The plot is so simple, in fact, that actually following it is completely optional much of the writing is instead dedicated to ancillary worldbuilding and discovering more about what exactly Tyrian's universe is like. If you didn't read the readme you wouldn't know how things really start (terraforming pilot Trent Hawkins finds himself embroiled in corporate conspiracy after his scalie best friend is shot dead by the all-pervasive Microsol for knowing too much) but the plot's simple enough: become strange bedfellows with rival corporation Gencore, blow up Microsol fleets and the occasional terrorist or religious fanatic, survive another day. Instead you're given access to a shop where you can spend cash to buy and upgrade your fighter ship's components (a "euroshmup" staple - more on that later), as well as an option to review Data Cubes, the game's equivalent of Codex Entries, where plot is moved forward in the form of holographic emails sent to the protagonist as well as worldbuilding done through intercepted transmissions, advertisements, PSAs, and Scenic Guides to the various planets you'll be visiting on your adventure. I only ever got to do Multiplayer a handful of times with my dad (we'd spend hours banging our heads into the wall trying to get it to work before getting to experience glorious two-player co-op, including a voltron-like ability I haven't really seen in any other game) and Arcade was obviously an inferior version of the Full Game, so Full Game was what I spent a lot of time playing.įull Game in Tyrian doesn't start you off immediately in the action. Tyrian offers three game modes from the main menu: the "Arcade" mode which offers a simplified, linear experience that behaves much closer to your standard shoot-em-up, a "Multiplayer" mode running over some absolutely profane IPX or serial shit where two players can do Arcade mode, and the "Full Game" mode where all of Tyrian's features come into play. (Minor CW for pixel body horror under the fold.) I played video computer games plenty, but Tyrian was what made me a gamer. Its fanciful science fiction setting, silly-yet-serious worldbuilding and story, masterclass presentation, and just a dollop of horror on top of it all made it the first game that utterly captivated me, showed me that there could be something in a game beyond simple diversions or puzzles on the screen. Out of all the computer games I played back when I was a kid (and I had quite a fill of shareware, freeware, and game demos growing up) I end up thinking back most fondly on Tyrian. More cerebral, more impressive, more exciting, according to my father at least, so computer games were what I played. Little kid Seg was insistent on the distinction of a computer game versus a video game video games were played on a television, while computer games were on a computer. ![]() On the other hand, I definitely was playing computer games when I was little, so 1996 or perhaps 1997 was most likely when I had first downloaded the shareware version of the game from Happy Puppy and sunk my teeth into it. 1995 would've meant I was three or four years old, making me rather young to be playing a game on the computer like this. Tyrian released in 1995 for DOS, and I'm not sure if I played it for the first time on that year.
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