Strife

Strife (released in 1996) is a Doom-engine game created by Rogue Entertainment and published by Velocity. It offered an RPG-like action game, with heavy story elements and voice-acting. Among the features were hub-levels much similar to Hexen, the ability to increase the player's accuracy with most of the weapons, an item that could destroy forcefields, and the ability to raise your maximum health from 100 to as much as 200 permanently. Strife is also the very last commercial game to use the Doom engine.

Story
The following is as it is explained in the manual of the game: "You are a wandering mercenary, led to the small town of Tarnhill by rumors of conflict between The Order, a well-equipped religious dictatorship, and The Front, the rag tag resistance movement. While searching for The Front you decided to take a brief rest somewhere that you thought was safe. The Order acolytes have been rounding up all suspicious characters in the area. Yes, you happen to be one of them. What they didn't expect, though, is the knife you keep concealed for situations just like this one..."

A comet has hit the Earth, unleashing a virus and killing a large amount of the populace. A lot of the survivors started to hear the voice of a god in their heads (The Entity) and worshipped it. The Order took over the world and all women and children found were killed, forcing the survivors to go underground, while the men became peasants. The Order's rule is brutal and oppressive to the extent an underground resistance is formed. Calling themselves the Front (although in the shareware version it is referred to as 'The Movement'), they try and free themselves from the Order. However, the Order's technological advantage has dampened the Front's efforts.

Gameplay
Unlike most games built from the Doom engine, Strife allows for conversations with other people in the game (with voice acting for the more important ones) as well as a special "Query" key. This button lets the player know how long they have been playing Strife, as well as the current mission that has been given to the main character. There are also decisions that the player must make in order to progress through the game that changes the ending of the game. There are three such endings as a result, with only one being the "best" ending.

Strife is far more hub-like in its maps than Hexen, in that you can go back to nearly any of the maps you've been to before (with few exceptions). It is the most non-linear of the Doom-based games, with the possibility of doing several things out of order coupled with multiple endings.

Strife characters

 * Beldin
 * Blackbird
 * Derwin
 * False Programmers
 * Geoff
 * Governor Mourel
 * Harris
 * Irale
 * Judge Wolfnick
 * Ketrick
 * Keymaster
 * The Oracle
 * Macil
 * McGuffin
 * Quincy
 * Richter
 * Rowan
 * Sammis
 * Strifeguy
 * Warden Montag
 * Weran
 * Worner

Strife enemies

 * Acolyte
 * Bishop
 * Ceiling Turret
 * Crusader
 * The Entity
 * Inquisitor
 * Loremaster
 * Macil
 * The Oracle
 * Programmer
 * Reaver
 * Sentinel
 * Spectre
 * Stalker
 * Templar

Strife weapons

 * Punch Dagger
 * Crossbow
 * Assault Rifle
 * Mini-Missile Launcher
 * Grenade Launcher
 * Flamethrower
 * Mauler
 * Sigil (aka The Sigil of The One God)

Other Strife info

 * The Front
 * The Order
 * Accuracy Upgrade
 * Stamina Implant

Levels

 * MAP01: Sanctuary [registered version]
 * MAP02: Town [registered version]
 * MAP03: Front Base [registered version]
 * MAP04: Power Station
 * MAP05: Prison
 * MAP06: Sewers
 * MAP07: Castle
 * MAP08: Audience Chamber
 * MAP09: Castle: Programmer's Keep
 * MAP10: New Front Base (replaces MAP07 after the Programmer dies)
 * MAP11: Borderlands
 * MAP12: The Temple of the Oracle
 * MAP13: Catacombs
 * MAP14: Mines
 * MAP15: Fortress: Administration
 * MAP16: Fortress: Bishop's Tower
 * MAP17: Fortress: The Bailey
 * MAP18: Fortress: Stores
 * MAP19: Fortress: Security Complex
 * MAP20: Factory: Receiving
 * MAP21: Factory: Manufacturing
 * MAP22: Factory: Forge
 * MAP23: Order Commons
 * MAP24: Factory: Conversion Chapel
 * MAP25: Catacombs: Ruined Temple
 * MAP26: Proving Grounds
 * MAP27: The Lab (Strife
 * MAP28: Alien Ship
 * MAP29: Entity's Lair
 * MAP30: Abandoned Front Base (replaces MAP03 after the Programmer dies)
 * MAP31: Training Facility
 * MAP32: Sanctuary [demo version]
 * MAP33: Town [demo version]
 * MAP34: Movement Base [demo version]