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Death Illustrated

Death Illustrated

Action

Overview

Death Illustrated carves a distinctive niche in the freeware FPS landscape with its bold monochromatic vision and relentless arcade-style action. Built on the Cube engine (itself derived from Quake 2), this black-and-white shooter delivers frenetic combat against imaginative creatures while demanding strategic movement through abstract arenas. Though clearly a product of its technical constraints, the game transforms limitations into atmospheric strengths for those willing to embrace its stark aesthetic. While occasional technical hiccups and sparse narrative elements hold it back from greatness, the core loop of weapon scavenging and monster slaying provides surprisingly addictive thrills.

The black and white works fantastic. I don't know why more games aren't made in black and white.

Adam Box

A Monochrome Masterstroke

The game's defining black-and-white aesthetic initially reads as a technical limitation but evolves into its greatest strength. Shadows become lethal hiding places for enemies, while high-contrast environments transform ordinary corridors into tense hunting grounds. This visual approach demands heightened spatial awareness—stationary foes blend into gloomy architecture, and distant movement registers as fleeting gray smudges. What begins as a visual curiosity soon forges a uniquely oppressive atmosphere where every shadow could conceal a rhino or spider poised to strike. The absence of color doesn't diminish the game's visual clarity; instead, it creates a graphic novel come to life, complete with exaggerated enemy designs and comic-style gore effects.

Engine Inheritance: The Cube and Quake Legacy

Death Illustrated wears its technical lineage proudly, inheriting Cube's straightforward mechanics while refining them with quality-of-life improvements. The intuitive main menu and configurable settings address a common criticism of its predecessor, welcoming players into its stark universe. Movement retains the weighty momentum of classic Quake-era shooters, encouraging skillful bunny-hopping and corner-sliding during firefights. Levels showcase clever verticality with multi-tiered arenas featuring balconies, tunnels, and precarious ledges that transform simple arenas into tactical playgrounds. While textures lack modern detail, the minimalist approach ensures buttery performance even on decades-old hardware—a deliberate trade-off that prioritizes fluid combat over visual splendor.

Gameplay: Frenetic Action and Strategic Survival

Combat operates on a razor's edge between chaos and calculated aggression. Players face capped enemy counts (typically ten foes per wave), creating manageable skirmishes that reward positioning and ammunition conservation. The real challenge emerges from monster variety: speedy rhinos flank aggressively, hulking brutes absorb punishment, and spiders swarm from unexpected angles. Each map functions as a puzzle—players must memorize weapon spawns, identify defensible choke points, and ration scarce ammunition during early waves.

The key is to collect ammunition before the invasion begins, then make a run for a 'hideout' where you can survive the assault.

Felicius

Deathmatch modes shine brightest, leveraging procedural enemy placements to ensure no two sessions play identically. Newcomers will face brutal learning curves, often dying within minutes while learning map layouts. Persistence reveals sophisticated risk-reward dynamics: do you push for that rocket launcher knowing it leaves you exposed, or hold a narrow corridor with your dwindling shotgun shells? This delicate balance creates palpable tension during later waves when health packs dwindle and every bullet counts.

Arsenal and Adversaries

The compact arsenal—shotgun, chaingun, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, and fists—belies surprisingly nuanced balancing. Each weapon serves distinct tactical purposes: the shotgun dominates close quarters, the chaingun shreds mid-range targets (though its pinpoint accuracy arguably undermines the sniper rifle's role), while rocket jumps enable clever positioning. Melee combat proves unexpectedly viable, with fists delivering satisfyingly crunchy impacts that stagger enemies.

Enemy designs compensate for technical limitations with personality. From armor-plated rhinos to grotesque zombies, each creature exhibits recognizable attack patterns. Their AI isn't revolutionary—they lack complex squad tactics—but their sheer aggression and environmental awareness create relentless pressure. The absence of persistent corpses remains jarring, however, with defeated foes vanishing in puffs of generic giblets that break immersion after intense firefights.

Technical Quirks and Performance

Death Illustrated's low system requirements come with trade-offs. Lengthy loading times test patience during initial boot-up, and menu navigation feels sluggish. Several reviewers encountered progression-halting bugs, including save file corruption and a notorious soft-lock when loading the "Duel" map. The monochrome presentation occasionally backfires in dimly lit areas where enemies become near-invisible silhouettes.

You may find yourself squinting at the screen trying to see further into the depths of darker corridors.

The Catalyst

Performance remains otherwise solid, delivering consistent frame rates even during particle-heavy explosions. Networked multiplayer (both LAN and online) functions reliably according to testers, though the small player base limits matchmaking opportunities today. These technical shortcomings never fully derail the experience but constantly remind players they're engaging with a passion project rather than a polished commercial product.

Content and Longevity

The campaign mode, while praised as more structured than Cube's equivalent, offers only brief diversion—most players complete it within two evenings. Its minimal storytelling leaves narrative cravings unfulfilled, functioning more as a guided tour of mechanics than an epic journey. True longevity emerges from infinitely replayable single-player deathmatch sessions, where randomized enemy placements and masterable maps create compelling score-attack loops.

Level design ranges from claustrophobic battlegrounds like "Stonehenge" to sprawling multi-level complexes, all leveraging the engine's signature seamless transitions between areas. While the map count pales next to Cube's library, each arena encourages distinct strategies—some favor sniper perches, others demand close-quarters brawling. Modding potential remains largely untapped, though the included level editor hints at creative possibilities for dedicated tinkerers.

Verdict

Death Illustrated succeeds as a focused, atmospheric shooter that weaponizes its technical constraints. Its monochrome world demands player adaptation but rewards that effort with tense, strategic combat against creatively designed foes. While bugs and sparse content prevent it from matching its inspiration (Cube), it carves its own identity through deliberate aesthetic choices and refined mechanics.

Verdict

Striking monochrome shooter with tense strategic combat

STRENGTHS

75%
Visual Style90%
Gameplay Flow85%
Performance80%
Atmosphere85%
Enemy Variety75%

WEAKNESSES

35%
Technical Issues70%
Content Depth65%
Visual Clarity60%
Weapon Balance50%

Community Reviews

11 reviews

Death Illustrated is like a little Cube: less levels, worse graphics, worse monsters, and, most important of all, less fun. Yes, Death Illustrated is a fun, game, but when compared to a great game like Cube, it falls short. Cube and Death Illustrated share an engine, so the look is very similar, as it should be. However, Death Illustrated has a major difference between it and Cube (and almost every game out there, for the matter.) Death Illustrated is in black and white by choice. This doesn't make the graphics worse, but, the fact that the models and textures seem less detailed (not to be confused with less colorful) makes the game seem a little worse than Cube. Cube is known for its massive amount of levels, but Death Illustrated doesn't compete in this area. Not that the levels are any worse, there's just less of them, and it's easier to get bored. Cube also has better monsters. How can monsters be bad, you ask? According to me, they can't, but it seems cooler to be killed by a devil (Cube) than by a rhino (Death Illustrated.) Death Illustrated has one thing on Cube, however: the campaign. Death Illustrated's single player campaign is much more polished than Cube's, and it actually seems more like a campaign from an old Quake game. Overall, Death Illustrated is a fun game that is worth the download. But if you haven't experienced Cube yet, get that first. You won't be disappointed.

Mr mike
Mr mike
Trusted

Death Illustrated is another unbelievable freeware game. Think of Quake 2, but free! Built on the CUBE engine it has totally awesome 3D graphics and the theme for the game is "Deathmatching inside a three dimensional Comic Book". Other than the blood splats from shooting your enemies the game is in black and white, but this doesn't make it score any less, it adds a nice effect to the dark, gloomy and violent game it's meant to be. Grouped with the smooth and well designed 3D graphics is a good soundtrack and decent sound effects. The game play is pretty much that of Quake and other 3D shooters, run around (deathmatch or campaign) and shoot your opponents and the various monsters and bugs that come after you. Pick up extra guns, ammo and health along the way to help you in the game. The cherry on the top of this great game is that you can play it over LAN or over the net. With plenty different maps this game is sure to keep you and your friends entertained for weeks.

Adam Box
Adam Box
Trusted

This game is great. The black and white works fantastic. I don't know why more games aren't made in black and white. Oh yeah, its uncommercial, well anyways this game doesn't care and its great fun. Although be warned it is beta so there is nothing exciting here yet but with the addition of a story to the single player and online play over the internet, this could make a great fun game for anyone to play. Right now it's pretty fun but it needs more real game play. If you have dial-up then don't get it just yet, it won't be worth it unless you really feel like playing it and have some time to spare for the download to complete. But for broadbanders it's worth a look, definitely. More of a story line is what holds this game back from awesomeness. But it's only beta so it can only get better from here.

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