Chasm: The Rift

aka: Chasm: The Shadow Zone, The Chasm - Entering the Shadow Zone, Tron: The Hammer of War
Moby ID: 2691
DOS Specs

Description official descriptions

Chasm: The Rift is a 3D first-person shooter. As a Marine, the player has been sent inside a power plant to investigate the loss of power at the plant. They later discover that a group of monsters known as the Timestrikers are using the power to create ruptures in time that allow them to invade the Earth in three different time periods: present day, ancient Egypt, and medieval times. Timestrikers that have invaded the present day are also taking control of a nuclear plant in order to detonate a nuke that will destroy nearly all life on Earth.

The game starts in the present day, as the player goes inside the power plant and nuclear plant, battling strange-looking security guards and security systems that have gone haywire. They will then find the rifts that the Timestrikers are using to invade other time periods, eventually winding up at the Timestrikers' military base in the distant future.

The 2022 Windows release is not a remaster but built up completely from the ground, using reverse engineering and by-sight recreation, as the original source code is lost. In addition it includes a custom tailored DOSBox port of the original game. This release also incorporates the official add-on originally released as a patch on the developer's website. The add-on can be played both in the new version and the DOSBox version.

Spellings

  • カズム - Japanese spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

37 People (32 developers, 5 thanks) · View all

Programming
Graphics / Artwork
Character Design
Sound FX & CD Music
Level Editor
Level Design
Voices
Development Support
Special Thanks To
Packaging / Advertising / Manual Layout
Packaging / Advertisement Illustration
Biz
Executive Project Director
A&R
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 65% (based on 24 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 42 ratings with 1 reviews)

Overall a great game

The Good
Combat is very lively. Monsters are animated well and AI is above average, certainly better than that found in some of the other games from the same era. Monsters have more than one attack mode which they probably need since you can blast their limbs off. With the more powerful PCs we have now, playing this game at 640x480 with smooth frame rates is a total blast! Click on the link in the Related Sites section to see an example of gameplay.

The Bad
Its a DOS game so making it work in XP has been a pain in the ass. Fiddling with the compatibility mode settings made it run, but the problem was that it would crash when loading a level after a mission briefing. Everybody suggested Dosbox (currently v0.73) but that way you can only get a decent frame rate when you play at low resolution and that sucks. Eventually, what I did was that I would run it on Dosbox first, load a level and then save the game. Then I would run it in XP compatibility mode and load the game, thereby skipping the mission briefing. Other than that, everything works ok with no crashes during actual play. Its also a good idea to save a game before level completion. That way you won't get stuck if the game starts the next level with a mission briefing. Wish someone would just release a patch for this.

The Bottom Line
There were a lot of great games released back in the 1990s. It was a revolutionary time in the PC gaming industry what with Microsoft pushing to get people off DOS and onto NT, consumer priced 3D-accelerators taking off on the backs of big name 3D games like Quake and online head-to-head type games starting to become a worldwide phenomenon. Some games like Chasm The Rift, just didn't get the opportunity to really shine but if you're willing to put some elbow grease into it, you'll probably get a chance to see what a real 90s classic PC game looks like :)

DOS · by mind flayer (2) · 2009

Discussion

Subject By Date
Corrections Cantillon (75908) Apr 6, 2022
Official website (archive.org copy) MrFlibble (18144) Apr 20, 2013

Trivia

German index

On September 30, 1998, Chasm: The Rift was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. More information about this topic can be found in the game group. <3>German version There was a censored German version with green blood. They simply altered the game's color table to turn everything that was red into green. The introduction sequence with the mission assignment was also missing for unexplainable reasons.

Multiplayer

The game originally shipped without a multiplayer mode, and with some fairly serious bugs (inconsistent mouse sensitivity and a DOS timer bug). These bugs were fixed in a patch released shortly after the game shipped.

It has been criticized by users and press alike for not having a multiplayer mode, which was pretty much a necessity in first-person shooters by the time the game was released. In response to this, the developers released two patches in early 1998 that added multiplayer functionality to the game. One patch added Internet play, while the other added TCP/IP play for Windows 95 users. A new demo for the game was also released, which included the multiplayer mode and a more accurate representation of the retail game than the previous demo that was released in late 1996.

Ending [SPOILER!]

The hero must venture deep inside of a giant monster, and destroy it from the inside-out... not too different from how the arch-enemy of Quake, Shub-Niggurath is defeated.

Level maps

While the game features a 3D environment, the game level maps are limited to 2D (compare: Doom).

Information also contributed by Spartan_234, Sven Larsen and Xoleras

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  • MobyGames ID: 2691
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by jeremy strope.

Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Windows Apps, Nintendo Switch added by Plok. DOS added by Spartan_234. Windows added by BOIADEIRO ERRANTE.

Additional contributors: Jason Musgrave, Dae, Spartan_234, Cantillon, Rola, Patrick Bregger, jameskx2.

Game added November 30, 2000. Last modified March 8, 2024.