Killing Time: Resurrected – PS5 Review 2

Say what you want about remasters, they do present opportunities for cult classics or completely forgotten games to find new life. With the big hitters of the FPS genre largely covered, Nightdive Studios has turned its attention to some of the lesser known 90’s shooters. One such example being Killing Time: Resurrected. Taking the PC release as a starting block and importing the 3DO version’s full motion video, this updated effort seems to bring together the best of both worlds.

The story itself revolves around Tess Conway’s quest for immortality. The socialite wants to be young, drunk and dancing forever so she asks a few of her associates to wrangle an Egyptian artefact for her. Clearly something has gone wrong as the island is full of freaks of time itself appears to have stopped. To restore normality, Tess asks us to recover her essence which is scattered throughout the island.

The art deco styling really helps settle on a 1920’s aesthetic and gives the palette plenty of colour. It extends to the soundtrack which alternates between moody outdoor pieces to full-blown ragtime. There’s some tonal whiplash but do enjoy shooting a room full of chefs to big band music. It’s got a good mood and a lot of charm. It’s full of energy.

Some of that energy extends to the acting. Scattered around the estate are these ghostly apparitions featuring the live-action cast. These are smartly put together, placing them well within the scene you’re looking at and involving some genuinely good acting. It can be quite hammy but the delivery is the solid and helps sell the multimedia pipe dream the 3DO was hoping for.

I’ll confess, I knew little to nothing about the original. Whilst I don’t have nostalgia for it, I can appreciate it’s merits within the landscape of 1995. In an era when level design was still trading in the abstract, the grounds of the Conway estate have a solid sense of place. There’s a momentary hitch when moving from one area to another but it does feel like one distinct location.

Whilst I don’t see it as an open world, it’s more free than I expected. Being able to visit the various rooms of the mansion or wander through the rest of the island is refreshing. Direction is hinted at but I largely felt left to my own devices to figure out the way forward. This can be a problem with Killing Time Resurrected relying on keys to gate progression. The game itself is a large hunt for these items. Diligent players will find them but, at times, I struggled to avoid getting lost.

There is an automap which can help players navigate and also a wider map of the island. Outside of that, there’s not a lot of signposting. Backtracking doesn’t waste too much time but some areas like the library can feel maze-like. At least these feel distinct so you can recognise entering a place like the ballroom or the guest rooms and get your bearings.

As a first-person shooter, it mechanically doesn’t stray far from the blueprint. Enemy designs are interesting with killer clowns, housemaids, prohibitionists and mobsters. Some of them roam specific areas with bugs and two-headed dogs inhabiting the gardens and cliffs These are all lifted from the 3DO version, giving them a more animated appearance than their PC counterparts.

Weaponry includes the usual suspects. Pistols, Tommy guns and a pretty reliable shotgun were my usual approaches with the latter feeling like a real workhorse. You’re also given incendiary options like Molotov cocktails and flamethrowers but these can present hazards to your health. They are complimented by power ups which can can be picked up but there’s also winged vessels which allow you trigger certain bonuses like uncovering enemies on the map.

Combat is, at least on medium difficulty, pretty tame. Ammo and health is abundant and death avoided me until the final boss. Projectiles can be fired at you fast but I didn’t feel like the damage taken was a problem. Killing Time: Resurrected has tried to rebalance some of the combat from the original release. Previously, enemies were considered a bit spongy and that could strain your resources. By default, these changes are activated. There are plenty of instances where I felt swamped so, even if I wasn’t risking death, I still had to be cautious. Enemies will occasionally drop orbs that will add or subtract 20 health points but it feels too random to rely upon. You can eliminate the negative orbs, if you wish.

Enemies remain dead which makes traversing the locations a lot easier on a second visit. With the hunting of keys being paramount, there’s a need to return to old areas and unlock doors. There’s a couple of shortcuts to uncover but I felt like there was a lot of legwork either way. The heads up display at least keeps track of the keys you own and the map is good for showing up doors you’ve yet to open.

The remastering has definitely been effective. There’s a lot of clarity to the environments and the cutscenes show so much better than they did originally. The same goes for the enemy sprites which are upscaled to a modern resolution. The action maintains a steady 60 frames-per-second and, whilst you can opt for the older visuals, this feels so much smoother, sharper and my preferred way to play.

There’s also a vault that includes the usual suspects like concept art and early design documents. The unused sprites and video footage is where I think the more interesting assets lie and there’s a fair amount of that to dig into. It’s not what I’d consider extensive but it’s a nice peek behind the curtain on those film shoots.

Killing Time: Resurrected is a pretty impressive remastering of a cult classic. It was never on my radar originally but the environmental design and relatively open structure makes it occasionally feel ahead of its time. I do feel the combat relies on numbers rather than singular threats. Whilst I did have moments of being overwhelmed, I rarely felt close to death. The sheer amount of ammo and health makes for a game that is relatively breezy. The hunting for keys can become annoying, despite the use of decent map and fairly distinct levels. That being said, I can’t help but like it.