Hey there, gamers! Today we are calling for all fans of sci-fi, action, and stealth games, especially veterans who remember playing this timeless title on their Playstation 2 or PC back in 2004. Today, we are talking about the game Second Sight.
The cult-favorite psychic game Second Sight has returned to Steam eight years after it was removed. Additionally, a brief message indicating that “a past jewel has made its way back online on Steam” has been added to the game’s Steam page. Therefore, it implies that the series might be studied more thoroughly in the future.
In December 2012, Second Sight was initially removed from Steam due to “legal concerns.” Codemasters, the IP’s original owners, have never commented on the game’s removal, however, it is believed that legal issues arose after Crytek bought the creators, Free Radical Games, in 2009.
The game has finally been re-released on Steam after THQ Nordic acquired the rights to it in 2018, ending the game’s protracted exile from the store. The game’s return has not yet received a response from THQ Nordic. Third-person shooter Second Sight has psychic powers like telekinesis and healing.
Although it was favorably reviewed by critics, it lost popularity once it was published. Given its age, I am sure most of you have not heard of this game, but you guys might want to ask your parents or older siblings because they do view it as a classic. While playing this game, you will question why it took so long for developers to incorporate psychic abilities into computer games.
Although it has been done before, it has never been just this way. In terms of how it incorporates abilities into the main plot, Second Sight is unlike any other game. With a focus on players using their psychic talents to withstand dangerous opponents and solve challenging riddles, the action of the game alternates between gun battles and stealth. So let us jump right into the plot without wasting any time. So, guys, relax and enjoy the show!
The Plot
Here’s the gist: The player assumes the role of an American parapsychology researcher who wakes up in a medical facility with no memory of their past and incredible psychic talents, and uses these abilities to uncover their past and involvement in a mission with a US Marines specialist unit.. Talking about the setting,
The game is set in a universe where parapsychology exists, and secret parapsychology research programmes were conducted after WWII in the Soviet Union, revealing proof that strong psychic abilities could be passed down genetically to other individuals. Between two different times in the same year in the late 1990s, the story takes place in locales across the United States and Siberia, as well as a training base in Germany.
The game’s major antagonist is the National Security Executive (NSE), a fictional US government entity that wants to use parapsychology research for its own purposes. So You’ll play as John Vattic, an amnesiac as mentioned before. John awakens in a government building, bloodied and bandaged, after an unnaturally extended coma.
John slowly realises that his mind is brimming with all kinds of psychic coolness despite having no idea where he is or even who he is. He has the ability to move things with his mind alone, heal himself with his mind, and even project himself out of his body. Regrettably, John awakens from his slumber without even a pair of decent underwear.
You’ll spend the next 15 hours or so sneaking into a mental institution, breaking into government buildings, and storming a Siberia base. You’ll disclose a horrific conspiracy, confront perverted government officials, and uncover dark plots. John will experience many flashbacks which will help him recover a lot of his memories including his name and who he was.
In one of the flashbacks he recalls being recruited by the Pentagon six months ago to aid Winter Ice – a special squad of US Marines led by Colonel Joshua Starke and his psychic adviser Jayne Wilde – in an important assignment.
The task force had been given orders to travel to Siberia in order to recover Victor Grienko, a prominent Russian scientist who had undertaken substantial parapsychology research and was seeking political asylum in the United States. Back in the present, Vattic acquires access to the facility’s patient records, only to discover that Wilde was killed in an ambush by Russian troops while on the mission.
The game employs a clever (and excellent) narrative method that tells two connected stories simultaneously. Every level will take you back six months to Vattic’s participation in Operation Winter Ice. The way the game feeds you small snippets of backstory as you go through the current events produces a compelling plot that piques your attention and makes you want to understand more about what’s going on.
One of the most fun parts of this game is discovering new abilities, it is such an important element of the game that we’ll keep it unclear because we are nice and we don’t want to spoil anything. I’ll say there are five primary skills in the game, each of which evolves with time. Within the first three levels, two of the most useful skills, healing, and telekinesis, are revealed. Telekinesis is useful for opening doors and flipping switches, and healing is there for you know healing.
The Gameplay
Players control the protagonist through a series of levels, completing tasks, fighting hostile enemies, and solving some minor riddles and puzzles. While most of the game’s action is viewed from a third-person perspective, sometimes players are forced to change to a first-person view (e.g. crawling through a vent).
Every level features a variety of situations, ranging from full-scale combat to the use of stealth and subterfuge to avoid enemies and achieve important objectives. Assault rifles, submachine guns, pistols, and sniper rifles are among the weapons players can use in close combat and gun combat, with the ability to hide behind cover and an aiming system that allows players to hit specific body parts on an opponent.
Second Sight functions as a stealth action game with psychic powers. In addition to backing against walls and peeking around corners, Vattic can sneak up quietly and knock out an oblivious foe, or shoot with a tranquilizer pistol to silently eliminate a foe from afar, as well as use telekinesis, he can project an astral version of himself to traverse areas inaccessible to his corporeal body, and to hurl objects (and enemies) around a room.
You can also use a healing effect, psionic attack projectiles, and a charm that renders you invisible for a brief period to enemies. There are plenty of situations in the game where using your mind or shooting with a bunch of guns is either a good or a bad strategy.
As well as enemies, the player must also avoid security cameras; they can be shut down if the player finds the computer terminal that controls them. In stealth mode, if the player is spotted by an enemy or camera, then an alarm is triggered that increases the number of enemies in the section of the level that the player is in, as well as triggering enemies to seek out the player and engage them.
The alarm is only cancelled if enemies are unable to find the player after some time. Initially, the player has only a few powers, but they unlock new ones and upgrade those they already possess throughout the story. When players are affected by such powers, they are either drained of psychic energy in a set amount or over time; if they are drained of psychic energy, they are temporarily stunned for a few seconds, becoming vulnerable.
One unique power that the players gain access to at the start of the game is the ability to heal themselves, which later becomes the ability to heal allied characters that a player has in later stages of the game; in some of the earlier stages of the game, players do not possess psychic abilities, so any damage they take must be repaired by means of first aid kits found within the level.
Second Sight is well-implemented thanks to Free Radical’s experience developing shooters. Free Radical’s biggest hit to date is “TimeSplitters”, so it makes sense that the shooting is well-done. In addition, the sniper-rifle effect appears in the lower right corner instead of switching to a disorienting first-person view.
There’s a lot of fun to be had with the psychic powers in both puzzles and combat, but the game lets you fall back on good, solid firearms if you prefer. It’s not all shooting and mind-zapping in most of the game’s 17 levels. The game features several levels with buddy mechanics in which you fight with one or more friendly non-player characters. In one of these levels, you even get to protect a member of Winter Ice who has gone insane.
The player uses computers numerous times throughout the game, and Free Radical has created a simple graphical interface for them that lets him read emails, copy files to disc, control doors and security cameras, and even play a handful of rudimentary arcade games when the time comes.
This may appear insignificant, but it’s a lot more satisfying than simply walking up to a terminal and pressing the “use” button. A lot of the puzzles are the vintage standbys like “throw a switch” or “move an object from point A to B,” but the creators of this game often find innovative ways to include your psychic abilities into the solutions, which keeps the game fresh.
The Developers
Second Sight was originally developed by British Developers Free Radical Design and they are best known for the TimeSplitters series. However, in 2009 the studio was acquired by German Developers Crytek and would be named Crytek UK ( who are known for Crysis 2 and 3). The studio closed in 2014, and the majority of the employees were relocated to the newly founded Dambuster Studios.
The studio’s original founders reassembled in May 2021 to create a new TimeSplitters installment. Deep Silver is the moniker given to the current studio incarnation. In August 2018, THQ Nordic purchased the game’s rights and they will be able to reprint the game as well as create new titles under the terms of the agreement. And It was them only who relisted the game on Steam in April 2021.
Our Final Thoughts
Second Sight contains several interesting concepts, but it also has significant flaws. Things have a rough edge to them in general. The enemy artificial intelligence isn’t particularly bright; at times it’s unrealistically easy to evade foes after an alarm has been sounded, while at other times it appears as if you’ve been caught for no reason; the physics model is functional but shoddy; objects will occasionally continue to move indefinitely or pass through walls after you’ve bumped them; and the physics model is functional but shoddy.
None of these flaws stand out enough to detract significantly from the game, but when taken together, they do. But we must also consider the fact that this game was developed in the ear;y 2000s when technology and engines were not so evolved.
If you’ve played any of the TimeSplitters games before, you’ll notice a lot of stylistic parallels in Second Sight. Character models are primarily to be held responsible, as they have caricatured, cartoon-like qualities that give them a lot of personality, especially in the numerous cutscenes.
The characters’ expressive facial and bodily motions really bring them to life—they emote incredibly well, with an overdone style that’s compatible with their attributes. As you go from Dubrensk, Russia, to other locations in the United States, you’ll notice a lot of variety in the backdrops. The game avoids using a lot of flashy graphical effects in favour of a simple aesthetic that is consistent across all platforms. You’ll get a greater frame rate on the Xbox and GameCube versions, but it won’t be as consistent (that is, the slowdown is more evident). If you wish to play one of the three versions, you should choose based on which system’s controller you like, as they all look and play similarly.
Because Second Sight is a story-driven game with a lot of cutscenes, there’s a lot of spoken conversation. Fortunately, the acting is of a reasonable standard. Some characters sound more natural or appropriate than others, but overall, this sounds like something out of a typical animated series.
In the places where it succeeds in lending a slightly dark air to Vattic’s rushed pursuit for the truth, the music is quite good. The sound effects are brilliant as well. Because there isn’t really a frame of reference for what they should sound like, the creators deserve extra credit for making them seem so convincing. Metacritic gave the game positive reviews on all platforms except the PC version, which garnered average reviews.
The game was featured in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, which was published in 2010. Some have compared the level design and gameplay to “Half-Life,” while others have compared it to “Doom 3,” but to be honest, it has been 18 years and there are very few games that can be compared to it, yes it is quite unique.
In conclusion we would like to say, Second Sight is a solid single-player adventure that demonstrates Free Radical’s versatility outside first-person shooters. It has problems and isn’t very long or replayable—you’ll probably finish it in 12 to 15 hours with little motivation to go back—but it’s entertaining while it lasts.
So, let us know what you thought of this video and which additional games you’d like us to talk about in the comments area below, and don’t forget to Like, Share, and Subscribe to our channel. signing off, and we hope to see you again the next time.