Arthurian Legends

Scolaro Games

The Build Engine era of shooters remains incredibly influential, a quarter-century later. From Duke Nukem being a brief cultural phenomenon (at least until 3D Realms squandered all that goodwill on Duke Nukem Forever’s interminable development time,) to the “big four” representatives of the engine (Duke Nukem 3D of course, but also Shadow Warrior, Blood and Redneck Rampage) all emphasizing real-world spaces in a way that clearly influenced Valve during the development of Half-Life, to popular Doom mapping tool Doom Builder revolutionizing Doom mapping and making it significantly more accessible by modeling itself off of the Build editor bundled with Duke Nukem 3D and its contemporaries — it was a glorious time for shooter fans, even as Quake and Unreal would upend expectations with their (at the time) impressive fully-3D graphics. But perhaps what was most important about the Build years was the aggressive silliness and irreverence that the games embodied. Duke Nukem is a pastiche of 80s and 90s action heroes, a frequently sexist (depending on who’s writing him, I’m looking at you George Broussard) himbo who likes big guns and strippers and never shuts up. Shadow Warrior tried to send up Asian action cinema the way Duke 3D did for the West, but tended towards racist stereotyping. Blood, arguably the best of the era, went for a gothic horror vibe that mixed extremely dark humor with some genuine scares. The point is, these games were more than just rote Doom clones; their protagonists had personality, the violence tended towards over-the-top bloody hilarity, and pop cultural references were the norm, with some levels occasionally being entire references to popular movies in whatever genre they were attempting to spoof (from The Terminator’s police station assault to the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King’s The Shining.) It is this legacy that most informs Scolaro Games’ 2021 sleeper hit Arthurian Legends, a labor of love built largely by one person to pay tribute to the classics of yesteryear.

Much like how the games of the Build era chose a particular theme to send up, so too does Arthurian Legends, which as its name implies tackles the so-called Matter of Britain, otherwise known as the Arthurian literary cycle — a collection of works and legends, dating back to the medieval period, describing a legendary king of Britain and the various figures in his life and era. Arthur doesn’t actually show up in this — the game is set some years before his time, during the reign of his father Uther Pendragon. After the death of Arthur’s mother Igraine, Uther (who had used magic to seduce Igraine into bearing him a son, ignoring Merlin’s warning about equivalent exchange, a life for a life) declared magic to be of “the Old Religion” and banished it from the British Isles. As the Saxons invaded Albion, so too did a mysterious calamity fall across the land, leading some to suspect that those who had been banished had come back with the Saxons to aid the invasion and exact revenge on Uthur. You, meanwhile, aren’t anybody important to the Arthurian cycle. You’re just some guy, some rando hunter living out in the woods when Saxons burst into your home to try to murder you in the night. Punching them to death, you grab your stuff and get busy chopping Saxons in half. (He doesn’t really have a name, nor does he even speak; LegendsGuy is as good a moniker as any, though I cheekily named him “Flynn” when naming my save file. Hey, the name dates back to the 4th century, it could work.)

Like most shooters from the era it’s trying to imitate, Arthurian Legends is split across three episodes, with between six to nine levels each, including a secret level once per episode. You can’t really select episodes like you can in Doom or its contemporaries; gameplay is continuous, with your gear carrying over from one episode to the next. The episodic distinction here is largely to demarcate different themes, from the darkly forested wilderness suffering a mysterious blight, to an unseasonable magical winter storm covering the land, and finally a sort of Hell on Albion where the rivers turn to blood, the grass dies, and the dead march under the black skies of a seemingly endless night. Each level has its own loose theme, from sacked forts to mouldering catacombs, though after a while they all start to sort of run together, which is only in part due to the level design. (I’ll get to that in a bit.) In a cute nod to Doom, the end-of-level stats screen features a map with severed heads on pikes indicating the areas you’ve cleared.

Arthurian Legends, despite its influences — that is to say, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior and Blood, all of which get explicit references — doesn’t run in either an idTech 1-derived engine nor a Build-derived one. Instead, the one-man development team of Keith Scolaro made the curious choice to develop the game in 001 Game Creator, which results in a few quirks. The first is that the game is more or less tile-based, with slopes and angled walls adhering fairly aggressively to the constraints of a 3x3x3 cube’s vertices. Gameplay elements like gates, doors and the like also all occupy this same 3x3 space, making their behavior fairly predictable. The results are somewhat quasi-Minecraft in overall look and feel, even if you can’t actually grab a shovel and start digging. The second is that the game doesn’t seem to have any differentiation in lighting whatsoever; while light sources like candles cast glowing dynamic light, there’s no lighting otherwise, no moonlight streaming in through windows or anything of the sort. The game remains at a flat light level that goes unchanged throughout the game, resulting in levels that often are just a muddy grey as you wander through dim tunnels that do little to differentiate themselves. While I understand why Scolaro didn’t go with EDuke32 for this — aside from the fact that I’m not entirely sure of what EDuke32’s license allows vis-a-vis commercial games, Mapster32 (for all its enhancements over the original DOS editor) is just kind of a nightmare to work with — but GZDoom has shown repeatedly that it is a fantastic, commercial-quality game engine (see for example Selaco, which just hit Steam’s Early Access and just blows away a lot of expectations of what a Doom-derived engine can do.)

In spite of this, Arthurian Legends does have a strong identity of its own. While its main character doesn’t speak, he certainly is quite expressionate in the Doom-style mugshot in the full-size status bar at the bottom of the screen. More prominent however is the way that most of the art assets — humans, objects, monsters — are digitized from photographic sources, which steps away from the now-timeless pixel graphic aesthetic we expect from games like this to a look that immediately dates itself as being a deliberate 1990s throwback. Area 51, Mortal Kombat, and any number of godawful dungeon crawlers from throughout the decade — it was just the done thing back then, an attempt at realism when graphics tech wasn’t there yet (and arguably still isn’t) and we hadn’t realized that pixel art has a beauty all its own. Arthurian Legends thusly looks like the fever dream vision of Daggerfall by someone who doesn’t play games having the game described to them, but plays more like Rise of the Triad (another shooter with digitized actors!) I guess if I had to make a direct comparison to anything it would be to Witchaven, an early Build engine game (pre-Duke) with a similar aesthetic and a similar sense of being a bit half-baked.

There’s a lot to like about the game. It’s a very charming thing, and surprisingly well put together for what was more or less a one-man show. You get an impressive array of weapons, equipment and one-time use spell runes to stab, behead, blow up, etc. any Saxon son of a bitch who comes your way, from your hunter’s axe which never loses durability to old Roman swords to two-handed bastard swords that you can’t use a shield with to crossbows and so on and so forth. There’s plenty of secrets to be found, some of which are interesting in their own right beyond just being sealed-up little closets with stuff in them. You’ll face a variety of enemies from Saxon warriors, to wizards and assassins, to demonic animals to flying demons to spiders to skeletons. But it’s missing something. The levels are largely flat and uninteresting to look at, with little dynamism (a big part of what made Build so attractive as an engine, as a designer could explosively rearrange the whole level if she so desired.) The music is probably the most annoying part — it’s all stock music, most of it being very short loops of bombastic orchestral/“epic” music (aka the most generic nothing kind of music there is), which is a real shame in a subgenre that’s as famous for its music as its gameplay. Towards the end I just turned the music off entirely; the next time I play I’m putting on some dungeon synth.

I enjoyed my time with Arthurian Legends, especially as it’s had some time to patch out the worst issues. The quicksave system is still awfully slow, but it’s functional at last. There’s a simple joy in being able to just lop off the heads of just about anything you meet — Saxons, spiders, two-headed demon wolves, whatever. But I really hope that Keith Scolaro is able to infuse a little more life into the sequel he’s hinting at, because Arthurian Legends, as fun as it is, just lacks some of the dynamism that a game so thoroughly enamored of the Build Engine classics would be expected to have.

C1L1: Home

You start off in classic Shadow Warrior fashion, with a Saxon breaking into your home to attack you directly. Gear up and get going. It's generally a pretty linear trek with some minor Saxon resistance and the occasional spider attack, though you might have some fun monkeying around on the old ruins.

C1L2: Forsaken Fort

The level design is sometimes linear to a fault and that's nowhere more true than here, where what is ostensibly a fortified position is largely a stringy series of corridors. Still, it's not without atmosphere, and finding your way into the secrets is entertaining. You'll likely also run into your first possessed knight here if you're playing on normal, and dude doesn't mess around.

C1L3: Dark Woods

Now this is more like it. Your path opens up a little and even loops back on itself somewhat; there are some really cool ruins to poke around in as well. Getting the map's Ancient Key -- which by now you should have figured out opens up an especially useful secret area -- requires figuring out a switch combo puzzle a la Duke Nukem 3D. Cool atmosphere, cool visuals.

C1LS: Green Knight's Castle

A spooky, green-themed castle that seems to be in mild disrepair. It's another relatively stringy level, though you can unlock a door that bridges an upper storeroom to a hallway near the kitchen, with a large, poison-flooded trophy room in the middle. Swinging axe traps make traversing the halls difficult early on, but the real threat is the Green Knight himself, a tough bastard (and a possessed knight recolor) who keeps up the pressure.

C1L4: Dark Swamp

A sprawling swamp dotted with old Celtic ruins. Your primary irritation will be the flying green imps who regularly harass you from the air and have a marked tendency to warp in whenever you throw a switch needed to progress. Secondary to that is likely going to be the platforming as you work your way around the crumbling walls and archways that rise above these poisonous waters.

C1L5: Witch's Den

A simple boss arena with a simple boss. Your arena is a relatively small platform amidst a toxic cavern, but as long as you're attentive of your surroundings you shouldn't have too much trouble staying dry and untoxified. The witch Viliana the Wretched mostly lobs poison at you, but when you shave off about a third of her health she disappears and summons spiders; two-thirds and it's more imps. Other than that she's a significantly easier fight than the aggressive Green Knight.

C2L1: Village

You come across a snowy village despite it being the middle of summer. The Saxons have shown up and murdered the townspeople and drank all the ale, so now it's up to you to hack them all to death. The village isn't ordered in any way that makes sense, other than it seems to loop around a couple of hills with a long tunnel in between. Archers are few so you may have some trouble keeping your crossbow fed. You'll also start running into guys who blow horns which are quite disorienting. Decent enough level.

C2L2: Frozen Pass

Exactly what it sounds like, this is a pretty naturalistic level as you travel through some snowy wilderness. It's surprisingly short on enemies, with a lot of wolves roaming around. You'll see stiffer resistance as you get into the caves, but other than a rogue big wolf that can tear you apart real good it's generally pretty easy. Nice atmosphere though.

C2LS: Beastlands

A relatively short level with, as the name suggests, no human enemies. The snowy environs give way for a bit as you traverse a small spot of wilderness home to a couple of blue imps as well as the various animal enemies. You'll also run into the Questing Beast, a nasty horse...dragon...thing? that serves as the secret boss. His ground pound does brutal damage, but if you can get up on high ground he's helpless to follow you, making dispatching him relatively easier.

C2L3: Frozen Cavern

Though it doesn't seem like that much of a drop, you don't want to jump down to the lower level, as it will definitely kill you. Most of your time in this level is spent traversing the upper tiers of this massive icey cavern. It's fairly dim in here and the photorealistic texturing has a tendency to create a lot of visual noise, rendering dropoffs hard to see as you're fighting off Saxons who charge you from their camps.

C2L4: Frozen Gates

There's a couple of different phases to this. The first phase has you down on the ground, dodging arrows and trying to find keys. You can actually grab at least two of the keys before you have to unlock anything. The second phase is on the upper level, along the walls and battlements of the castle. There's also a third phase where you must fight your way through a series of locked rooms and corridors before dealing with an archer ambush in the courtyard, and if you want to go back you have to find the switch that re-opens the path. Pretty fun level.

C2L5: Dark Halls

Welcome to Saxonstein 3D. This level is a lot like "Green Knight's Castle" in that it's mostly a stringy set of corridors, though there are rooms here and there off of the passageways as well as various chambers. Lots of assassins and wizards here and probably your first skeletons if you're playing on normal. Some tough fights as the encounters feature tougher bad guys. I like that the dungeon seals itself off if one of the cell doors is open.

C2L6: Great Wall

A deliberately linear trek along a long stone wall. Most of your enemies are going to be Saxons but there's a few imps and such thrown in as well. Not much else to say about it other than the wall is broken at points here and there making traversal a bit tricky.

C2L7: Mountain Top

The episode finale first has a short hallway where you get a ton of goodies dumped on you, before you take a lift up into the arena. The blue warlock throws a lot of ice-themed elemental spells at you, at a couple points disappearing to send in some mooks to fight you in his stead. His thunderstorm attack will shave off a sizeable portion of your health as he has a habit of spawning it right over your head, but so long as you keep the pressure on you should be able to put him down.

C3L1: Cemetary

A creepy l'il necropolis full of spooky skeletons. There's a few Saxons hiding in the undertaker's cabin but for the most part you'll be dealing with the undead. It's a bit of a maze, but it's relatively easy to navigate as there's a few distinct setpieces. Honestly it looks better than it plays.

C3L2: Mausoleum

Down among dead men... it's an almost all-skeleton show and they don't fuck around. Pretty scary business, this. The level is split between three separate wings, each with their own little mini-theme or purpose. The finale is one of the biggest fights in the game yet, a huge skeleton war with at least one wizard and some skeleton archers raining fire down from above. Pretty fun level.

C3L3: Canyon Pass

You'll be dealing with mostly Saxons in this naturalistic level, a series of blood-filled canyons dotted with ruins and fortifications here and there. Much like "Frozen Cavern" if you jump down you're dead, so don't jump down. Design-wise it's not as linear as you'd expect, with multiple paths you have to explore including a series of bridges and towers over a sea of blood. It definitely feels a bit Hell On Albion here with the bloodfalls and the various demonic enemies that come after you.

C3L4: Castle Ruins

Exactly what it sounds like, the ruins of a castle. It's split into three parts -- the first being a sort of mausoleum with chapel, populated largely by skeletons, then a sort of courtyard with a dungeon area and a secret cave with a rabbit most unordinary, and finally the leadup to the exit, a large open area. It's a pretty fun level, certainly spooky despite the presence of Saxons to behead.

C3LS: Cave

A relatively small level, this one is basically a long cave tunnel that loops in on itself, cutting through a couple of large chambers. Stairs, wooden supports and a couple of stone ruins are the only real decoration. More importantly, though, this is the home of a lot of spiders, including a very large one that ambushes you if you drop down into a pit to get the ancient key. Yikes!

C3L5: Crypts

It looks like "Mausoleum," it has a lot of skelly-bois like "Mausoleum," but it doesn't play as good as "Mausoleum," being mostly a long, stringy maze of corridors. There's some playing around with lava, for instance having to drain a roomful of it to reach a key (that subsequently unlocks a bridge over the previously-lava-filled room.) Other than a few side-jaunts and some backtracking it's pretty linear.

C3L6: Castle Gates

With nearly 80 enemies on normal this is one of the more densely populated levels in the game. There's two phases to this level; the first is the outdoor phase where you have to look for the lever to open the gate across a river of blood. The second phase has you storming a castle courtyard, complete with lengthy jaunts to find keys to unlock the front door. It can be a little daunting to get the last key, as you'll have to find a way across lava -- and mind you lower the rope ladder or you'll have a tough time getting back.

C3L7: Castle Interior

The penultimate level is appropriately massive, split into two large wings that you must explore before heading through the main door in the front. What's particularly interesting to me is the density of secrets -- most levels don't have more than ten, but this one has a whopping twelve, most of them relatively easy to find. Despite its size it has fewer enemies than "Castle Gates," but you'll face a few large ambushes. Most of your enemies at this point are skeletons; by this point, Saxons are all but absent. You'll deal with mages and assassins as well as possessed knights, however. A strong finishing level before the boss.

C3L8: Throne Room

Like the other two boss levels, this one gives you a bunch of stuff to load up with before you head up the stairs (Castlevania style) to face off against the dark wizard or whatever who's been stirring up all the trouble. He's a tough fight, teleporting between one of three places, two of which are up on pillars and thus difficult to melee. He's got pretty high health and immunity to just about everything so your spells aren't as effective as they could be. You'll have better luck throwing holy hand grenades at him, but in general your job is to wear him down before he does the same to you. A rather enjoyable boss in a genre that doesn't usually have great final bosses.

 

-June <3

But the shadow of Uther restrains
All the efforts to reunite the realm