nostalgia trip!

The graphics (both character and enemy sprites, as well as the backgrounds) and especially the animations were quite impressive for its time and still manage to convince today. The transitions between gameplay scenes and CGI videos are almost seemless. However, the screens are really pixelated due to very low resolution. (Applying a bi-linear filter on both backgrounds and sprites helps a lot.)
It was the first 2D game that made use of (prerendered) projected shadows casted into the background and even did utilized them in its gameplay. Another remarkable detail is the climbing animation. The main character does some free climbing every now and then, and the backgound details in the various environments always match the animated foot and hand placements (compare the attached screenshots from mobygames.com gallery).
Fun fact: having played through the "Tomb Raider" Legend, Anniversary and Underworld trilogy, recently, I perceived that Lara's free climbing in "Underworld" looks very familiar to the one used in "Heart of Darkness".

The Story on the other hand does not serve so well anymore a modern or more mature audience. I think it is a typical "product of its time" case. If you played it as a kid in the past, you might be able to overlook its shortcomings and goofyness. But a first time player, in particular a grownup one, will have a hard time to be pleased by the game's story and the way it is being told.
The protagonist is a young boy (that still goes to school) who is playing out is imaginary adventure, in which he sets out to rescue his pet dog. From the perspective of the boy reality and fantasy are getting mixed up in the process, and he visits a strange land/world similar to Pan's Netherland, where he finds both minions of the dark lord and new friends.
Most importantly, the boy is afraid of the dark and starts daydreaming during the pass of an eclipse. He then fights lots of shadowy creatures before confronting the dark lord himself, who calls the boy out on his phobia.
*Attention*, a tiny SPOILER ahead: the game starts and ends in his treehouse--the boy actually never left it!

Would I recommend "Heart of Darkness" nowadays?

It depends on whether the player has some nostalgia for the nineties, their infancy and the game itself, or not.
I even have some doubts regarding recommending it for todays children, since it's cartoony violence (death scenes), jokes and overall goofyness is far from the current generation's sensitivities.
(I have to agree with the assessment of the youtuber "MatthewMatosis" on this specific game.)

I am going to see, what pictures might still be interesting to add later on, since I forgot this time to take them during gameplay.

Kind regards,
foxgog

P.S.: I almost forgot to mention the other game I started, "Oddworld Abe's Exoddus". I tried to play this one twice in the past, but after the original ("Abe's Oddysee") something felt off. So, I never played it to the end... neither this time!
There are many seemingly minor details in the game that does not fit in the lore or with the characters of the first game. The secrets (as far as I did play it this time) seem to be copied and paced from the opening levels of the original, and the huge amount of Mudokons to save felt more like work than fun. (Often there were just much more Mudokons to save in the same area, causing repetition (busy work) without adding a new challenge, or even having them standing in the same spot.)
Oh, and they changed the voice actors both in the English and the German version! After reading about it, I found out, that "Exoddus" was not made by the same developer of the original, but rather an outsourced expansion which have been turned into a standalone product. Thus, it explains the difference and its focus more on quantity than quality!

[Edit: link to MatthewMatosis' youtube video and some screenshots from the game gallery of mobygames.com added]