1997 -
Shadow Warrior
Shadow Warrior is another first-person shooter game developed by 3D Realms and released in 1997. The game follows the story of Lo Wang, a ninja warrior and previous bodyguard for Zilla Enterprises. When Master Zilla decides to conquer all of Japan using demons from the "dark side", Wang quits his job and is now considered a threat. Thereafter, it is Lo Wang's job to fight through waves of demons to put a stop to Master Zilla. Shadow Warrior was also built with an improved version of Ken Silverman's BUILD Engine, which allowed for 3D voxels for weapons and inventory items, transparent water, and true room-over-room levels. This game was ahead of its time due to having vehicles like tanks that Lo Wang could drive, turrets, and even climbable ladders. Some of Lo Wang's arsenal consists of a katana, shurikens, sticky bombs, an Uzi, a riot gun, a rocket launcher, a grenade launcher, a demon head and a rail gun. 3D Realms wanted the game to be more advanced than Duke Nukem 3D.
Blood
Blood is a first-person shooter game developed by Monolith Productions and released in May, 1997. The story of the game revolves around an undead 20th-century gunslinger, Caleb, who seeks revenge against the dark god Tchernobog for taking the love of his life, Ophelia. The game starts off with Caleb being resurrected from a grave and shouting "I live... again!" Blood offers a wide variety of interesting weapons to choose from, including a pitchfork, a tommy gun, flare guns, double-barrel shotguns, a voodoo doll, a tesla/plasma gun, time bombs, and even an aerosol can for use as a flamethrower! Blood is yet another game that was made with the enhanced version of Ken Silverman's BUILD Engine and utilized the engine's new voxel features and lighting/shadow capabilities. Development for Blood began at Q Studios, which was an independent game company funded by 3D Realms at the time. Q Studios offered weekly updates on the progress of the game, starting in June of 1996. However, in November of 1996, Q Studios was acquired by Monolith Productions and all rights were sold to them, which allowed 3D Realms to focus on making Shadow Warrior. Blood was known for its gore and its creepy and violent atmosphere, as zombies could literally have their heads shot off and kicked around. Enemies like cult members can also be blown to pieces or be lit on fire and start screaming things like "It burns! It burns!" This was one of the first games to utilize graphical horror and surprisingly haunting and creative environments. Personally, this game is one of my favorite horror games! The story to this game is very deep and fascinating, and the gameplay violence makes the game very fun! I'd definitely recommend it.
Shadow Warrior gameplay screenshot
Blood gameplay screenshot