Gloom is a 1995 First-Person Shooter made by Black Magic Software from New Zealand for the Amiga system, and one of the many, many blatant Doom clones at the time. And like so many clones back then, Gloom doesn't really have much of a plot.
Being one of those games whose Excuse Plot is relegated wholy to the manual, we may as well have a short recap here: You are Agent Black and you've been dispatched by your superiors to intercept a spaceship with Faster-Than-Light Travel (well, okay, "Time Jumping") capabilities overtaken by Cultists and find out where the hell did they all came from. You grab your trusty plasma cannon and blast your way in first person through marines, robots, aliens, ghosts, demons and other creatures.
As the Amiga wasn't exactly known for 3D capabilities, the developers have made a number of concessions to the Doom-like formula to make the game run semi reasonably on the hardware (upgrades for said hardware were nonetheless still very recommended). The floor and ceiling are of fixed height like in Wolfenstein 3-D, the levels tend to be on a smaller side and not as maze-like (the developers themselves were not that fond of maze-like level design so they made Gloom a bit less labrynthine) and the default resolution is rather low, resulting in a rather pixelated in-game screen. Nonetheless, the game's engine still features angled walls, moving and even rotating structures (mostly used for various traps), an in-game graphics settings menu to further customize the fidelity, translucent window-like textures and even features playable arcade machines. Oh, and the mooks explode into various body parts upon their deaths not quite unlike Rise of the Triad, complete wtih settings that dictate whenever the gibs shall dissapear after a while (more recommended for weaker hardware) or remain for the duration of the level.
The game has received moderate nough of a success to get an Updated Re Release in the form of Gloom Deluxe. It includes the same levels as the original version, but it comes with tweaks to the aesthethics as well as the engine having more customization options, including support for higher resolutions.
A different developer - Alpha Software - would later follow up the game with Gloom 3 (also known as Gloom 3: Zombie Edition)... with the numbering being the way it is due to Alpha's presumption that Gloom Deluxe was the second game. note Weird title aside, the sequel plays out pretty much like the first game, but set in a planet filled with zombies.
No relation to the 2017 game.
Gloom and Gloom 3 contain examples of:
- Absurdly Short Level: The very first level of the original game is almost a straight corridor with amubsh points and a single secret area.The level's loading screen:: Simple stuff! Watch out for ambushes though...
- Body of Bodies: Gloom 3 ends with you facing the last zombie and the strongest of them all - a mega-zombie Frankenstein's Monster stitched together from multiple bodies.
- Boss-Only Level: The final level of both versions of the original game is a Boss Corridor with lots of plasma and health pickups ending with a teleporter that leads to a circular arena with a two-headed dragon inside.
- Bottomless Magazines: Your weapon in both games can fire an endless amount of bullets. Collecting power-ups will upgrade it to unleash More Dakka.
- Continuing is Painful: Losing a life causes your weapon level to be reset.
- Covers Always Lie: Gloom 3 was released in a box called Ultimate Gloom which implies it was supposed to be a Compilation Re-release that also includes both versions of the original game (basically re-using the art from the original game's box, as well as using original Gloom's screenshots on the back adds credence to this, at least it does have new blurbs and bullet points describing Gloom 3 and its zombies). The CD however only contains Gloom 3.
- Cyborg: You're implied to be one in the first game, if the first stages are any indication. As you walk down a corridor you see screens displaying what appears to be your character, with cybernetic implants abound.
- Everything's Deader with Zombies: Gloom 3, which isn't any different from the original except for the zombies.
- Everything Fades: The "Meaty" violence setting applies this to the gibs, while "Messy" averts this. More powerful hardware and/or emulation setup is recommended when it comes for the latter option unless you'd fancy the framerate dropping as more opponents die.
- Excuse Plot: Like, seriously, if you don't have a glance at the manual you'd have no idea why are you shooting things and where do all these alien monsters come from. The Excuse Plot for Gloom 3 facing you against zombies is just around filmsy, even with the Opening Scroll before the game proper boots up.
- Fire and Brimstone Hell: Following the Gothic Tomb levels, the final set of levels in the original game is set in Hell.
- First-Person Ghost: The original version of Gloom didn't even come with a weapon sprite, which is something Deluxe has rectified.
- Flying Face: Gloom 3, besides giving you zombies, also have occasional flying faces to menace you. Unlike zombies however killing it only makes the face vanish (in both Meaty and Messy modes).
- Game Within a Game: Both of the first game's versions have playable Underkill arcade machines that you can approach and lpay in-game Defender-esque Horizontal Scrolling Shooter in them, and scoring high in them is how you gain extra lives. These can be encountered in fourth levels of each of the first game's episode. (As in, a space ship, gothic tomb and even hell somehow have arcade machines).
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Amusingly, baby bottles serve as health powerups.
- Lizard Folk: Reptilian alien-men are another enemy type in the first game, encountered from the Gothic Tomb levels, colloquially referred to as "Raptors".
- Lock and Key Puzzle: Downplayed. At most the game would throw you switches to find but there isn't much key hunting.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Rather than standard death animations the game goes for this instead, with settings that change whenever should the gibs be subject to Everything Fades or not.
- Mecha-Mooks: In the first game, the stages will throw robot enemies around halfway through. They're far more durable than the flesh-and-blood mooks.
- Nothing but Skulls: Downplayed, the hell levels in original game have floors and ceilings consisting of tiles with skulls in them.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: The Gothic Tomb levels of the original game has you face screaming ghosts (described in the manual as "undead servants of Gloom") who can shoot energy balls at you as well as phase through walls, yet they can be killed by your plasma cannon. They are depicted as floating hooded skeletons.
- Gloom 3 retains the enemy type while changing the look to generic-looking transparent specters and repeatedly moan "Help Me...".
- Our Hydras Are Different: Apparently one such is an overlord of Hell, given it happens to be the Final Boss of the original game and its Deluxe version.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Zombies in the sequel comes in the standard, shambling corpse variety and zombies capable of shooting energy blasts at you.note Huh?
- Pinball Projectile: The third Plasma shot type - collected from the Gothic Tomb levels - can bounce off walls
- Plasma Cannon: Your sole weapon of the game, with an upgrade capability to make up for it. There are a few shot types it can load up with, picking up more of the shot pickups (the bouncing energy balls) increases the weapon's level for increased firing rate, and collecting more of those at max level brings a temporary "Mega Weapon" overcharge that doubles the shots fired.
- Gloom 3 hands you a comically poorly drawn pistolnote that works around the same way.
- Real Is Brown: The developers went out their way to downplay this for the original version of the original game by making character and projectile sprites more colorful than the level texures, which would help them stand out against the backgrounds, especially with the low resolution. Gloom Deluxe has a more muted palette but that poses less an issue for readability thanks to that version supporting higher resolutions.Kurt Butler, one of the artists: The other clones' graphic sprites don't really stand out from the background graphics. I think this is due to the fact that they used colours too dull and similar to the background shades. Playability-wise Our graphics have allowed a quicker reaction time, because you can see the enemy sprites at a longer distance — mainly because our sprites lluminate well from the background.
- Space Marine: You in both games, basically.
- Updated Re-release: The original game received one in the form of Gloom Deluxe. The levels are essentially the same as with the original game, but it does come with a number of engine tweaks like extra graphical resolutions, as well as being able to be run on the original chipset Amiga models like the 500 provided they're RAM-expanded (the original release required an AGA-based Amiga model like an A1200).
- Alpha Software's Gloom 3 was about to have a "director's cut" of its own before getting retooled into Zombie Massacre.
- The Walls Have Eyes: The mansion in Gloom 3 have eyes in its walls. Which can blink. And watching your every move...
- Walking Shirtless Scene: The Space Cruiser levels in original game feature Aggro Skinheadsnote that are bald and clad in just pants and serve as that set's melee mooks. Their replacement from the Gothic Tomb levels - the Lizard Folk - are also this.
- A Winner Is You: Both games.
- The first game ends with a single frame of what appears to be you and a squadmate doing a fistpump into the sky. Accompanied by these words:
Congratulations! You have completed Gloom!- Gloom 3 ends with a still frame of Bub and a lengthy essay revealing that the entire game was set on a zombie planet. And you then made it to your spaceship before flying away.
Your dreams are filled with relief but you dread that they may have another mission waiting for you... - X-Ray Vision: The Thermo Glasses powerup allows you to see enemies (at least those that were spawned in at all) and projectiles through walls. Rather useful given how often does the game loves to throw you into ambushes.
