Commander Keen is a legend and the first game I can recall playing endlessly as a kid. The series, along with Duke Nukem I& II, are the main reason I became a PC gamer back when everyone was playing Mario Bros.
At E3 2019 Bethesda showed off a new Commander Keen game to fans at the show. I was utterly excited that one of my most nostalgic games (hell, I own Commander Keen on the damn Switch) was coming back. Thoughts of the game that proved smooth platforming games were possible on the PC returning tickled me.
Then I saw the game showed off and wanted to die. It felt like my childhood was dead. Bethesda was bringing back Commander Keen only to squeeze money out of fans with a crappy mobile game. I really wanted to love what was on offer, but even as the show it seemed Bethesda didn’t have its heart into the game.
The Bethesda booth feature a lone Commander Keen stand with some video clips that were shown during their presentation. No staffer was there to pitch the game to press, no swag to promote it, and it was even tucked away to the point you could totally miss it.
I wanted to love this and even adored the new cartoonish art style. More Saturday morning cartoon than pixelated mannequin with a helmet and with a cute little partner. Th trailer looked fun and like a well-produced kids show.
The gameplay was incredibly limited but showed some very basic platforming but offered little. Looking back it did feel more like a pitch for a TV show than an actual game. But it seemed ther game just wasn’t what die-hard fans wanted.
This was going to be a microtransaction-filled mess that turned Keen into a cute cartoon. Now it seems that Bethesda has taken note as all references to the games have been scrubbed from the internet.
All trace of it of social media are gone and the website for the game now simply redirects yous back to the main Bethesda site. Let’s just hope that the team is restructuring the game as a more traditional platformer instead of the mobile mess it was turning into.
You can even keep the cute cartoon style and the partner mechanic. Just make it a good platforming game you dicks. The decedent of B.J. Blazkowicz deserves better.
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