Kenji Eno Dead at 42

[bVork]

Eurogamer has the story:

Kenji Eno is probably best known as the creator of the D horror titles, but I'll always think of him as a man who made games in which the smallest things really mattered.

Besides his early spine-chillers, the designer and musician, who died yesterday from heart failure at the age of 42, also crafted One-Dot Enemies, which remains amongst the most stylish and striking and instantly appealing games on iOS, and the wonderfully titled You, Me and the Cubes, a surprisingly tense puzzler that gave WiiWare fans a rare combination of artful quirk and attention to detail.

His games were always more interesting than actually good, but I always appreciated the crazy stuff he tried. Enemy Zero is definitely no System Shock, but it's still a surprisingly tense FPS/horror game and probably my favourite of his works.

How about you guys? Did any of you like his games, and which ones (if any) were your favourites?

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I've read a few interviews over the last couple of years where he has hinted that he might come back to games. I'm so sad!
Being the huge 3DO fan that I am, I thought he was brilliant. D was the game that I wanted a 3DO for in the first place!
I had a Halloween tradition of playing through D for years.
I still need Short Warp.

[Yoshi]

I enjoyed D at the time. I'm not brave/foolish enough to go back to it now. Enemy Zero never really clicked with me, but I appreciate the uniqueness of what he was trying to do. It's too young, regardless of his game pedigree.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

(I never tried D2. I was all excited for it, but the press talked me out of it)

[Doc Holliday]

It had the first vagina I ever saw in a video game.

[Mzo]

I have D2 on my shelf. I think now is the time.

I'm scared.

[gamevet]

I loved D on the PlayStation, but I wasn't a big fan of D2 on the Dreamcast; I didn't play D2 until last year, though I've had it for years. Enemy zero was a pretty cool title, but it had a strange moments.

He was too young to die. Man, I just turned 45.

[Dolemite]

Wow. This is a bit of a shocker! Bvork was 100% spot-on when he said that Eno's games were always more interesting than actually good, and I also appreciated the crazy stuff he tried. I mean, here was a guy who made a sound-based videogame with no graphics. Dude was creative if nothing else, and there's not enough of that going around these days. I was holding out some hope that he would someday return to console gaming.

D was imperfect, but nonetheless a great and unique horror experience back in the day (I'm sure it hasn't held up well, however). I have a copy of EO lying around that I actually picked up last year...might give it a whirl later in his memory.

[Dolemite]

He was too young to die. Man, I just turned 45.

I know...first Bass Wolf at 38 (also of heart failure), and now this. What's up with the Japanese and their tickers?

[Bacon McShig]

I remember reading a story a few years back that said he was in the habit of just popping into used game stores and secretly signing any copies of his games that were around. Which was pretty awesome.