Condemned: Criminal Origins

This game is really good, but unfortunately becomes less and less so as it goes on. It starts out as a Seven inspired horror detective game and homeless brawler but it takes a supernatural turn that is just not as appealing and does not feel like it even fits. It could have worked, but does not. What does work though is the incredible dingy atmosphere, horror, sound design and melee combat. This is still imo sort of a bar to reach when it comes to the combat part. It is frantic, quick and brutal with you literally pulling pipes off walls and hitting the actual teeth out from peoples faces. Fantastic stuff. Also a few of the different horror sequences are like unbelievably good and iconic (the damn mannequins...). It is a bit too inconsistent for my taste, but I would love to see this franchise see some new love but it will never happen as the sequel went too off the rails (also due to it not being as good). Cool game!

You need to install two mods to get the game running (See Steam Discussions for the fixes).

Back in the day Silent Hill and Resident Evil dominated the horror genre of the early to late 2000's, but Criminal Origins is so underappreciated for not only bringing a confusing yet engaging terrifying story it backs it up with great combat and the best hobo enemies you'll ever kill. It saddens me that this game doesn't get talked about allot for some of the all time greats of horror games but it holds its own and then some.

Condemned: Criminal Origins Review

The Game

The game is pretty good if you like playing as a detective/FBI in a horror game. Somehow those two mix well. Yes i know it's very dated but it just makes the game very spooky.

The Story

As FBI agent Ethan Thomas, you rely on sharp instincts and sophisticated forensic tools to investigate crime scenes, collect evidence, and find clues that will lead you to the killers. While investigating the growing list of serial killers, Agent Thomas concludes that something is twisting the bodies and souls of those that society has left behind. The homeless, addicted and deranged are rising from the city’s underbelly and committing mindless acts of violence. You’ll need to make sure nothing stops you as you try to uncover exactly who...or what is behind the grisly killings plaguing the city.

Gameplay

In this game you'll be doing investigation on various corps and items, solving puzzles and defending yourself against any threat that comes your way as you progress.

Combat

The combat is basic but gets the job done. You can use weapons that fire rounds although ammo is rare to come by. What is plentiful is melee items that can be use as a weapon. Both have various stats that easily lets the player know what to pick up or what to leave behind. You can also block incoming attacks if you time it right which isn't hard to do.

Performance

Ok so i have a pretty monster pc for specs but for some reason when i first started this game i immediately notice the game ran way below 30 fps and constant stuttering which made it unplayable. You need to search for an fps mod in order to run the game at 60 fps and fix the stuttering. I'm not sure how this was playable back in the day but it clearly don't run well on modern hardware for some reason. Anyways, when it's playable it plays well. Played at max lol.

Visual

It's from 2005 and is very dated. Don't expect much.

Soundtracks

I mean there might be some good ones on Youtube you can check out but nothing stood out to me.

Overall

If you're looking to play some spooky game then this classic is a good pick. It's underrated imo. Just make sure your download an fps mod so it's less frustrating playing through it. This game has some cool ideas i can see a modern detective game could have. This game would be cool if it was a remake. As sequel would also be cool but who knows.

Specs

Cpu - i7 13700K Stock
Cooler - Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE LCD Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard - Asus ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard
SDD - 2x Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
Gpu - Asus ROG Strix RTX 4080 Stock
Ram - Corsair 32GB DDR5 6000Mhz Xmp enabled
PSU - Corsair RM1000x (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Monitor - Asus XG27AQ ROG Strix 2560 x 1440p 170hz

https://www.twitch.tv/blakgamer64

fantastic game, one of my favorite horror and crime themed games, wish it would get a remake honestly as it is showing its age.
also
bring condemned 2 on pc pls i beg

Smashing Kenzos with lead pipes, a Philadelphian's dream. Even better when blasting them with 12ga. My friends and I often joke about driving around the ave, firing blowdarts laced with Narcan at the Kenzoids. This game makes the 'zoids out to be more threatening than they are in reality; in person, they're usually doing the FentSlump (tm) and can be easily dispatched with a crowbar to the base of the skull.

It's certainly showing its age, and it will take some troubleshooting online to get working right.

But this is a fantastic piece of gaming history. Highly recommend. Great for streaming to friends while playing.

Neat concept for a game. Enemies seem balanced, and has a good story. The downside is janky controls. Walking and running are inconsistent and you seem to get stuck on nothing.

very cool atmospheric dark game. I recommend it to everyone who likes to shiver in dark corridors.

SARINEKE SOOVITAB 100%

A very underrated game only the best horror gamers know this title ;)
Worth the purchase, a chilling & mad experience.

its been a while since i experienced a piece of art where pretty much every flaw just ended up making it more compelling to Me Specifically...super uncritically morally depraved in a way that perfectly reinforces the hyper-draining aesthetic, emotional, and mechanical experience. its easy for this kind of ultra-nihilism to just collapse into utter weightlessness, and while im not gonna pretend like u Feel The Loss Of Every Human Life You Take or whatever, the game is incredibly good at maintaining a deliciously and addictively pitch-dark weightiness. havent played a game since manhunt that has made all violence, whether committed to you or against u, this unpleasant. the narrative is mostly paper-thin but i am predictably generous to the parts where it breaks Best Practices as it slowly reveals its more outlandish genre leanings...there is even a source of comfort in the feeling that the world is Abandoned and being Corrupted, simply because it implies this is not its natural state. and its difficult to buy that the game gets worse as it goes on when its last level especially is one of the most satisfying mechanical climaxes ive experienced in a game in forever...kind of illustrative of lost potential as u imagine a whole game that made u learn more than one set of animations, but an extremely fun and challenging gauntlet all the same that proves that the simplicity of the game can still hold up to upscaling. if i could make video games, mashing up this set of mechanics with a manhunt spiritual successor would absolutely be a project idea id consider

killing homeless people is pretty fun

An underrated gem. I really enjoyed this game. You will need to install some patches to fix issues such as keyboard bindings not being saved and missing sounds. Aside from that, I experienced no other issues while playing. If you haven't already purchased this game, I highly recommend it. I'm hoping the sequel gets a PC port soon.

sux to know steam dosent have the sequal to this game im disappointed

Classic horror game. Very interesting and fun combat (melee and shooting). Survival mechanics are alright, but I had a bug where walking up and down stairs and other changes of elevation wouldn't allow my character to sprint. If you wanna play this game, go download the various fixes from the Guides, they are mandatory to a pleasant, modern experience.

They're in the ceiling.
(Please port condemned 2 already)

Police brutality simulator- venture the slums of Chicago beating the lights out of every hobo you see, that are also trying to turn your skull into a mass of red mist. Rip pipes out of walls in derelict buildings, protecting and serving the shit out of every damn hobo in sight.
Game also features spooky visions of a crazy sword man, the scariest mall santas you'll ever witness, and a boss fight of every health inspector's worst nightmare of a Cafeteria Cook in a local elementary school.

the enemies in this game say kind things to you :)

Cool game, if you like F.E.A.R you'll love this one too.

Con7demned

not a bad game but you have to work on it to get it run stable, its so fucking broken you cant even play at above 20 fps without tweaking some things

8/10

2 minute TLDR:

F.E.A.R. with a 2x4 - another absolute god-tier effort by Monolith. You will notice they rate highly in my reviews and for good reason. If you want frenetic, intense, brutal melee combat and a kinda janky but thoroughly enjoyable detective-thriller storyline, you NEED this game. I'd love to see the sequel drop on Steam at some point too. Can't recommend it enough.

Genuinely one of the best horror games I've ever played

amazing videogame

You play as Ethan a FBI agent assigned to the SCU department of the bureau. You first assignment is to track down and arrest a recent serial killer causing panic within metro city. One thing that really sold me on this game was it's truly unique systems from the A.I to how the game itself was laid out to the player. When looking for a weapon not only can the player choose to just take a pipe off the wall, but so can the enemies. Running around tearing down the environment grabbing whatever they can they think will do the most damage. the enemies in the game aren't stupid either almost the opposite to the point of it being terrifying at times. With most enemies breathing so quietly you won't hear them behind you until their footsteps are close enough. Enemies will purposely take cover and hold corners playing it safe, they will stalk the player waiting for the right time to strike you as well. You are given weapons in this game, but ammo is all but hard to find anywhere, and once the enemies hear your gun clicking they will rush you. This game genuinely made me jump and scream at some points especially when thinking I could relax and breathe for a moment just to see an enemy around the corner watching me. There is some supernatural elements to the game, but mostly it plays in its favor rather then taking away from the story. The story itself is very interesting as you are relentlessly trying to track this killer down all while trying to clear you own name. I rarely encountered any issues performance wise, but once main issue. I really wanted to give this game an 8 I was locked in on that number, but come the end of the game I get hard locked out of the ending and would have to restart the whole game to finish it. That is just unacceptable to even leave an issue like that in the final product regardless how many years its been. Criminal Origins really does the whole detective genre justice though despite the issues and can attract many players who love this type of thing. The graphics may seem on the older side and they are, but this plays well into the game-play really just making everything that much more scary for the player. This game really does a good job too of surprising the player and hitting them when you least expect it in the ways you most certainly didn't. Monolith definitely loved the project they made and I can back it being worth your time and money. Go pick this title up and try not to lose your mind in the process. 7/10
If you want to see more critical game reviews follow my curator page! https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44835038/

To play this game you need to:
1) Download and install the fixes by ThirteenAG (see Guide section),
2) Lock your FPS to 60 using RivaTuner, and
3) Buy a case of Depends

i rate i soo soo rate

Impeccable atmosphere.

Once upon a time "The Suffering" became my favorite horror game and whenever I would bring that up, people would say "Man, you should really play Condemned!". And I proceeded to not do that for 20 years. After all that time, I figured that maybe the time has come to try Condemned out.

And I didn't expect to find spooky-scary FPS Hotline Miami, that's for sure.

"Condemned" is one of those games that you play and then ask yourself "How isn't this a cult classic?" only to realise that it low-key already is. The game goes above and beyond to build its atmosphere and there's a lot of neat little additions here that truly elevate the entire experience. I'd love to give examples, but that would ruin the scares. And scares, trust me, there are 'a plenty.

The game plays like a charm, even in 2024. It's challenging, but not too much and it becomes very satisfying when you've pushed through and learned how to exploit combat to get the most out of it. The game looks great, thanks to all of the extra effort that went on the animation front. But if I have to be honest, the real star here is AI behaviour. Let me tell you: the folks who decided on how enemies would behave in this game are huge horror nerds, and I mean that as a compliment.

The game took me about 7 hours to beat. I was doing my best to find all collectibles on each level -- yes, this is a game from that era, which is fine -- but after failing to gather all of them on numerous occasions, I just gave up. That being said, for the hunters among you, this may become a neat side activity. Beyond it, however, there are few reasons to replay Condemned. Beyond vibes, I mean. Because this entire game is a vibe, for sure.

Issues? We've got some, sure. You've got to gather clues in this game and some you can only find by luck or with the help of a guide, but that only happens a few times. There are no problems like crashes or freezing: the game runs great. What isn't great, however, is enemy spam, which absolutely happens towards the end of the game. It is not a good time, but then again, it wouldn't really be a game of its time if this wasn't the case. Yes, the systems here are not always fair or accurate, but I'm inclined to say that this is part of Condemned's charm.

If you've never played “Condemned: Criminal Origins” and you have the urge to experience something in that classic grimy aesthetic, then this game should be just up your alley. It doesn't overstay its welcome and even decades later, it remains a really fun and scary time.

I’ve gotta be honest, after “The Suffering” scared the sh*t out of me, I wasn’t really too scared of the scenes here. But I can totally imagine how people, who are not in my unique disposition, would find this game to be really, really scary, so keep that in mind.

Also, can we get a remaster and port of the sequel on here already? We’ve waited enough.

Spooky game

I turned someones head into a cave.

10/10

Oh god do I remember playing this for the first time when I was young. This game gives you a feeling of actually being scared when your progressing the story, it does give you chills when you go on and on towards the ending. This game is what horror games were actually about and I think if your looking for an old scary game I think this is actually it. Id like to see if people can get that old feeling when you were scared just by starting the game. But in my book this is a game you should def try out.

:(

trust me im a cop

This is a good game.