Rise of the Triad: Dark War

Rise of the Triad: Dark War
N/A
Metacritic
84
Steam
56.25
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$6.29
Release date
5 May 2014
Developers
Steam reviews score
Total
84 (94 votes)

You are part of an elite group of operatives called HUNT (High-risk United Nations Taskforce), and you must stop a maniac cult leader from killing millions of people. While scouting a remote island, you are suddenly surrounded by enemy troops with guns blaring.

Show detailed description

Rise of the Triad: Dark War system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
  • Processor: Intel Core Duo 2
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
Updated
App type
Steam APP ID
358410
Platforms
Windows PC
Mac
Similar games
Popularity
Reviews
Write a new review
Zaphael
Zaphael

Get this instead: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1421490/Rise_of_the_Triad_Ludicrous_…

Original Vanilla version is fine, good to play on a retro DOS PC, but Ludicrous Edition is more enhanced, supports widescreen and uncapped framerate and works with modern systems without the need for Dosbox.

Dustin
Dustin

Rise of the Triad (1995) is a first person shooter that's very similar to the original Wolfenstein and DOOM games, developed by Apogee Software.
In fact, this game was originally going to be a sequel to Wolfenstein 3D but later became it's own stand alone game.

Dark War comes with four different game varieties:
Rise of the Triad: The HUNT Begins, which is the demo/shareware version of the same game
Rise of the Triad: Dark War, which is the full game
Extreme Rise of the Triad, which is a map customization section
Lastly COMM-BAT, which is the online/multiplayer portion.

If you like retro/classic shooters check it out!

9/10

demondude777
demondude777

Wow...i remember when ROTT first came out back in the 90s. I bought the cd with the random level generator and had some fun.

Seriously, this was never as good as Doom or Wolfenstein 3d (which this was going to be a sequel of...). But I still got some play out of it back in the day.

The game is still fun to just open fire on enemies, but it aged badly. The control layout is archaic. it worked fine back then, but now we have moved on. The game looks pretty bad. And some of the charm is gone. Plus with the new version coming very soon...there is no point in getting this one.

I think I spent $1 to get this...so I already got my money's worth to do a run down memory lane. I don't expect much more from it.

Get it if it is cheap and you are curious. Other than that...no.

Allstar626
Allstar626

This game is an experience and a half. It is easily the most tedious, confusing, headache of an FPS that I've played in recent memory. However, it is still quite enjoyable in chunks and has a vibrant personality unique to this game. This is a shooter in the vein of Doom, Wolfenstein3D, and other 90s FPS's. However, this game has a mind of its own. It spares no mercy to the player. The level design is, in many instances, designed to kill you again, again, and again. I have not played this game on the hardest difficulty but rather the one below, and that is challenging enough. I do not recommend players attempt the hardest difficulty first playthrough, no matter how many classic FPS's you've already completed. One last thing, getting a source port of this game to run as intended is insane. For some reason, despite the source code being released in the early 2000s, there has yet to be a universally acceptable source port for this game, with the possible exception being ROTTEXPR. But even this port has its own host of problems that seem to vary from user to user. In my case, the game ran mostly fine with the exception of the sound mixer running fast, which made the game unplayable for me. So, my recommendation for playing the game is, try ROTTEXPR and if that fails you, play the DOS version because that's really your only chance.

Laser
Laser

It was late night on December 2022, I went back home to visit my family and booted this game up to experience the 90's. When my save loaded, I expected "Oww!!!" to start playing, instead it was replaced by "Deadly Gentleman". Then it hit me, it was Christmas, and that was an experience that can't be replaced.

Burn
Burn

I didn't play the original, but I can see that it's worth a purchase for those who did enjoy it. For me, the presentation, controls, and gameplay is a turn-off. But, I guess, those who still enjoy an occasional round of DOOM on the go, Rise of the Triad is a nice alternative that may well be worth a look (also available for the phone). https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2901605078

TheeSpongeman
TheeSpongeman

It feels like some kid got their hands on a Doom Mod and decided to make a game out of platforms and hidden walls. The fact you can only carry two guns kinda kills it for me too. The only enemies I encountered were monks and guy with gun. While I did grow up with Wolfenstien and enjoyed it, the same amount of enemies and game play variety fails to live up to today's standards. If you're looking for a nostalgia boost, I suppose you might enjoy this.

Dewk Noukem
Dewk Noukem

After 20 years, this game is still good to play.
The bad thing is, it works with Dosbox, no high resolution and so highly pixelated at far distance.

Foxysen
Foxysen

Rise of the Triad: Dark War is a classic FPS that was released in 1995. It's a Wolf3D-like engine game. A very heavily modified one though. Choose one of the fie characters and kill everything while running real fast.

Now, how was Steam version handled? Pretty nice. It runs on a good DosBox software, all configured properly and with working Steam overlay. You can configure game to use standard WASD and mouse too.
When you launch the game, you will get to choose one of the three games. Dark War is what you should choose, as this is the full version of a game.
Hunt Begins is a shareware version of a game. A Deluxe Shareware version, which came with few additional levels. Yes, somebody made Deluxe Shareware back then. It has exclusive levels, so it's worth playing. The only shame is that it has Full Version's ending instead of shareware one. Try not to spoil yourself there.
Extreme ROTT is extremely extreme expansion pack for ROTT, which is extremely crazy, insane, sick maniac. It adds no new elements like music or gameplay, instead it's more like a hack that replaces levels with it's own. Yea, ending is same, bosses are same. It's just that levels are so cheap and unfair, it's unbelivably. Watch review on YouTube, I hope it will make you not to want to even touch this one.
If you do however going to play Extreme, use Thi Barrett, the only char that can beat jumping puzzle in one of the levels. Also, create save at the beggining of each level in case you get stuck while trying to beat them. Then enjoy your savescumming feature presentation.

Original game also supported multiplayer. And quite gloriuosly, with lots of players and many many game modes. But I doubt that you can make it run easily nowdays, probably due to using outdated technology. Or whatever. I didn't even try much, just know that it sure will not be so easy or straightforward. Maybe it doesn't even work. Get this game for single-player anyway.

And well, it's quite awesome. To be honest, my first impression was negative one. I picked Lorelei Ni character, who is fast but is very fragile compared to other character, and picked the third skill out of four, which is actually "hard", and then I was quickly mashed up by bullets. You see, game's majority of enemies use unadvoidable hitscan attacks. Bullets, you know. That's something what should never be dangerous too much, or else it will become more cover-based. I didn't like it back then.
Morale of story: Don't pick Lorelei. And stay on Normal difficulty.
So, yes, you can pick any one of the five characters. Their main differences are stats that are: Speed, Accuracy and Health. Speed isn't much of use there due to often use of hitscan. Everybody aside from Lorelei has high Accuracy, she just has Very High. Ultimately, health it what matters there. Consult with manual to see stats for yourself. Also, should be noted that there is one character who is superior to another with no downsides. So yea, it's not all too clever. The other differences are occasional voice and camera height.

The way how game looks will immmeditly catch your attention. Not only because those digitized nazi-like enemies look awesome and have character to them. And grayish enviroments, with gothic style can be seen slightly in them. But you will notice just how far they were pushing modified Wolfenstein 3D engine. Moving walls, tall rooms, using platforms objects to give verticality to the gameplay. It's quite a joy.
Also helps that it has awesome Midi music to it. One of the best. You will find memoriable tune for sure. There is even piano music that sounds castlevania-worthy. Seriously.

As for gameplay, you run around mazes and shoot things down. And avoiding traps. Developers weren't afraid to be ridiculous crazy and went ahead, putting every thing they belived were cool. There are even things that make you bounce off the floor high into air. And power-ups that I shall not spoil.

Weapon selection is interesting. And silly. You start with single pistol, then can get second pistol and machine gun. Yes, those are direct updates. With infinite ammo. And then you have rocket launchers of different types, some more devastating than others. So, yes, it will be ludicrous gibs fun time for you there. Rocket Launchers aren't the only weapons, but I told you nothing, okay?
The silly thing is how it handles player's weapon equipment. For some reason, you can keep pistols and machine gun, they don't replace each other, even though they are direct upgrades to each other. On other hand, you can only hold one rocket launcher. You would think that it should be another way around. Or just let machine gun replace pistols. But oh well.

Maps are huge and mazey. Will make you go around, flipping switch and finding keys. And finding hidden floorplates, that are hard to see and sometimes mandatory. Not exactly nice thing. Actually, it becomes negative, as on Episode 2 there is one huge outdoor level, that has impressive huge size. And it would be awesome, if it didn't made you run around, finding switches in every corner and inspecting map verrry carefully in search for touchplates. Seriously, I found secret exit there first.

Shooting should be good. After all, you got good basic weapon with infinite ammo and rocket launcher to blow things up. And it's true, blowing people up is fun. They also easily get locked in hitstate when shot by machine gun, so one on one encounter is never a problem, it's always crowds. Episode 1 has only cannon fodder, that yell cliche things at you. Episode 2 introduces a really tough enemy that has enough health to requrie few hits from rocket launcher. It makes better use of rocket launchers for once, but shooting him down when out of rockets gets tedious. Episode 3 introduces robots that can be killed with just rocket. But they are quite passive patrollers, so it's still good variety.
But Episode 4, the last one, is where game goes down. It exclusively uses tough monks enemies. And they are tough. Way too tough. They are also boring and tedious. Just shooting them down with machine gun will take what feels like a minute. And there is only two of them, melee and slow one and the one which shoots fireballs. Still can be locked in painstate by machine gun. Yea. All tedious.

But hey, game also has bosses. More or less good ones. That walk around and shoot things at you and use other gimmicks. So yes, more or less proper ones. Third episode boss is known to be the hardest thign in the game. All while Episode 4 boss is most stupid one. The first part of 4th boss is bad, it just has you waiting for him run out of energy for what feels like 10 minutes. The latter part is stupid in good way though.

So, ROTT is a mix between good and bad. Amazing ideas, trying to push Wolfenstein-era engine to the maximum, but has occasional stupid or tedious things. And it's still one of those things where you get rained by hitscan, not avoiding projectiles as much. Navigating around traps though. Try it. It's probably more positive than negative. Yes, it is.

Velcrosasquatch
Velcrosasquatch

An often overlooked and under-rated DOS game.
The remake tries, but it still can't match Dark Wars bizarre level and game design.
It's over the top and innovative for its time.
There are 2 ways to get this on steam.
The other being the Apogee Throwback Pack which also includes Blake Stone

QORC [1stCEF) Cmdre. DEFCON
QORC [1stCEF) …

I don't know what they were thinking re-releasing this game with these controls, the game is unplayable, I can't move forward and look left at the same or the camera just points right to the ground and stays there. The only way to make the game playable I hear is to mod the game code, which I have no clue how to do, theres no step by step guide for people like me, just computer nerd talk. Which if you need to mod a game just to make it playable is just a$s, I want my money back.

GasMask
GasMask

This classic was made with a modified version of the Wolf3D engine. Comparing the difference between them i'd say it's quite impressive.

Lotica
Lotica

Next to DOOM, Rise of The Triad is one of my favorite first person shooters just for the sheer audacity of it all. Tom Hall and his crew took what was going to be a canned project and said, "Let's just go nuts," making it a game that, while not as impacting as DOOM, is still memorable to fans to this very day.

I'm impressed by the fact that this is all running on the engine that ran Wolfenstein 3D. Granted, many changes were made to the engine, but it's still cool to think that something that was already outdated by the time DOOM came out could make something this action-packed and ridiculous.

The weapons each feel right and are satisfying to use, the presentation is very cartoonish but charming, and the gameplay, while it can be a bit tedious in certain levels, is fast-paced and can be really fun in multiplayer. The game doesn't care about being a technically sophisticated masterpiece. Rather, it just cares about giving the player the entertainment they deserve, and for me, it succeeds on that front.

I definitely recommend this to hardcore retro shooter fans who are interested in what a game that pushes the Wolf3D engine to its limits can be like.

Daring
Daring

Having grown up playing Apogee games, I found this game to be a blast to the past!

Seeing that it was only 7 dollars I had to buy it. Mainly buying it for nostalgia and for the dog mode.
I have to say, playing the game as an invincible dog is surprisingly addicting! It's great fun running around biting your enemies to death and howling in victory.

Dog mode can be entered in cheat mode by typing "dipstick" and "woof" while playing the game, but also, bones will appear that will also activate it. The game doesn't spoil you, either, the mode eventually wears off and you can either look for another bone or type "woof" again.

All in all, I would recommend buying this if you enjoy trips to the old days of gaming, even though this is a revised version of the original ROTT, it still has that old timey feel to it!

Sir Edward
Sir Edward

This is an absolute classic. If you ever enjoyed Doom classic, duke nukem, blood, or any other 1990's shooter, this will make perfect sense.

essentially... this game was supposed to be a sequel to wolfenstein 3d. it feels like that too, if BJ blazkowitz was given a plethora of strange weapons and set into an alternate timeframe.

this game is fun, even on dosbox that it comes with, although there are emulators for even better performance.

Jr786Volnutt
Jr786Volnutt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCWeqBUiLFY
Apogee Software has always been the king of Shareware Games since I was a child & their 1994-1995 DOS game from my Childhood Days; Rise of the Triad: Dark War, is one of their games that I love so much! It is also the game that enabled Apogee to form 3D Realms along with other great games like Duke Nukem 3D & Shadow Warrior.

With All The Weapons (Knives, Pistols, MP4, Flamewall, Dark Staff, Firebomb,
Split Missile, Drunk Missile, Bazooka, Heat Seekers & Excalibat!),

the Powerups (God mode, Elasto mode, Mercury mode, Shrooms mode & Dog mode!),
the Graphics and even the Music of this TOTALY AWESOME GAME!

It's an old Favorite DOS Classic of mine plus it even includes the Extreme Rise of the Triad Add-On & even The HUNT Begins Deluxe Edition Shareware Version of Rise of the Triad in addition to Rise of the Triad: Dark War.

armoredrobot
armoredrobot

Rise of the Triad is a textbook example of a game with good ideas that suffer from bad execution.

The good ideas are abundant, and seem to stem from a desire to create something completely atonal and unfocused (at least thematically) by design. It seems that everything the developers could think of was put in, and they managed to make a lot of the results work. Bizarre powerups! Derpy fat monks! Tons of gore! Absurd rocket launchers! Bounce pads! 5 protagonists, each with different stats! Infinite-ammo bullet weapons that don't do much damage but fire fast and can stun the target, so shooting at more than one enemy becomes an intense game of trying to keep the most dangerous targets stunlocked while also holding the others at bay! Alliteration! Each of these is a good idea by itself, and together they become a whole greater than the sum of its parts, creating an anarchic experience that seems to never run out of new things to show you.

However, the bad design choices bring down the whole experience quite a bit. The levels are huge and sprawling, and while the excellent map helps out quite a bit, it's still easy to get lost. The level design also has the same problem DOOM sometimes has: the moment-to-moment parts are good, like a narrow bridge across a chasm or a series of crushers, but they're more often than not just strung together with no rhyme or reason, padding out the level until it just ends. The difficulty can also just spike out of nowhere; notable examples include the enemy type that gets an LMG and grenades and a ridiculous amount of health, as well as the NME. In addition, the game is about twice as long as it needs to be, with 30 main levels and 7 secret ones; this spreads the game's ideas more than a little thin, and some levels have absolutely nothing remarkable or interesting about them. Finally, some things are just inexcusably unintuitive. Invisible yet vital pressure plates in the floor, hidden pushwalls that are necessary for the player to progress, and arcane button puzzles all didn't make themselves clear and forced me to look up the solutions. God knows how people figured this stuff out when it was released. The absolute worst part of the game is the final boss, which comes in two stages. In the first part, the secret is to NOT shoot him, and he'll die on his own. If you do shoot him, it takes him longer to die. That is atrocious game design on its own, but it gets worse from there. After an admittedly fun chase level, one reaches the second part of the boss. Here, I will relate my experience in full.

I came to the final boss knowing from research that one has to destroy all his eggs in order to get the true ending. I destroyed all the eggs that I found on the way to the final battle (there were about 15), then proceeded onwards. I whittled his health down to almost dead, giddy in the knowledge that I soon would be victorious. Then, I spent the next hour or so shooting at the final head, which didn't seem to be taking damage any more. I decided that there must have been a glitch, so, for the first time, I let myself die and didn't reload a save (like Wolfenstein, this game has a literally pointless lives system, seeing as you can save and reload anywhere). When looking this up, however, I learned that there was another cache of eggs that I needed to destroy in order to truly win that required activating an invisible pressure plate in the floor hidden behind some hazards that I had no reason to go across, going to another room to find a previously hidden key, pick up a powerup impossible to see from where I was, use more invisible pressure plates randomly hidden in a large open area to expose the key's door, using the powerup (which only worked for a certain amount of time and did not respawn) to access an otherwise-inaccessible area, and kill some enemies to get to the second stash, which was twice as large as the previous stashes combined. The game, for the record, made NONE of this clear, not even the fact that I had to destroy the eggs in the first place. Remember, if one doesn't do this, one fails the game. I made another save and did all of this, but came upon the same result: the final boss would not die. I then realized my problem: there must have been some sort of glitch that, upon saving when the boss was on his last head, made him invincible. I made a third save at the cost of another life and, armed with all this information, managed to kill the boss and win the game.

Read that last paragraph again, and this time try to think of the human who thought that any of that was in any way a good idea.

Rise of the Triad has one other problem, too, and this one I don't blame on it. In light of more recent technological advances, namely mouselook and WASD, old-style arrow-keys-and-Ctrl-and-Space-and-Shift just doesn't really compare. It holds up, more or less, but it's merely functional, and just isn't as versatile, responsive, or fun as modern control schemes. I don't blame RotT for this, as there wasn't much it could do in this regard, but it is worth noting.

Rise of the Triad is an interesting case study, if nothing else, in how much abuse a good idea can take before it collapses entirely. Rise of the Triad toes this line in many places, but overall it's a fun enough experience, if a little repetitive and horrible in some aspects. I recommend it (especially if it's on sale), and I look forward to seeing if the remake fixes any of the game's glaring issues. If nothing else, buy this game for Dog Mode. That's worth $7.

EDIT: Also, it has a really great soundtrack. Actually probably the best I've heard in a game yet.

Paranoidpaul1984
Paranoidpaul1984

Important message

I have only played the hunt begins and Dark War. I will update my review when I have finished extreme rise of the triad (might take awhile).

What I liked about the game

    • Has one of the best power ups in any game; one which allows you to become a dog which
    allows you to bite people to death.

    • Lots of different traps, makes the game quite challenging.

    • The levels don't feel too much like a maze. The levels are big and open, and they take place inside and outside.

    • The biggest selection of rocket launchers I have ever seen.

    • Awesome and challeenging boss fights.

    • You can play as different members of the HUNT team.

    • Many secrets to found throughout the game. There are also secret levels.

    • A fair life system, which doesn't seem to have a limit on how many lives you can have.

    • New enemies and weapons are introduced in each episode.

    • You can customize the controls in options; you don't have to mess about with Dosbox.

    What I disliked or was disappointed with

    • Only two weapons that use bullets, and they have infinite ammo.

    • Some of the levels are too long. Sometimes it takes a while to reach the boss on a level; which quite annoying, especially when you die and have to start the level all over again.

    • Killing enemies isn't very satisfying, compared to games like Doom and Wolfenstein. The enemies in the last episode are like bullet sponges, the game at this point becomes more of a chore to get through.

    • It's a shame it doesn't show you each of the characters stats.

    • Levels aren't particularly interesting; I didn't like the use of colours.

    • It's a shame you can't select the episode.

    • The shrooms power up sometimes doesn't wear off causes sound to go all wonky.

    • You can sometimes get stuck on objects. The game crashes sometimes.

    • They reuse the same cut-scenes in all three games.

    • How you supposed know what to do to defeat the last boss is beyond me.

    • Not easy to look up and down, you have to use the keys; there is no free aim using the mouse.

    • Wish enemies dropped their Mp40 more often.

Conclusion

Not a bad game, just wish there where more bullet based weapons (and other things). If you like games like Wolfenstein, Blake stone or doom then I recommend you give this game a try. You get a lot for your buck. It might be worth buying the Apogee throwback pack instead. For an extra £2 you can get both rise of the triad dark wars and extreme, plus you get Blake stone aliens of gold and planet strike. You don't get the rise of the triad the hunt begins episode, but that episode was shareware so you be able to get it for free.

7/10

Dookie4Dessert
Dookie4Dessert

I loved this game when I was a kid. Unfortunately this reboot is riddled with control issues. The character turns randomly within the first few seconds of gameplay and doesn't stop. I've tried reinstalling and even using a gamepad but nothing fixes it. Basically this is a broken game.

Farboud
Farboud

I can’t stress enough how much I love this game. I vaguely remembered Rise of the Triad from my childhood, but I had never played the game. Now fast-forward almost 20 years and I’m glad I finally gave it a try.
Rise of the Triad is a bizarre and ludicrous game, and that’s exactly why I love it. There is a vast selection of rocket launchers, power-ups and power-downs which helps the combat feel fresh and exciting. The same thing goes for the many enemy types, among those are soldiers who fake death to catch you off guard, officers who throw nets and mad monks. There are so many impressive innovations in Rise of the Triad, the likes of which I have never seen in any other game. Couple all that with a marvelous soundtrack and a really good time can be had.
On the other hand, the game might be hard to get into for gamers of new generation who might consider it antiquated (still, the key bindings are fully customizable though). And like many other FPS games of the era, the level maps are maze-like and complicated.
In short, Rise of the Triad may not be as popular as the likes of Doom; notwithstanding, I’ve had a lot of fun playing it and will absolutely recommend the game to all FPS fans.

HarrietTheWolf
HarrietTheWolf

This game is hecking bonkers even today~
Don't let the 90-degree walls engine fool you, this is a fast paced game and a very fun fps with some things not even DOOM could do at its time
This game its just glorious and a must-have if you are a fan of "boomer shooters" like me

ZappaSlasher
ZappaSlasher

It's no Doom, and it runs on a modified Wolfenstein 3D engine, but Rise Of The Triad is still one of the better and more sillier first-person-shooter games of the 90s.

Springytrap
Springytrap

Awesome Gameplay, Awesome music, Awesome challenges, Awesome throwback to my childhood!

10/10 for me.

Miles (Tails) Prower
Miles (Tails) Prower

At long last, I got my hands on this classic FPS back from 1994! I was so looking forward to playing it, because every single mention I've heard or seen, turned out to be with nothing but positive outcome. So I've grabbed this game to see if that's a really good game. And after I finished all included games, I think it's safe to say, what all mentions didn't lie at all.

This game is "3 in 1" pack. The games are:

Rise Of The Triad: The HUNT Begins (13 areas total, 11 are playable normally) - shareware version of this game. Back in the days, it supposes to serve as a demo, and what this game is capable of, so later on interested people can buy full game (Rise of the Triad: Dark War) and enjoy full game. So this game includes 8 original maps, 3 as deluxe edition, 2 as "Warp Only" areas. Good for introducing to game mechanics, enemies, etc.

Rise of the Triad: Dark War (4 episodes, 37 areas, 34 are playable normally) - full version of the game, as stated previously. Got me pretty busy going through every single level with some interesting gimmicks being thrown into you at each episode.

Extreme Rise Of The Triad (4 episodes, 42 areas, 40 are playable normally) - addon pack, which includes more unique things, but mostly on how you approach stages. Good for people, who seek challenge!

But wait, there's more!

    • Very good assortment of guns! Granted, you only have 3 types of firearms, but you have 6 missile weapons and 2 magic weapons! They are pretty much can deliver some "BOOM!" action.

    • Pretty solid interaction with the environment & items! Plenty of destructible items, like chairs, plants, torches. I also enjoyed the fact, what there are small detailed interactions, like shooting one of the health items with rocket type weapons make them heal more! Or heat-seeking missiles getting attracted to torches!

    • Pretty big amount of secrets! They might be not always obvious, but making you stop on one of the areas for a while to maximize your chances of survival.

    • Truly amazing soundtrack! My first mention of this game came from the soundtrack, which is used in custom map packs in DooM II! Creators borrowed some soundtracks from this game and that's what picked my interest the most. Unfortunately, this game doesn't provide OST DLC, which I would really like to buy, it will be worth every ruble (or cent).

    • Lots of options to customize your experience in Rise Of The Triad! I was fascinated when I saw what you can customize controls in such an old game!

Some levels are action-packed, what I wouldn't mind replay them again, and again.... and again! My probably favorite one will be "Open Fire" from Extreme Rise Of The Triad.

Though, when experiencing this game the first time, I found some technical issues and small flaws. I will list them, but it's all fixable or it's not really a big deal.

    • Controls don't include vertical mouse movement disable. Because of that, I had to resort to using a keyboard only at the first shareware episode, but my fingers got really hurt while playing on the keyboard only. Gladly, someone at steam discussions helped me a lot with preventing vertical movement. It involves replacing dosbox inside the folder with the game (If you are interesting, there's a discussion - https://steamcommunity.com/app/358410/discussions/0/2573194192014258904/).

    • Life system kinda felt pointless. Well, it's because there is a save game feature, akin to DooM, DooM II, etc. My guess "Developers of Incredible Power" made it out so all people can enjoy their play style, with saving or not. But Extra lives will count as an additional score at the end of the game.

    • Some sounds seem to be very loud or disappearing. Like how can I appreciate the great soundtrack, while thunder on the lowest SFX volume blasting your ears? And some sounds disappeared. Maybe it was as a bug of me fixing mouse controls, but it wasn't critical as much, because action made me forget about this.

But despite some flaws, I had a ton of fun playing this game. At the same time, I think it's a shame, that I haven't discovered this game earlier, but on the other hand, I am gonna miss these times, when I experienced this game fresh.

I'll definitely recommend this game to play.

SuperFly
SuperFly

Initially developed as a sequel to Wolfenstein3D, before Apogee lost that license to idSoftware, they ramped ROTT's personality up to 11, and broke off the throttle. You play one of 5 differently-powered, but equally-generic, super agents mowing down Axis-themed baddies by the truckload as you assault an island monastery.

Levels have at least 2 tiers of verticality, and include trampolines in the environment to 'jump', and an aim up/down mechanic. Weapon variety ranges from dual pistols (with infinite ammo) to literal 'God Mode'.
It's hyperactive LAN party fun, for sure...but possibly not the best single player experience.

DOOT
DOOT

Eat lead!
Here, catch!
You're toast!
Eat lead!
Here, here, catch!
Eat lead!
They'll bury you in a lunchbox!
Here, catch!
Here, here catch!
Eat lead!
Eat eat eat eat!
Eat lead!
Here, here, catch!
Eat lead!
Eat, eat, eat, eat!
Eat lead!
Here, here, catch!
Eat lead!
Eat, eat, eat, eat toast!
Eat lead!
Here, here, catch!

Letande
Letande

“I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash! It's a gas! Gas! Gas!”
~The Rolling Stones

There's a very interesting story behind Rise of the Triad. One of those with a very important moral. The moral is – we should all listen to each other. Only then good things will become possible. One heck of a way to start the FPS review, huh? But the thing is – to understand this game we should go back to the times when Tom Hall was still a part of id Software. Because that's what this story is all about – id Software. See, id were like The Beatles. All of them were talented as heck, but their talents were able to shine for real only when they worked together. Sure, it was John Carmack who made revolution by bringing the adaptive tile refresh for PCs. Nowadays, it's impossible to surprise people with yet another side-scrolling game, but back when Carmack made a quick Super Mario Bros. 3 port and the screen actually moved? On PC? It was one heck of an achievement. And yet, it was Tom Hall who created Commander Keen's unique look. Remember Dopefish? The one we'll see in many games as an Easter egg? Mr. Hall is the man who created it. In other words, Carmack was tech, while Hall was a vision. I'm not gonna talk 'bout the rest of the team, because of character limitation, but you've got the idea. Also, these two are what's really important here.

Even though DOOM is often considered as id's biggest achievement, in a way, it was the beginning of their end. Carmack and Romero, while being freaks, quickly agreed on what they wanted from their new game (despite all their differences), Hall wasn't really OK with it. He had his own vision for DOOM and wanted it to be more than just a new “suck it, suckaz!” shooter. He wanted to go beyond Wolfenstein 3D. He worked really hard and wrote so-called DOOM Bible. A bulky design document with tons of interesting things in it. Unfortunately, Carmack decided to be an ass. Remember his legendary phrase about plot in games being similar to the one in porn? It was said to Hall when he presented his DOOM Bible. In other words, while Carmack and Romero acted like John and Paul, Hall (while feeling like George) was treated like Ringo. He was supposed to do the job, but when it was about his ideas, nobody listened.

Long story short, Tom left. They didn't want his idea of a DOOM having an immersive element? Well, he didn't want to be in a team that doesn't listen. And that's where the real irony starts. Remember DOOM³? Even though Carmack refused to listen to Tom, in the end, that's exactly what he and his new team ended up making in 2004. Heck, he went so deep into that territory that he was forced to simplify things a bit in so-called BFG Edition. What's even more funny, though, is that the same exact thing happened with Tom. See, he didn't just leave. He took some things with him and joined Scott Miller's Apogee. Scott was a friend and Apogee had a long history publishing id Software titles through their BBS, so... It looked like a logical idea.

Unfortunately, even though there aren't many details around, it looks like all Scott wanted from Tom is his own Wolf 3D. Which was really sad, since Tom wasn't a big fan of violence. He loved what he did in Commander Keen and was totally obsessed with the immersive sim elements and interaction at the moment. And yet, what he ended up making... Is a new Wolf 3D. With rivers of blood. See, before switching to DOOM, id Software actually worked on Wolf 3D sequel. Which was supposed to be called Rise of the Triad and tell us about some sort of evil organization (Triad) who actually manipulated ol' man Hitla behind the scene. Carmack and Romero felt like the time for evil Nazis was gone, but Hall thought that the game deserved a chance, so... Yeah. He took it with him and tried to combine it with his own vision.

You can easily notice that since very beginning, since, unlike Wolf 3D, RoT offers us not one but five different characters with their own unique stats (height, speed, and endurance). The game also offers two different endings, which depend on how good you are with finding secrets (the main villain has his own clone army in making and you are supposed to find and destroy all of the larvae on final map before actually killing the boss). All that was already pretty cool, but... It wasn't enough for Tom. Even though the game was still using the old Wolf 3D engine, it offered some mind-blowing new features. Like simulated dynamic lighting and fog. It also allowed things like bullet holes and breakable glass. Which felt fantastic, but for Tom it was really important not to just give his new game better looks. He wanted interaction. Sure, DOOM introduced many improvements to the old 2D maze formula (even though putting one room over another still wasn't possible there), but Tom was really determined to do more than that. With the old Wolf 3D engine. And in a way? He did it.

See, back in early 90s, FPS genre was just born. And it was pretty simple. You were walking through corridors, you were looking for exits and you were shooting things in front of you. That was it. Now, not only RoT allowed us to look up and down, it actually let us... jump. Well, not really. You won't be able to jump at any time, it was too early for that. And yet, the game introduced so-called jump pads. Which catapulted player into the air. It was also possible to fly, while very often you were supposed to ride on moving platforms to reach certain parts of the map. And it felt much, much more advanced than what we've seen in DOOM. Heck, by playing smart, Tom and his team were able to include elevators! Sure, technically those just brought you from one map to another in real time (room-over-room still wasn't a thing), but... MAN! The problem is – I didn't mention The Beatles for nothing. Like Romero in his DAIKATANA, Hall just needed his team to make masterpiece with no “buts”.

Sure, he made Wolf 3D to evolve. He made it much more tricky and complicated. Much more interactive. Solving each level is not just about finding keys and exits anymore. But at the same time, he failed to provide us with a properly polished experience. The initial shareware version (Steam release comes with three versions of the game – shareware one, registered one and so-called Extreme RoT, which swapped all the levels with much harder ones, all three are in their best Site License CD variations with extra multiplayer maps) felt more like a proof of concept. The registered one (the game followed the old software distribution system, similar to the one in Wolf 3D and DOOM) was much better, but still painfully confusing (and often unfair) for the new players, while the Extreme version... Let's just say it was the most hardcore thing in the entire genre at the moment. The mind-blowing new features just felt too clunky and unpolished to feel satisfying.

Sure, the game became somewhat popular thanks to its whooping nine multiplayer modes (including deathmatch for 11 players and, for the first time in the genre, capture the flag mode) and the fact that it had more violence than DOOM (hello, Scott), but ultimately, it failed to become the next big thing. And it's very sad. I mean, sure, this game can easily remind you of AVGN's famous “AAASS!!!” expression. And yet, what we have here is a very important step for the FPS genre. Dixi.

PoogleTrashGez
PoogleTrashGez

the most playable version of this game currently available is absolutely horrendous. its basically abandonware so dont expect a proper source port of remaster or anything like that.

malo
malo

11/10 soundtrack that even comes with a game, thanks Lee Jackson

Starlie
Starlie

Childhood memories! Nothing like shroom mode baby!

xXSkullbocksXx
xXSkullbocksXx

Do i really even need to leave this review? its Good. played it for years before it was "cool" as you kids say. PLAY IT? why the hell you still reading this???

coolpeterson
coolpeterson

Still the same awesome game I remember from childhood. Works great with windows 10!

JoeyTritten
JoeyTritten

You can turn into a dog and bark at people until they explode, so that's a solid ten for realism from me.

USS Yorktown
USS Yorktown

When I decided to go play boomer shooters other than the two grandfathers of FPS we all know and love, I don't regret picking up this game in the slightest. It's genuinely fun, and had my attention the entire way through, even though the controls were not fun to make comfortable and the final boss being cryptic to all hell.

If you want to look into other boomer shooters besides Wolfenstein and DOOM, I'd probably suggest this one first, It's a huge shame how heavily overlooked Rise of the Triad is; some either acknowledging it by childhood memories or the fact "You Suck!" is used in some custom DOOM maps, like in Scythe's map 30 Fire and Ice.

That does it on my end. Please try this game if you ever have the chance.

JDK319
JDK319

MY RATING: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ 5/10

I was never much of a fan of Rise of the Triad. I tried to get back into it and gave up pretty quickly. The one redeeming factor to this game is the soundtrack. Rise of the Triad has one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time. If you aren't nostalgic for Rise of the Triad you may struggle to get into this game.

I'd love to see a studio like Nightdive pick this abandoned series up and update this game to play better. It definitely still has a lot of potential.

susie from undertale
susie from undertale

wanted to leave a good review solely because this game is the only dos game on steam i've ever played that was actually configured right straight out of the box and didn't have any weird bugs, good on ya, game's great but let's be honest if you're on this steam page you already know that

Mr. Electric
Mr. Electric

EAT LEAD HERE CATCH EAT EAT LEAD HERE CATCH THEY'LL BURY YOU IN A LUNCHBOX

BloodFeather
BloodFeather

This should have some sort of port fix so we could experience the multiplayer like we did during dial up days. Also look up and down use to be page up page down.. This isn't the case anymore and needs to be addressed. Unplayable

Duck
Duck

I love classic FPS games, And this has to be a favorite of mine!

doctorbass
doctorbass

Good levels of difficulty. Enough secrets to keep the curious entertained. There's cheat codes too if you're bored with regular gameplay.

Queen Lizzy (No Mic)
Queen Lizzy (No Mic)

a good game, a good port, and a rocking soundtrack! I may not be good at it but I'll get there

Ori
Ori

Contains: Hunt Begins (1 EP), Dark War (4 EP's), and Extreme ROTT (4 EP's). All packaged into dos box. There are some ok source ports out but I recommend waiting for the official remaster or playing as is.

MrRikkles
MrRikkles

Apogee really needed to fix the controls for this port. When every single level is like playing on ice because the mouse movement CAN'T BE TURNED OFF AT ALL... It hampers the game and makes even easy mode a chore. No thanks.

I'd been excited for this game too... Not even going to waste my money on the remake from 2013, seen how broken and janky that game is.

daniel.dietderich
daniel.dietderich

I love this game! It is a classic and it is a joy to play!

Showstopper
Showstopper

despite the game running on a modified Wolfenstien 3D engine, it's surprisingly really fun and somehow i don't get lost in the levels much (yet), not to mention that the music is great, thank you civvie 11

now if you wanna play this game, at the time of this review the game is on sale and it costs 69 cents so i think it's worth it. but don't play the regular steam version because it's just dos box and it's quite pixely, instead use a source port! i recommend Rottexpr. and in case you're a dummy who can't read like i am, you need to put all the required game files into an entirely new folder and then put the .exe and .dlls from rottexpr. after all that ya just double click the .exe and the game should work just fine! but you're gonna have to adjust the controls a bit and also turn off moving whenever you move the mouse forward.

and when you're in-game, don't forget to shoot a rocket at priest porridge, it'll get heated up and it will heal you more.