Released way back in 1991, the original D/Generation was an arcade adventure game with puzzle elements. The title was published for various platforms like the Amiga and Atari ST by Mindscape. The game’s setting captivated audiences and I remember playing it when I was young. I remember the puzzles being more about timing than complex solutions like the original Prince of Persia. D/Generation would later be ported to various platforms and was considered a hit. Unfortunately, like many classic games, it was lost to us as gaming evolved and preferred platforms changed. However, this is one story with a happy ending. D/Generation is back and it’s really good. D/Generation HD has been updated for the modern era by West Coast Software and while the title will primarily appeal to older gamers and those who remember the original, it’s still a great game that you’ll love after spending some time with it.
D/Generation HD takes a while to get into. Initially it can be confusing so be sure to watch some gameplay and read the tutorial in the options menu. It’ll take you to a website which provides all the information you need to succeed in the game. I can’t stress how important it is that you read this. D/Generation was made back in 1991 and it features a style of gameplay that might not be familiar to a lot of modern gamers. It doesn’t hold your hand and you’re meant to figure out the mechanics as you go along. There isn’t a tutorial level. Before you play the game you should at least know how to close vents, open doors using switches and rescue people. Rescuing people gives you more lives so make that a habit.
Additionally, D/Generation is a game all about secrets. There are items hidden in other areas and sometimes behind desks. For example, in the first level you’ll need to acquire your laser gun but it’s hidden behind a cubicle. While the gun emits a faint glow—something the developers have vowed to make more pronounced in the future—it’s easy to miss. So explore every corner as there might be a useful item lying around.
Now I have to talk about the most important part. Once you acquire your laser gun, don’t go around randomly shooting objects. Items in the environment are destructible. For example—and this might be a spoiler but it should be mentioned—there is an area where you must enter a username and password into a computer. Computers are destructible so if you blow that particular machine up, the game won’t let you advance further and you have to start from scratch. The level design harkens back to an older time in gaming when even the slightest actions had consequences. This little touch is why I loved this game so much back then and what makes it so unique. Please shoot responsibly.
That’s pretty much it for the basics. Now let’s move onto the story because that’s one of the most fascinating aspects about the game even though it’s rather simple. The title takes place in a futuristic cyberpunk setting. A French company called Genoq has developed a series of new genetically engineered bioweapons. Unfortunately, they take over Genoq’s offices in London and it’s up to you to save the day. Your character is a courier that has to make an emergency delivery of an important package to a man named Derrida. Derrida is ten floors up so you have to go through them all to reach him. However, it’s not as easy as just taking an elevator. You have to dodge intelligent bioweapons that want to either blow you up or eat you. You also have to open doors by solving button-pressing puzzles and collecting keycards.
What happened at Genoq isn’t clear from the beginning and it’s up to you to piece the events and reasons behind it by talking to survivors and reading memos. As stated earlier, the game doesn’t hold your hand so you have to play detective. Also, you can’t talk to people until the room is secure as they’re too scared. Kill all enemies and then approach the survivors. Remember to save the game often because you might end up accidentally killing a lot of survivors too. I can’t tell you how many times I pressed a wrong switch and a survivor ended up getting eaten by an enemy. Yes, that happens.
The story goes from one involving a simple delivery to a race against time. You can even choose how your adventure ends. D/Generation HD is just a great overall experience.
There are some issues that needs to be addressed though. The game maintains its isometric view but it has been altered. When you approach a wall, it becomes semitransparent. This is helpful in revealing traps but sometimes you encounter a certain area where everything becomes semitransparent and this can get confusing. Additionally, sometimes you can’t see the location of traps or which direction some enemies are facing and this can lead to your demise.
The controls are smooth overall but there are hiccups in the frame rate which can cause them to become clunky. It’s hard to control your character then. This might just be a problem I encountered with my Xbox One but when I snapped Twitch to the side or any other program, the frame rate dropped significantly. Streaming became troublesome due to this.
Lastly, there is a somewhat annoying bug which detracts from the experience. I don’t know how this happened but on one playthrough I couldn’t speak with any survivor. The button press didn’t register an action. Starting a new playthrough fixed this issue though. Luckily this started happening on the first level so I could just begin anew. If you encounter this, you know what to do.
I nearly forgot, I also would’ve liked to have seen some voice-overs in the remaster. I know that probably would change the original feel of the game but that would’ve definitely improved the experience in my opinion. Reading long phrases over and over can get tiresome after a while, especially for gamers with smaller screens.
West Coast Software promised that a patch to fix a lot of these issues will be out in the next few weeks. Fixing the clunky controls that occur due to the fluctuating frame rate will take the game a long way. However, even with these annoyances, D/Generation HD is terrific. It evokes nostalgia and brings one of gaming’s classics to the modern era in spectacular fashion. The remaster looks great but it could be better. The look is rather simplistic but that seems more like a design choice by the developers to maintain a modern yet retro feel. Also, some of the effects could’ve been better, like explosions. The developers also have plan to make a first-person version of the game so that’ll be interesting to play. I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Summary
D/Generation HD is a game that everyone should try. Younger gamers might find it frustrating but that can be avoided by doing research into its history, watching some gameplay and examining the tutorial. This might seem contrary to the mantra of accessibility that seems to prevail in the gaming industry nowadays but the game not only offers a glimpse into the history of the hobby we all love so much, it also lets us understand how game development has changed. By playing D/Generation HD you can get a glimpse into the mindset of developers in what can be classified as a different era. It’s quite fascinating. To top that, the game is a great remaster which is also quite addicting. It offers a lot of replayability because you’ll want to explore every room and rescue every survivor. I can definitely recommend this to all hardcore gamers who love learning about games as much as they like playing them.
Asher is a games journalist, former News Writer (Gaming) at Windows Central. They contributed 1110 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news: wrote over 1,100 ICXM pieces on Xbox news, hardware reviews, and platform commentary before joining Future plc’s Windows Central in 2017.