FEAR is a kind of video games we lament as a result of the issues that have been nice about it really feel like they have been misplaced, for few now reside who keep in mind it. Certain, there’s Trepang2. However FEAR was so good there must be a complete subgenre primarily based on it. There must be a complete cottage business of indie studios making singleplayer shooters with slow-motion and superior enemy AI and one thing supernatural thrown in to provide the willies simply if you’re feeling overpowered.
Anyway, as a substitute of being all unhappy about how historical past turns into legend and legend turns into fable, let’s have a good time the truth that FEAR stays extremely playable right now—in case you obtain the Echo Patch. It isn’t a kind of video games that is fully busted with out mods, however in case you play it at any decision above 1080p all of the textual content will seem like it was written for ants.
The Echo Patch fixes that, and provides controller help so you’ll be able to play it in your Steam Deck. It additionally enables you to disable the letterboxing in cutscenes and optionally make the flashlight final endlessly in case you do not wish to must chase down batteries for it.
By way of bugfixes, the Echo Patch offers with lots of issues that emerge in case you run FEAR at excessive framerates. There’s “ragdoll physics instability” and “extreme water splash repetitions” in case you go above 60 fps, and do you have to run it at greater than 120 fps you’d end up unable to do a jump-kick, which is simply unconscionable. All that and extra is fastened within the Echo Patch.
It even makes the world state persistent, so all these bullet holes stay to remind you of the shootouts in days previous. Our bodies, blood, shell casings, and different particles grasp round as properly as a substitute of despawning prefer it’s 2005 and we have to consistently clear the decks earlier than your PC overheats from having to depict too many polygonal useless males on the identical time.
The Echo Patch may be downloaded from Github, and is a straightforward set up. Unzip it into the folder FEAR.exe is in, and tweak the .ini information if you wish to allow elective stuff like turning off letterboxing or disabling the GOG model’s 60 fps restrict.
