David’s Retro Rewind: MediEvil

“I used to be the hero of Gallowmere like you, but then I took an arrow in the eye.” That quote doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as the one from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but I think it introduces the topic of today’s discussion well enough. Considering we’re in October now, I thought I would bust out the old Retro Rewind banner as an excuse to cover a handful of horror and horror-themed titles from my younger years throughout this month.

I figured there’s no better way for me to begin that process than with my personal favorite of the relevant games on my list. Let’s dig into Sony Computer Entertainment’s MediEvil for the original PlayStation. Released on October 21st, 1998 in North America, this title sees players help the fallen “Hero of Gallowmere,” Sir Daniel Fortesque, redeem himself in the eyes of his peers. He is accidentally brought back from the dead by the evil sorcerer known as Zarok and must try to stop him from plunging the world into darkness.

Those of you who enjoy MediEvil as much as I do are probably well aware that the game has been re-released twice: once in the form of MediEvil: Resurrection on the PSP back in 2005, and again in a fully remastered incarnation for the PlayStation 4 in 2019. Alexx reviewed the latter of these re-releases in the past. If that’s more up your alley, you can definitely check it out if you’d like.

Let’s start with MediEvil’s plot. The game’s introductory cutscene explains that in a sleepy village known as Gallowmere, there lived the aforementioned sorcerer, Zarok. Zarok hated his fellow villagers for their peaceful lifestyles, as Gallowmere had not seen a state of war in centuries. So, he did what any pitiless sorcerer would do in his shoes: he had a change of heart, befriended everyone in the territory, and brought the kingdom into an age of prosperity that would last forevermore.

I’m just kidding. He actually took it upon himself to raise an army of demons and lay siege to the village and its king. Our protagonist, Sir Daniel, was probably only put in charge of Gallowmere’s attempts to repel Zarok’s unholy army due to his peerless talent for storytelling. As far as the king knew, Sir Daniel was indeed a hero who had accomplished a slew of incredible feats according to how often he boasted about having done so. As a result, the king saw him as an obvious choice to lead the first charge against the necromancer.

That is (of course) until Sir Daniel ended up demonstrating his severe lack of combat prowess by becoming the first to die in the ensuing war. He was hit directly in the eye by a stray arrow fired by one of Zarok’s archers. The king, in what was probably a mixture of disbelief and embarrassment, spun the tall tale that Sir Fortesque had nearly single-handedly bested Zarok’s entire army and, though he was mortally wounded himself, “destroyed the sorcerer utterly.”

This fabricated version of events is how Sir Daniel was remembered for the next hundred years until Zarok reared his ugly head once more. Zarok entered Gallowmere in the dead of night and cast a spell that brainwashed all of its residents, turning them into his new army. He then entered the kingdom’s graveyard and further bolstered his forces by reanimating everyone who had been buried there. What Zarok was blissfully unaware of, however, was that he had also inadvertently resurrected Sir Daniel while performing his heinous sorcery.

It then falls to you to control Sir Daniel and aid him in his quest to defeat Zarok once and for all. Should you succeed in your mission, you’ll also help old Danny Boy earn his rightful place in the Hall of Heroes alongside the arguably more deserving legendary warriors of Gallowmere. Then you see another cutscene where newly-reanimated Dan shakes off the mental cobwebs and pulls the physical ones out of the hole where his eye used to be, before setting about his heroic journey.

Daniel is greeted by a pair of talking, sarcastic, gargoyle-like figures who proceed to mock him for his previous ineptitude. They also insist on rubbing salt in the wound by consistently referring to Sir Dan as “it” rather than “him.” After Dan assures the gargoyles that “[he’ll] show them,” you can explore Dan’s crypt for a while to help you get accustomed to MediEvil’s control scheme and learn how certain gameplay mechanics work.

Firstly, you can pick up a short sword, some throwing daggers, and a copper shield. These items work in tandem to offer you better combat abilities than just swinging around Sir Fortesque’s detachable arm as a weapon. Secondly, you’ll find a bit of gold, which you can spend on items by visiting merchant gargoyles in each level. Lastly and arguably most importantly, you’ll acquire your first Life Bottle.

Life Bottles are crucial because if you should happen to lose all 300 of your health points at any given time outside of Dan’s crypt, you’ll be revived on the spot and allowed to continue so long as you have at least one Life Bottle that’s even so much as partially filled. Otherwise, you’ll be met with a game over and be forced to restart the level. Essentially, the more active Life Bottles you have in your possession, the more chances you’ll be granted before you’re introduced to the “game over” screen.

Once you’ve decided you’re ready to leave Dan’s crypt and brave the land of Gallowmere, you’ll start out in the kingdom’s graveyard. Here, you’ll face off against an onslaught of Zarok’s undead minions, though they’re thankfully fairly weak so long as you don’t allow their numbers to overwhelm you. As you slay your enemies, you’ll likely notice the existence of another important gameplay mechanic, namely the concept of each level’s collectible chalice.

Each level has its own hidden chalice which must first be filled by killing a certain amount of enemies. Should you fill any given level’s chalice completely and manage to locate and collect it before you exit your current level, you’ll be granted the ability to briefly visit the aforementioned Hall of Heroes at the end of the stage. Ideally, you’ll want to collect as many chalices as you can for two primary reasons. Firstly, you can only get the canonical good ending by collecting all the chalices”

Secondly, and more importantly for practical gameplay factors, you’ll usually be granted a boon each time you visit the Hall of Heroes. For example, if you collect the chalice in the first graveyard level, you’ll receive a new weapon in the form of a crossbow upon entering the Hall at the conclusion of said stage. The new armaments you can only obtain from the Hall of Heroes will serve you well for at least one specific purpose more often than not. That’s why I’d say it is vital that you acquire as many of these chalices as possible.

Beyond the simple fact that I chose to cover MediEvil in a Retro Rewind because it’s thematically appropriate for the month of October, there’s another reason I wanted to publish a portion of my thoughts on the game in an article like this. When I was a lad, I never actually owned a fully-fledged copy of this title. My only experience with it back then was on one of those discs full of game demos that Pizza Hut used to distribute.

Nowadays, I’m glad to say I’ve rectified this discrepancy so that I can finally experience all of Sir Daniel Fortesque’s adventures in Gallowmere. Covering MediEvil for this article has given me both the motivation and the excuse to eventually finish the game after all these years. Having the freedom to create pieces like this is but one of many reasons I love my line of work so much. I hope this article has started to get you in the Halloween spirit! There will be at least a couple more articles from me in the same vein throughout the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for those if you’d like to celebrate alongside me!