Exhumed

Exhumed for PlayStation is Lobotomy Software’s first-person action game, published in PAL territories by BMG Interactive in March 1997. Known as PowerSlave in North America, this is the PlayStation edition of Lobotomy’s Egyptian science-fiction adventure rather than the separately designed DOS game of the same era. The journey begins after an ancient Egyptian city, Karnak, is cut off by hostile otherworldly forces. Playing as a covert-operations specialist sent into the crisis, the player enters a maze of deserts, temples, mines and tombs in an attempt to stop the invaders and uncover the fate of Pharaoh Ramses.

Viewed from the protagonist’s eyes, Exhumed combines shooting, exploration and demanding environmental navigation. The initial machete is soon joined by firearms, explosives and supernatural weapons, so confrontations can range from close-quarters attacks to ranged fire against insect-like aliens, mummies, Anubis warriors and other threats inspired by the game’s Egyptian setting. Doors, switches, traps, moving platforms and hazardous drops make the levels more than straightforward combat arenas. On the original PlayStation controller, the directional pad handles movement, the shoulder buttons strafe, Square attacks, Circle activates objects, X jumps and Triangle manages looking up or down.

Karnak is laid out as an interconnected campaign rather than a one-way sequence of missions. Completing an area can reveal multiple exits on the world map, while previously visited locations remain worth revisiting when the right equipment or ability has been found. This structure turns progress into a search for routes as well as an exercise in survival: a passage that was unreachable early in the adventure may become accessible after the hero gains a new sacred artifact. Swimming sections, elevated paths and lava-filled obstacles give those discoveries practical value, encouraging careful use of movement powers instead of treating every new item as a simple weapon upgrade.

The PlayStation version features more than twenty stages across the ancient city and Ramses’ tomb. Six powerful artifacts expand the explorer’s movement options, including abilities associated with higher jumps, levitation and underwater travel, while bosses punctuate the wider expedition. There are also eight hidden pieces of a radio transmitter to locate. Their presence is signposted on the map and collecting the full set affects the outcome of the adventure, giving thorough explorers an additional objective beyond reaching the next exit. The result is a console shooter with a strong emphasis on mapping, platforming and returning to old territory with new capabilities.

This PlayStation release was built on Lobotomy’s SlaveDriver technology, not the Build-engine technology used by the DOS edition. Its fully rendered 3D spaces include vertical routes between floors, sloped environments and dynamic lighting effects, helping fires and projectiles stand out in darker interiors. Lobotomy also reworked areas for the PlayStation hardware, so it should not be treated as an identical conversion of the earlier Sega Saturn version; several locations have different layouts and architecture. The PAL disc supports English, French, German and Spanish text and gameplay, and it was designed for standard digital PlayStation controllers.

Exhumed is the European name attached to this console campaign, while the North American PlayStation release is PowerSlave and the Japanese release carries the title Seireki 1999: Pharaoh no Fukkatsu. Those names matter because the PC release differs substantially in its engine, level design and progression, whereas this entry concerns the 1997 PlayStation adventure. The game later informed PowerSlave Exhumed, a modern release that combines material from the original console versions, but the PS1 Exhumed remains its own particular take on the trek through Karnak: an Egyptian-themed first-person quest where new powers continually reshape the places that can be explored.