I decided to finally finish UNREAL + Expansion after 22 years. Of course i used the graphics patch so it will run well on modern GPUs. The game size is less than 700 [Mega bytes]!!! This game still looks amazing 22 years later. It holds up extremely well in 2020 and the enemy Ai is really good. No wonder they called it UNREAL because imagine when this game came out in 1998 how unreal it must have looked compared to other FPS of that time. This game amazes me. The rolling clouds and lighting effects are fantastic and only using 700Mb and that includes the expansion pack.....LOL.

We live in a time where AAA games are now easily over 100Gb download and with the launch of PS5 later this year, it will only get bigger and more ridiculous. Just to name a few recent releases:
1. Red Dead Redemption = 150Gb
2. Final Fantasy XV = 150Gb
3. Destiny 2 = 100Gb
4. Middle Earth: Shadow of War = 100Gb
5. Dirt Rally 2.0 = 100Gb
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 = 175Gb

It's amazing to me to see what the old developers were able to accomplish with 700Mb. They created a beautiful, fun and high value game that a gamer like me can still enjoy 22 years later. That's just amazing. I have made a personal choice of not buying new games over 60Gb and any game that requires a server to play. Going forward, i will be going back in time and playing all the great games from my youth that i missed out on. I will share my journey here on GOG from time to time.

Yeah Unreal is a great title still today and one of my personal favourites.
I remember it as it was yesterday the pure amazement when I ran it for the first time and then being blown away when we got a 3DFX Voodoo 2 it looked amazing with hardware acceleration and filtered textures.

Back then every fight was like fighting humans instead of AI, at the hardest difficulty their bullet sponginess kind of took that away though.

And the soundtrack, the effects, the weapons, the botmatches, I'm glad there're people capable of enjoying these timeless classics today.

Edit: grammar.

Good to know. I played it in either 2018 or so when it didn't hold up. I didn't find the AI to be as "good" as it was "very annoying to shoot at". I might try it again though, maybe the off-center crosshair won't bother me as much next time.

Indeed. It's entirely down to taste, but there are instructions here on how to add the HD texture packs:-
- Before.
- After.

It reminded me of FEAR in being an old-school game where clever placement of coloured / flickering lighting in many areas looked really good without resorting to GPU heavy shaders. Excellent soundtrack too (even before the end of the 2nd level I knew it was by the same guys who did Deus Ex). Huge sprawling levels & map sizes that put heavily consolized 5 year newer games (like Deus Ex: IW) to shame. AI that makes certain enemies move around a lot more, and be notoriously hard to hit. They got a lot of things right with Unreal 1.

I remember being floored by the game's graphics back in 1999. But it was hard for me to finish because I felt it kept dragging and dragging. There is a level, I think the eight one, called Dark Arena. I remember that level because I actually thought it was the final boss xD That shows how big the levels were (and I was 13). However I never liked the weapons other than the pistol, and the Skraaj, man how I hated them. They were bullet sponges and kept rolling all around the place. I did find it super cool (and slightly annoying) when you're on level 9 or 10 I believe, the ship you're trying to start to get out and it's completely dark and you're getting attacked by the Skraaj. Really "Aliens" vibes.

I replayed it a year or two ago, and somehow I hadn't remembered or realized the first time around how unnecessarily dark it is. And how future flashlights have batteries that burn out in a minute or two, for some reason, according to this game. At least the expansion recognized that flaw, and fixed it with much brighter and longer-lasting light sources.

Great game, I played it for the first time back around 2011 I think.

edit: and we still need Unreal Tourney 3 here :p

You have to install the patch for modern GPUs to fix the darkness problem. It is almost unplayable without the patch. With the patch, it's magic. The game runs perfectly the way is was designed. Just an amazing game. Here is the patch if anyone needs it:

https://www.oldunreal.com/oldunrealpatches.html

I am stuck in an underwater maze. Whenever I play and get through the maze, I am too tired to successfully kill the enemies. I wish there was a map. I like the game well enough to want to finish it.

You can find a good walkthrough of any level in the game on Youtube. Some levels are very easy to get lost, so don't feel bad about using a walkthrough to help you progress past some areas. I use Youtube walkthroughs all the time to help me progress in almost any game. Good luck :)

Thanks...that would explain why I didn't really remember it being that dark. ;)

RDR2 is a funny one, because it's 150GB of high quality textures that are then slathered with blur AA that ruins them. Yes it has an MSAA option, but a) no one can run it now, and b) it makes the trees look weird, the game was designed for TAA.

Anyway...

Unreal was a great game. I haven't replayed it since it came out but I loaded it up with the DX10 executable a while back and did think it looked gorgeous. Currently replaying the FEAR series but maybe it's time for Unreal after that.

I loved the games...from looking at the environments in awe, to finding all secret areas/caches/notes, to translating various alien signs/etc, to almost every other aspect....like that awesome title screen crawl/music......very good game, imo.Devs do it because they don't care if someone has to go out and buy more HDD space or better HW....not their problem. In the past, though, they seemed to care more about pushing the limits while allowing their games to often run on even crap HW of the time so many more could buy and play their games.This bit I disagree on, if you have the space to spare....there are a few good games over 100GB here and there.GL to you on that....keep us posted and up to date, then. :)

==================================================Just like my favorite "anime": Alan Wake ;D

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Fear huh? I have replayed them so much(from the first to the last, plus expansions) I have lost track/count of how many times i've done the entire series....and sometimes I even find a rare thing I missed all those times, which is nice, but sadly that becomes more rare the more times I play them.

The original is amazing. I remember 2 and 3 being much worse, but I'm halfway through 2 now and it's not bad. Nowhere near as good as 1, and the Xboxyness of it is annoying, but it's fun.

Here's a funny story: I first got unreal when it came out. Years later I got another copy with the expansion pack bundled in a magazine.

It was only then that I realized that I rarely ever finished any game. I would always play the beginning and then, warp right to the end and finish it.

So I decided to play through both game and expansion.

It was awesome. :D