Heart of Darkness | Cinematic Platformer Paradise

[00:00:03] In an ancient age known as the late 1900s, a video game subgenre took root that dared to be bolder, dreamed to be bigger, and reached for the stars.

[00:00:15] Did they wow us with expensive productions and advanced graphical techniques? They absolutely did.

[00:00:23] Were they any good?

[00:00:25] Uh, you know what? Don't worry about it. Let's just relax and revisit Cinematic Platformers of eons past. This is Cinematic Platformer Paradise.

[00:00:51] Hello, New Year's people. Hello, cinematic people, once again. It's your boy Dre, and I am here with The Steve. You are once again The Steve for 2025.

[00:01:06] Come on! You don't have a better sound effect than that? Come on.

[00:01:11] Uh...

[00:01:13] No.

[00:01:14] Goddamn, dude. What kind of New Year's is this? We're in the middle of this wonderful decade we've been having.

[00:01:21] You know what? You're right. It could only get better than here. What's the game we're playing again?

[00:01:27] That was fast. All right. We... Well, actually, I guess I should tell the people first. This is our final episode of Cinematic Platformer Paradise. Next week, we will have a big deal, finally. We're all three of us are going to be back. We're recharged. We're refreshed.

[00:01:43] We're gonna thaw out, Kevin.

[00:01:46] Yeah, we're gonna thaw out, Kevin. We're gonna be back doing the normal show. So thank you if you've been following along with this whole series. But now, we will do our last game on Cinematic Platformer Paradise. It is called Heart of Darkness.

[00:02:05] Originally published as a three-part serial in Blackwoods Magazine in 1899. Oh, wait. The video game, of course. Heart of Darkness was developed by Amazing Software and published by Interplay in 1998 for PlayStation and PC.

[00:02:23] What a title.

[00:02:25] Yeah, it's great. Heart of Darkness. It does... You know, it almost... Considering how lighthearted this game is, it doesn't sound like it should be called that.

[00:02:34] No. It almost harkens back to, like, 80s fantasy, like Secret of NIMH or something like that. But it's, like, really not that dramatic, right? It's just...

[00:02:44] No, it's really not.

[00:02:46] So, Heart of Darkness was made by Eric Chahi. Yes, Eric Chahi is back. The same one from Another World. This is coming full circle now.

[00:02:57] Eric Chahi founded the developer Amazing Studios after leaving Delphine Software.

[00:03:03] And this would be the only game that they made, apparently. Which sucks because, spoiler alert, Heart of Darkness is kind of great.

[00:03:13] Yeah, I was doing the research into this. Like, okay, what else did they make? And it's like, this is it, guys.

[00:03:19] Imagine being in the research, like, okay, the Another World guy is making a studio. How much do you want to fling at these guys?

[00:03:27] And then they're like, okay, we're fucking off now.

[00:03:30] I'm going to go do real art now for the next decade until you guys pay me to make Paper Moon.

[00:03:38] Yeah, I think Eric Chahi after this was kind of done.

[00:03:42] But it's like, no, I'm glad he got to make another cinematic platformer.

[00:03:47] Essentially following up on Another World finally, even though it's not Another World.

[00:03:52] So, how was this received? Did you do any research into it?

[00:03:55] Yeah, I did. It was generally mixed reception.

[00:03:58] More positive on PlayStation.

[00:04:00] But, you know, it's all the points we're used to on this stage of the program.

[00:04:03] The game is pretty. The puzzles are frustrating.

[00:04:07] I don't fucking get it. You just need to get it a chance.

[00:04:10] I don't need to give it a chance. You need to give it a chance.

[00:04:13] Stop fucking my wife.

[00:04:15] You know, we can just slide all these points in and out at this stage of this program.

[00:04:19] And you know what? It doesn't matter.

[00:04:20] You know why? It sold a million units across both versions.

[00:04:24] Wow.

[00:04:25] That is... I did not expect that number. A million units?

[00:04:29] Yeah. So, again, I guess the whole ordeal still made him go, you know what? I'm done with video games for the time being.

[00:04:37] Well, Interplay probably fucked him is what happened.

[00:04:40] Yeah, that too.

[00:04:41] Like, and I'm surprised he went back to them after he had such a bad experience with Heart of the Alien, right?

[00:04:47] I figured he'd be like, well, fuck off.

[00:04:50] Well, if it was a situation like today, he probably would have just chopped it off to, you know, all the digital storefronts.

[00:04:56] And it would have been like, hey, I'm running amazing studios and we have this game called Heart of Darkness.

[00:05:01] And we would have all been like, oh boy, can't wait, Mr. Chahi.

[00:05:05] But no, back then you had to find a publisher to, you know, print some discs.

[00:05:11] Yeah, I'm glad that it sold so well, you know, despite its reception.

[00:05:16] I'm glad that the cinematic platformer, even in 1998, could be something that was commercially viable.

[00:05:23] But did you ever play this before?

[00:05:25] Because I actually did.

[00:05:27] I have played Heart of Darkness before.

[00:05:29] And again, back in the magazine era, when I still read them in the late 90s, I always heard of it as one of those games, those cinematic platformer games.

[00:05:36] But I didn't play it until I think like 2004, I found a cheap used copy at Game Crazy.

[00:05:43] Remember Game Crazy?

[00:05:44] And I thought it was impressive as hell, even in 2004, where a generation passed it at that point.

[00:05:50] But shit, I hadn't played it since then.

[00:05:54] So, you know, 20 years goes by and I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember that game being pretty good.

[00:05:59] And then I played it again for the purposes of this podcast and it was like riding a bike.

[00:06:03] It was still great.

[00:06:04] So, Steve, have you ever heard of Heart of Darkness before this project?

[00:06:08] I definitely heard of it, but I never played it.

[00:06:11] I just I do remember that key art of, you know, the boy and the dogs with the hat on for whatever reason standing back to back.

[00:06:18] I mean, I know the reason now, but back at the time, like, why is the dog wearing a hat like forever?

[00:06:25] Yeah, well, 1998, baby.

[00:06:28] This is so maximum 90s.

[00:06:29] Oh, my God.

[00:06:30] We did play the PlayStation version.

[00:06:32] As we said, there is a PC version, but neither of us wanted to chant some really old PC game on GOG or whatever.

[00:06:39] I mean, like, I'm sure it exists, but it's like, you know how that shit can run, guys.

[00:06:44] So we just did PS1 under emulation.

[00:06:47] Okay, I'm ready for you to tell me the story of Heart of Darkness.

[00:06:58] Andy, your typical elementary school kid is awakened from a routine nap in class by his teacher just before the day's end, who reminds them to watch the solar eclipse for homework.

[00:07:09] Yeah, that's not going to work.

[00:07:10] Anyway, later at the park during said eclipse, Andy's dog Whiskey is kidnapped by dark forces that suddenly appear during said eclipse, prompting Andy to travel to another world.

[00:07:23] You get it?

[00:07:24] You get it?

[00:07:26] Called the dark world in a spaceship that he has for reasons and rescue him.

[00:07:34] It's literally called the dark world.

[00:07:36] Yes.

[00:07:41] That's stupid.

[00:07:44] But what can I say?

[00:07:46] I don't know why I'm all of a sudden not accepting of the dark world, considering all the stupid other premises we heard so far.

[00:07:53] Anyway, what did we think?

[00:07:54] Let's just get right into it.

[00:07:56] I think this game is great.

[00:07:57] Let's just say overall, I really, really enjoyed Heart of Darkness.

[00:08:01] I mean, this is pretty as fuck, Andre.

[00:08:05] Yeah.

[00:08:06] More than anything else, the animation is smooth.

[00:08:09] I'd love for someone to come in and remaster this with updated art the way, you know, a lot of other games have lately.

[00:08:14] You know, I feel like everyone's like scraping the IP barrels lately.

[00:08:18] Like, come on, let's have.

[00:08:20] Yeah, it sucks that this game is not like readily available.

[00:08:24] I made a joke about GOG earlier.

[00:08:26] I don't even know if it's on there.

[00:08:27] It probably is, but I don't know.

[00:08:29] But yeah, this should be widely available.

[00:08:32] So up to now, the whole point of the cinematic platform, at least to me, was to sell you on its world.

[00:08:41] Its sci-fi world, its Arabian world, and like really immerse you in that place.

[00:08:47] Right?

[00:08:47] Heart of Darkness does that too.

[00:08:50] But its immersion comes from putting you in this living, breathing, animated feature, which is like crazy.

[00:08:59] That is like a completely different approach that makes a lot more sense for 1998, if you ask me.

[00:09:05] And the power of the CD-ROM.

[00:09:07] Speaking of the CD-ROM, yes.

[00:09:10] Because it's a CD-ROM game, this is still a product of the times.

[00:09:13] And that's okay.

[00:09:15] It's got to look we're not going to find anywhere else.

[00:09:18] It's like the second or third screen of the game.

[00:09:22] There's like this shadow that's rearing up to attack, but it's really just, you know, there's like a sack of bones that you can shoot down.

[00:09:30] It's like, it's a very cheap trick, really.

[00:09:33] I also don't give a shit of how cheap a trick that is.

[00:09:36] I will volve for that shit and think it's cool every time you do that.

[00:09:39] It is cartoony as fuck.

[00:09:41] I love that.

[00:09:41] It's movie magic.

[00:09:43] Yeah.

[00:09:43] It's movie magic in the PlayStation, and they really sell that concept because like all the option screens are like behind – it's like a projector.

[00:09:52] You're like behind the scenes there.

[00:09:53] You're like in the projector booth, and like the loading screens have a projector dancing back and forth and stuff.

[00:09:59] They're really selling the movie part, the cinematic part of the platformer.

[00:10:04] When I played it originally, I didn't really think much of that literal approach to it, but it is.

[00:10:10] They're literally positing this as this is a real movie that you are in, which is wild, especially the way it opens.

[00:10:18] It opens – what is it?

[00:10:19] It's like it's literally like a DreamWorks-ass animated movie with the swelling music and everything, and like the title card is just right in your face, and the way the spaceship sweeps across and everything.

[00:10:32] This is some real deal cinematic shit.

[00:10:35] Although I got to say, I think it's fair to say the PC version was the priority.

[00:10:41] All the human characters just scream now on CD-ROM to me because –

[00:10:47] Yep.

[00:10:48] I'm going to have some nice things to say about all the monsters you fight, but all the humans were definitely – you could have told me this was Eric Chahi teaches typing or teaches you how to read or whatever, and I wouldn't have battened an eye.

[00:11:01] Imagine a Mavis Beacon game on PS1 where they went full production with this.

[00:11:07] They had CGI scary Mavis Beacon.

[00:11:10] Oh, God.

[00:11:12] Anyway.

[00:11:14] Yeah, it's just – but I like that aspect, though.

[00:11:17] I think that's cool.

[00:11:19] Like, I like that they went – for the look that they did, the art style is just pretty stupendous, and it's – like I said, it's like really cartoony.

[00:11:27] It's like taking a bit from like the early CG movies, animated movies at the time, like Ants or whatever, or Toy Story, obviously.

[00:11:37] Ants.

[00:11:37] Oh, okay.

[00:11:38] You know, that's a thing.

[00:11:39] Remember how we used to compare everything to Toy Story?

[00:11:42] Oh, this game has Toy Story graphics or something.

[00:11:45] This game could have done that.

[00:11:46] This game legitimately could have actually like said that, and it didn't.

[00:11:51] Yeah.

[00:11:52] I wonder if they would have sold more if they did.

[00:11:55] I feel like some odd concessions were made along the way, or maybe they were just learning because you keep mentioning how, yeah, we're leaning into the movie thing.

[00:12:04] But honestly, this feels more in line with what we're expecting from a video game than Another World did, if that makes any sense.

[00:12:12] Like, it feels more video gaming, doesn't it?

[00:12:14] Like –

[00:12:14] Yeah.

[00:12:15] It just feels more video game-y to me than Another World did.

[00:12:18] You know, like before in that episode, when you – I hope everyone listened to that one – I was complaining about how regimented everything felt in that game, where everything had to be done a certain way, or we're going to restart that screen again.

[00:12:32] And here we still have the fairly generous checkpoints.

[00:12:35] But we have a bit more flexibility in what you can do, and your big-ass ray gun and different things just feel a bit more correct, I guess, in a way.

[00:12:44] Like, it feels more video game-y here.

[00:12:47] I'm not saying that's better or worse.

[00:12:48] I'm just saying maybe we learned or maybe we're adjusting.

[00:12:52] I don't know.

[00:12:53] You know, I agree, but it's very hard for me to put a finger on why that is because this feels exactly like Another World to me.

[00:13:01] It feels like, okay, we're going forward.

[00:13:04] We're doing this.

[00:13:05] It's even more Dragon Lair than before.

[00:13:08] But somehow it feels more free, but it's actually not.

[00:13:15] I can't, like, wrap my head around that.

[00:13:19] If I had to put my finger on it, I'd say because there's – even though your dog's kidnapped, there's less of a sense of urgency in this game than there is in Another World.

[00:13:28] Like, you're always getting shot at in Another World.

[00:13:32] Like, here we have chapter breaks where we're checking in on the pink Jim Henson reject and –

[00:13:41] Oh, Lord.

[00:13:42] Sucking up to the Dark Lord and, you know, it's like, okay, clearly whiskey is in some trouble, but, you know, we're not – lose all of the marbles if we don't do this shit correctly in an allotment of time.

[00:13:54] That is true.

[00:13:55] It's more relaxed somehow, even though, damn, I killed this kid, Andy, so many times.

[00:14:02] Oh, my God.

[00:14:02] They should call the police on me with how many times I put his life in danger.

[00:14:06] Holy shit.

[00:14:07] Oh, the PS1 CPS has got to come for my ass, too, because – oh.

[00:14:14] Because death animations are so great, too.

[00:14:17] Oh, I love that one.

[00:14:20] I love that one where you fall into the water.

[00:14:24] You're getting away from the thing shooting fireballs at you, and if you go up too far, you get shot through the water with a fireball, and it's just – it leaves, like, his shoes.

[00:14:32] But that's like a total callback to the beginning of Another World where you fall into the pool, and if you don't immediately swim up, that thing will get you, which is freaky as fuck.

[00:14:41] But it's like the opposite here.

[00:14:43] That couldn't have not been – he did that on purpose.

[00:14:46] Oh, my God.

[00:14:47] You're right.

[00:14:48] This is like the Kickstarter sequel that we can't make before that existed, isn't it?

[00:14:55] Yeah, for sure.

[00:14:56] I can't make Another World 2, but gosh darn it, we're going to do our best.

[00:15:02] It's the bloodstained of the 90s.

[00:15:04] Yeah.

[00:15:04] That's what it is.

[00:15:05] This really is.

[00:15:08] So one thing I think is really cool in the PlayStation 1 era, and this is my favorite thing about Heart of Darkness.

[00:15:16] I love when games do the pre-rendered backgrounds thing, would animate them, but also shift perspective on you while you're controlling the character, making you feel like you're literally part of this live animated experience.

[00:15:33] Most people may know this technique, obviously, from Final Fantasy VII, when you're just running up something and then the movie, quote-unquote, starts, but you're still controlling the character, and it's doing this thing or whatever.

[00:15:45] You're jumping on the train or whatever happens in Final Fantasy VII, right?

[00:15:49] And that stuff is super cool.

[00:15:51] Heart of Darkness has that, but obviously in a cinematic platformer style.

[00:15:56] God, remember that part early on where you're climbing up the cliff and then you're almost to the top, but then the camera transitions away from you all of a sudden, and it slowly pans the rest of the way up, and it just looks out over the landscape or whatever?

[00:16:12] That shit is amazing.

[00:16:15] It's so fucking good.

[00:16:16] It's incredible, man.

[00:16:18] It's essentially like the promise of the CD-ROM on display.

[00:16:25] This is something I've talked about it during the series, but this is something I talk about on Fine Time in general, the optimism of the CD-ROM format at the beginning of the 90s, not just for video games, but for multimedia, quote-unquote, in general.

[00:16:39] Remember that word, multimedia?

[00:16:41] Do we still say that?

[00:16:43] I think we stopped saying that after Xbox One didn't set the world ablaze.

[00:16:49] Oh, did they kill the word multimedia forever?

[00:16:53] I think we shuffled that one in under the rug after that.

[00:16:58] But yeah, with the power of the CD-ROM, they were telling us we were going to see these grand landscapes and movie-quality music and cinematic sequences just like a real TV show, and it has voice acting.

[00:17:11] You can really hear them talk.

[00:17:13] And quite fucking frankly, I feel like Heart of Darkness actually delivers on that promise.

[00:17:19] This is the future that we dreamed of.

[00:17:23] Like, Eric Chahi was already out here years ago making Another World without the aid of the CD-ROM.

[00:17:29] And now that he has it, he was uniquely qualified to deliver on this concept, on this medium.

[00:17:38] It's just, that's what I really, when I think about Heart of Darkness, that's what I will always think of.

[00:17:44] And we all just mostly ignored him and made QTE sequences forever instead.

[00:17:51] It's funny that, like, when Shenmue basically invented the QTE, it was called the Dragon's Lair thing.

[00:17:58] And now it's called the QTE because so much time has passed.

[00:18:02] It's...

[00:18:03] Yeah.

[00:18:04] We're old, basically, is what I'm saying.

[00:18:07] I don't know, man.

[00:18:08] I'm glad, again, I'm glad the cinematic platformer genre lasted long enough to cross a generation to PS1 and for him to be able to do this.

[00:18:18] Like, it's just, I...

[00:18:20] Again, this isn't, like, the best game of the world.

[00:18:22] It's not, like, one of my favorite games of all time or anything.

[00:18:25] It may sound like it from the way I'm, like, talking about it, but it's just something I really, really appreciate about this game.

[00:18:32] So I didn't want to not say it.

[00:18:35] Anyway, would you say that Heart of Darkness is, like, the easiest game we've covered on here?

[00:18:42] Like, it is, right?

[00:18:45] Yeah, but, like, I was thinking maybe that was a product of trying to appease two investors.

[00:18:50] Like, well, I think Delphine closed by this point, and that's what set all that off.

[00:18:55] Maybe, but...

[00:18:56] Delphine stayed open until, like, 2004, I think.

[00:18:59] I don't know what they were doing, but...

[00:19:02] Maybe they didn't have a place for him, but either way, clearly he needed to...

[00:19:05] He must have known that he needed to make something to appeal to somebody in some matter.

[00:19:12] He knew he couldn't make something as stringent as another world again.

[00:19:18] Yeah, it just wasn't the time for that.

[00:19:20] I don't think people would have been into that, including myself.

[00:19:23] This is the generation, the PS1, N64 generation, Saturn generation, where games started to get easier.

[00:19:30] A lot easier.

[00:19:32] Even if you made something cinematic, platformer-flavored, you needed to have some give.

[00:19:36] And this definitely does more than anything we've played so far.

[00:19:40] Even Blackthorn, I would think.

[00:19:42] Yeah, because the checkpoints are, like, super generous in Heart of Darkness.

[00:19:47] And they should be.

[00:19:48] It's kind of like what I was saying before about, like, should we just let people enjoy the game?

[00:19:55] Should this just be...

[00:19:56] Should it be so hard?

[00:19:58] Do you want people to see all this work you put into this crazy thing?

[00:20:02] Just let people see it?

[00:20:03] I feel like Heart of Darkness actually does that.

[00:20:06] It's definitely the closest to it, because I can...

[00:20:10] Maybe I'm just surrounded by people who are bad at video games, but I could still see people coming into this and going,

[00:20:16] This is too hard!

[00:20:18] Oh, yeah.

[00:20:19] And giving up after getting swarmed by however many not-shadowblots at the beginning of the game.

[00:20:27] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:20:28] Like, this game has its sticky parts, no doubt.

[00:20:31] But again, it's always a puzzle.

[00:20:33] You know how long I got stuck on, like, the swamp part where those asshole guys, like, swoop down and try to grab you?

[00:20:39] I didn't realize you could just duck under the water, so they don't grab you.

[00:20:42] It took me a long time to figure that out.

[00:20:44] That took me a few minutes.

[00:20:46] Yeah, a lot of people will be frustrated by that.

[00:20:48] So it does have its sticky parts, but you can always...

[00:20:51] The solutions are never too far away.

[00:20:54] Whereas, like, the solutions feel very far away sometimes in another world.

[00:20:58] It really is.

[00:20:58] You got anything else about Heart of Darkness?

[00:21:00] I think I'm... Heart of Darkness doubt?

[00:21:03] Let the people play it, whoever is sitting on this.

[00:21:07] Eric Chahi, just rogue release it to whatever.

[00:21:11] Nobody will stop you.

[00:21:12] Interplay is dead, right?

[00:21:13] They can't hurt you anymore.

[00:21:15] Man, who is sitting on this?

[00:21:17] I don't know.

[00:21:18] Is it Interplay still?

[00:21:19] I don't know how this works anymore.

[00:21:20] Well, I think after Delphine died, he got the IP back to another world.

[00:21:26] I think he now owns it himself.

[00:21:28] Yeah, that's got to be how they keep reissuing...

[00:21:30] He keeps reissuing it, but...

[00:21:32] Yeah.

[00:21:33] But yeah, I don't think I really have any overarching...

[00:21:36] I think the only thing I would really want to talk about now is, like, do you think there's

[00:21:40] any games today that have parallels to this genre?

[00:21:44] I think it's fair to say that, like, those indie games, like Limbo or Inside, I feel like those

[00:21:51] are definitely, like...

[00:21:54] They may not be exactly this cinematic platformer genre, but they're absolutely inspired by it.

[00:22:00] Yeah, I'd say they're inspired by it.

[00:22:02] You know, if I wanted to be a real asshole, I'd bring up that our favorite developer, WayForward,

[00:22:09] is answering themselves a publisher, they published themselves this other assholes game that is

[00:22:17] a cinematic platformer, and I forgot the name of it, but he's like, yeah, I was inspired

[00:22:21] by another world.

[00:22:23] I'm like, yeah?

[00:22:24] I...

[00:22:25] You think so, buddy?

[00:22:27] Yeah, I'm not really trusting that.

[00:22:30] I don't know, guy.

[00:22:30] There's a reason we don't make them like this anymore.

[00:22:33] Yeah, this existed at this time, and that was it.

[00:22:36] Because, like, oh, I mean, like, here's the thing.

[00:22:38] Can you think of anything after Heart of Darkness?

[00:22:41] Because I can't.

[00:22:42] I...

[00:22:42] I...

[00:22:42] Honestly, I feel like any game where you have to carefully jump or pull yourself up on a

[00:22:48] ledge that's 2D, they owe themselves to the genre, obviously.

[00:22:52] I'm not saying that the genre was the very first thing to ever do it.

[00:22:57] I'm just saying that, like, it popularized that kind of, like, careful movement and jumping

[00:23:03] that you can still see that today, even if they're not exactly that genre.

[00:23:07] You know?

[00:23:08] Well, I guess we should do one more thing before we leave.

[00:23:10] We need to rank Heart of Darkness, and...

[00:23:15] I know you're not gonna let me.

[00:23:17] I wanna put it tops.

[00:23:18] I wanna put it above Blackthorn.

[00:23:21] Okay, you know what?

[00:23:22] We could put it above Blackthorn.

[00:23:24] My personal one is number one, but the fine time ranking could be number one.

[00:23:29] Okay, finally.

[00:23:30] This is Retribution for Flashback.

[00:23:33] Alright, our final ranking for Cinematic Platinum or Paradise of all the games we played from

[00:23:38] top to bottom.

[00:23:40] Heart of Darkness, Blackthorn, Prince of Persia, Another World, Flashback, Fade to Black, Shadow

[00:23:46] of the Beast, and Bringing Up the Rear, deservedly so, Heart of the Alien.

[00:23:51] So, that's it.

[00:23:52] I can't believe we played eight games in seven episodes.

[00:23:54] What the fuck is wrong with us?

[00:23:56] We love the people too much.

[00:23:58] Mm-hmm.

[00:24:00] And we weren't gonna leave them without something to listen to over this holiday break.

[00:24:04] Again, thank you so much for joining us for this little mini-series of ours.

[00:24:10] And again, as Steve joked about earlier, if you really have been playing the games along

[00:24:15] with us, thank you.

[00:24:17] And also, thank you for just sticking with us and letting us take off these holiday weeks

[00:24:21] and allowing us to recharge our batteries.

[00:24:23] Next week, we will be back to our usual show and we hope you join us for it.

[00:24:28] But until then, this is the end of Cinematic Platformer Paradise.

[00:24:33] See you next week.