unusual games like Afterlife.

I was pondering some of my favorite, if offbeat and unusual style games of the past that I thought could be redone better today.

Specifically a game called Afterlife by Lucasarts:

Afterlife is a god game released by LucasArts in 1996 that places the player in the role of a semi-omnipotent being known as a Demiurge, with the job of creating a functional Heaven and Hell to reward or punish the citizens of the local planet. In order to do so, the player must keep tabs on these citizens' sins and good deeds. Players are accountable for the job that they do, however, because their bosses, The Powers That Be, check in from time to time. The player also has the assistance of two advisors—Aria Goodhalo, an angel, and Jasper Wormsworth, a demon. Aria and Jasper provide warnings when things are going wrong with the afterlife, and offer tips on how to fix the problems.

It was conceptually a brilliant game...
Long story short...you are god..not just like god of heave though, but like, a singular deity that creates both heaven, and hell...and you influence belief on earth based on what your wanting

The plot...make heaven absolutely wonderful for the good souls, and make hell horrible for the bad souls...

I will say they lacked some originality and creativity, the graphics were horrible, and the gameplay was very limited to a sim-city style construction set...but the concept itself was extremely fun and I believe, deserving of a new fully planned out game. Perhaps a sandbox platform style GTA but for the three realms (heaven, earth, hell).

Black and White -slightly- touched on to an aspect of this, but not really.

Anyhow, was wondering what other unique games that deserve a revamp and proper funding are out there like this one? Would say things like simearth and such, but spore pretty much covered that (and nerfed it a bit, but whatever)

reply to post by SaturnFX


That does sound interesting. I'd like to see a revamp of the Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic game for Xbox. It's still a little modern I know but technology has changed so much I think it would be worth it.

But I do really like the idea of taking this concept and making it more like a sandbox type of game. I would play this for hours.

I remember that game!

I was never very good at it but maybe I should dig it out again....still have the CD somewhere.

Another game I really liked (point and click adventure) The Dig think it was LA as well.

I would like to see a hybrid of Civilization and Rome Total War. That way I can have all the detailed politics and city building of civ, with the 3d battles and strategy of Rome (or Rome like games). On top of this they should add in a third element where you actually play as an individual character on the battlefield, can level up and get better weapons and armor, and its like an FPS.

Furthermore it should scale from the stone age to the future.

It would cost an absurd amount of time and money to develop but it would be the most epic game ever.

i really like flash back on the c64, not sure what console the sequel fade to black was on. those games definately need to be remade.

reply to post by Seventhdoor


mount and blade is a bit like that, taking over towns and castles with armies and controlling a main character but its extremely simplified.

reply to post by Seventhdoor


Civilzation 4 had a mod like that, stone to space or something (cant remember it offhand..) but ya, you started like 30k bce and went on to basically technological ascension
and they didn't snip out the middle bits...actually they expanded the whole thing far more...adding in all sorts of new discoverys and wonders (such as instead of just music for instance, it was like tribal music, classical, strings, etc)...

I simply couldn't make it through a single campaign, after weeks of on/off playing (normally would have completed a huge campaign in less than a week of slow play)...it was a massive undertaking..and absolutely fantastic.

Yes, I would like civ to marry into the total war genre, but actually, I think TW series is slowly trying to push into civs corner and oust them...not sure if they can, but maybe.. One thing I dont like about the TW series is the static citys verses building your own. Once they allow for that, and expand the map by the factor of 20 or so, then ya, they may indeed be pushing out civ.

I just hope the next TW series is a redo of the medieval era again...I found the medieval total war absolutely great..alternatively, it might be time for a fantasy total war. No doubt there will be lotr mods in 3 seconds flat once its out

reply to post by SaturnFX

and the hell in that game are still heavenly when compared to Warhammer 40k

reply to post by SaturnFX


I remember playing Afterlife! That was an awesome idea. I would love to see a revamp of that game also.

As Seventhdoor mentioned mixing Civilization with the Total War series, in addition to playing as a character/general in battle (Think of the game "Kingdom Under Fire: "Crusaders" or "Hereos"....."Circle of Doom" was junk and not the same as the others)...that would be a great idea, although it would take a ton of money and time to develop it.

What would top my list would be a revamp of Dungeon Keeper. That game was amazing and I still play it, although it's unstable on most modern PC's. Long story short of what the game is - You are the Lord/Keeper of a dungeon in hell and battle the forces of good and other keepers. It's set up as a game where you build rooms and control demons from a view from above. It's set in real-time rather than turn based.

ETA - I do play the new Rome 2 Total War. It's cool and all, but MW2 is still my favorite. I just feel too limited with the unit pool and faction differences in Rome 2.