Why Chasm: The Rift wasn't Reopened

Chasm: The Rift Screenshot. Taken from MobyGames.

Status of many games changes with passage of time. While some titles earn their rightful place within the industry as an "all-time classic" with cult following, there're many other examples that were less fortunate. There're many examples where you can argue whenever the game deserved the overall reputation it got or if it needs more or less attention, but that's all a thing of the past for the most part. Luckily for us, time is often acts like a cycle (I'm well aware of that, trust me) and that allows certain "hidden gems" to capture player's attention yet again with different results from their original release and perception.

Each situation is unique in details as there're many factors that play its role in such scenario: from a company acquiring the rights to re-release a specific game commercially or as a freeware to an enthusiast putting it on Internet's spotlight through article or video. Anyway, people discover such title for the first time or go back to that obscure game they couldn't quite remember from their past and Chasm: The Rift is one of the great examples of that. I wanted to talk about it for a while now to show what's the deal with it and why it didn't make a "proper comeback" in a way of an actual re-release on digital platforms or gained an aformentioned freeware status in favor of abandonware.

A Late Breakthrough.

Not a lot of people might be familiar with Chasm, so it's important to provide some context as to why it's such a big deal for some players. As of writing of this post, I sadly still haven't gotten around to actually play Chasm: The Rift due to various reasons, so keep that in mind. This is not a review and shouldn't be a problem. Still, I pretty much admire this title for what it is and hope to enjoy it proper someday: at least through its demo version.

Let's get to the point. Chasm: The Rift was the first project of Ukrainian developer Action Forms and it is a very impressive one. From technical standpoint, it can easily fit between DOOM and Quake with using 3D objects and models on maps without room-over-room capability and other similar limitations. They make up for it through different kinds of advancements: jumping, shadows and even dismemberment system (before Soldier of Fortune) with relatively low system requirements and price tag. Despite all of that, Chasm still ended being "somewhat janky" and it was released too late to have a chance against the likes of Quake, especially in terms of multiplayer that was popular at the time.

And that's just a short summary of this game's story. There's obviously more to be said about Chasm: The Rift (especially given the general lack of reviews of this title), but that wasn't my goal this time around. With that out of the way, it's time to move over to the main subject of this article.

Into The Shadow Zone.

It was important to talk about the reception of this game as that's one of the factors that played its role in Chasm's current position. Actually, that's the main one. Seriously. In order to prove that, you just have to dig up an interview with Igor Karev (founder of Action Forms) from now defunct website Ave Games:

Ave Games: "What about Chasm? The brand. Do you have it?"

Igor Karev: "We have everything."

Ave Games: "Are you planning a re-release? Like, on GOG?"

Igor Karev: "No. It only makes sense to do something with a product that sold well. While Chasm did sell well enough, it was, let's just say, killed at birth by the publisher. There was an unpleasant story. But that's alright because we got a lot of experience, we entered American market and, accordingly, got connections with Atari and were able to keep going with Carnivores. And Carnivores' sales told us that we can make re-release, told us we can work on sequels and they're being worked on, and we're happy with what we're achieving."

<...>

Ave Games: "I was just surprised recently, why there was a question, that a lot of people remember Chasm - people overseas, like 'I didn't liked Vivsektor, but Chasm was cool'. Same GOG - they're DRM-free..."

Igor Karev: "Its so bad, it probably won't even run."

That pretty much sums it all up. Interestingly enough, he also says that Action Forms wasn't closed, but fallen into "cryostasis" (good one) and that seems to be the case to this very day. Although I think its worth follow up a bit on that "unpleasant story" as Igor did mention something interesting regarding that in his interview with App2Top:

Igor Karev: "...Back in 95, when we were developing Chasm: The Rift, it was pretty hard get a publishing deal for an unknown studio from Ukraine. But we found a small publisher that trusted us and took up the project.

In 1997, when we finished and released Chasm, that small publisher re-signed our contract with GT Interactive, a huge American company that at the time published famous games like DOOM, Blood and Unreal. We haven't seen any royalties from Chasm's sales since the small publisher went bankrupt."

Although he doesn't mention the company by name, he's probably talking about MegaMedia Corp. since that publisher was the one that appears to be closed as of 1998: after all, GT Interactive and WizardWorks survived a bit longer. You can't really find anything on MegaMedia, but there's one more thing worth mentioning in this mess. However, this time you just have to take my word for it as all of that comes from Discord servers and not certain sites, interviews or other kinds of proper sources.

I've seen a few times how the topic of re-releasing Chasm: The Rift was brought up in 3D Realms' Discord servers and one of its moderators multiple times stated that both Frederik Schrieber and Stephen King tried to make that a reality, but ultimately failed due to an owner being uninterested in such project. Strangely enough, it probably wasn't even Igor Karev who they tried to negotiate with, but the founder of defunct MegaMedia Corp. that reportedly just doesn't have any interest in working with games.

So, we might have a pretty messy situation here were the rights for Chasm's brand and publishing of the original game are split between two parties and both of them are just not interested in working out any kind of deal to bring it back, despite the fact that demand is clearly there. Although there's no way for me to actually verify half of presented information as I'm just a nobody with a blog on Internet, and it's very unlikely I would manage to get any kind of response from anyone mentioned here, I'm confident enough to just leave it at that: at the very least, those quotes from the founder of Action Forms are out there.

Conclusion.

You know, Chasm: The Rift is a prime example of an abandonware title. It was literally abandoned by everyone involved without any interest in proper comeback. Some might say it's for the best as you just get it from the Internet if you're not against such approach instead of hoping that somehow this game will end up on Steam and/or GOG. Otherwise, you can always hunt for a physical version of the game or simply deal with it. However, let's end this post on a happier note since Chasm: The Rift actually did have some impact on certain retro FPS titles and got some proper attention recently with the release of Cursed Land and Grim Borough: two level packs for this "forgotten" gem.

David Szymanski, the creator of DUSK, really loves Chasm: The Rift. This was the first game he purchased for himself and he expressed his appreciation of this titles in multiple interviews (such as this one) and various tweets. Another great example would be HROT, which is a fantastic game and a true spiritual successor to Chasm. I mean, engines for both of these games were written in Pascal, of all things. That's how close together they are!

So yeah, even if there's next to no chances for getting a proper re-release for this old game, the legacy of Chasm: The Rift would still live on thanks to those who appreciate it. Perhaps this game isn't great and it has some flaws that didn't allow it to reach its full potential, but I think that's completely fine. A game doesn't have to be perfect in order to be enjoyable. Just give Chasm: The Rift a try, seriously: there's even a demo version out there for that!