Developed by Nightdive Studios in partnership with Throwback Entertainment, an enhanced port for the PC and modern consoles combining elements of the Saturn and PlayStation versions, PowerSlave Exhumed, was announced on August 14, 2021, and released on February 10, 2022.
The city has been seized by unknown forces, with a special crack team of hardened soldiers sent to the valley of Karnak, to uncover the source of this trouble.
The player must battle hordes of extraterrestrial insectoid beings known as the Kilmaat, as well as their various minions, which include mummies, Anubis soldiers, scorpions, and evil spirits.
The player's course of action is directed by the spirit of King Ramses, whose mummy was exhumed from its tomb by the Kilmaat, who seek to resurrect him and use his powers to control the world.
In the good ending, the protagonist has collected eight pieces of a radio transmission device, so he can send a rescue signal and be extracted from the Valley.
In the bad ending, the player has failed to collect all eight pieces of the radio transmitter, and the protagonist is subsequently buried in the tomb of Ramses, only to be excavated centuries later by the now ruling forces of the Kilmaat and put on display as the last human corpse.
The final stage takes place aboard the Kilmaat mothership, where a nuclear weapon has been armed and is set to go off in 15 minutes, and has enough power to obliterate the planet.
In the bad ending, which occurs if the player loses all of their lives or fails to disarm the bomb in time, Earth is destroyed in a massive nuclear blast.
In the good ending, which occurs if the player makes it to the bomb on time, the Kilmaat retreat from the planet, but the main character is stuck on their ship and needs to find a way off.
Paul Schreiber created a tool called PeepShow that we used to set up all of the animations in the game, and Jeff Blazier developed an editor for object placement and ambient lighting.
Apogee Software released screenshots of the early working version with a slideshow of another of its published titles, Mystic Towers.
Because the levels designed for the Saturn version were not well-suited to the PlayStation technology, Lobotomy redesigned them to take better advantage of the specific hardware.
The HUD interface is different; featuring an ammo counter, lungs (oxygen levels) for swimming and animated mana and blood vessels.
On May 24, 2015, an unofficial port based on the PlayStation version called Powerslave EX was released by Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal for free.
The reviewer found that the Egyptian theme, varied and distinctive scenery, light-sourcing effects, and platforming elements set it apart from other first-person shooters, and concluded, "PowerSlave should wake up some people: This awesome Saturn shooter combines puzzles, pyramids, and pulse-pounding excitement into one tight package, all using the Saturn's processors like no game has before.
"[29] Rob Bright of Sega Saturn Magazine also bestowed it high praise, calling it "the game to set the standard for the first-person shoot 'em up genre."
[22] However, the four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly expressed more misgivings; while Shawn Smith hailed it for having more intelligent gameplay and plot than other first-person shooters, Dan Hsu and Sushi-X both said it is too similar to previous "Doom clones" to be of interest.
[18] Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot also said the game lacks originality, and argued that "Graphically, Power Slave doesn't really break any new ground."
He also criticized that the game starts with mundane enemies like spiders and birds, and takes too long to introduce genuinely menacing opponents.
[31] In his review of the PC version, Stephen Poole of GameSpot called the game flawed but fun, worth buying on discount.
[20][21] Next Generation praised the level design and enemies, but ultimately felt PowerSlave failed to distinguish itself in the wave of first-person shooters being released for PC.