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Nightdive Studios’ remaster of the 2002 cult classic horror shooter The Thing will take advantage of modern tech that wasn’t available to the original developers.
Talking to GamesRadar+, Nightdive Studios business development director Larry Kuperman explained the studio’s approach to remastering a cult classic versus remaking the game from the ground up. While he says there’s an “enormous amount” of assets being re-used, Kuperman adds that there will be some new stuff that brings the remaster closer to the original vision set out by Computer Artworks 22 years ago.
“[Computer Artworks was] really, really pretty happy, and justifiably so, with the game that they produced, but they were also aware of limitations, of things that they could not do simply because the technology, the game engine, did not support it,” Kuperman said. “And, without going into too much detail, without providing any spoilers, there are some things that, we were able to fulfill the original vision of the developers. That’s something that’s really important to us.”
Kuperman doesn’t get into any specifics in our chat, but at the end of the day, we’re talking about a remaster, not a remake. Nightdive did an excellent job with the 2023 System Shock remake, but The Thing is the same old bones with some modern refinements. “It will play the way you remember the original game playing, but that wasn’t the way it actually played,” Kuperman very succinctly explained.
It’s also important to Kuperman and the team at Nightdive that the spirit of the original game remains in-tact, and to that end, two of the original developers from Computer Artworks were brought on board as consultants for the remaster.
The Thing game is a squad-based third-person shooter that tells a direct sequel story to the beloved 1982 John Carpenter horror movie. It was mostly well-received at the time and was financially successful enough to have a sequel go into development before ultimately being canceled. The remaster, from the retro remaster pros at Nightdive, boasts a native 4K resolution at 120 FPS on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, as well as visual enhancements like improved textures, animations, and lighting.
The Thing: Remastered hits PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC later this year.
In the meantime, here are the best horror games you can play with the lights out tonight.