Summary
- The Thing: Remastered is Nightdive Studios' fastest-selling launch title ever, surpassing expectations.
- The improvements made in the remaster, beyond graphics, include balancing infection features for a fairer experience.
- Fans can expect more remasters from Nightdive Studios thanks to the success of The Thing: Remastered.
New financial reports indicate that The Thing: Remastered is Nightdive Studios’ fastest-selling launch title ever. Nightdive Studios is well-known for the quality of its remasters, and it seems that The Thing: Remastered has surpassed expectations, being a huge hit for the developer.
Originally released in 2002, The Thing was a direct sequel to the 1982 film, something unusual, considering most games based on movie franchises were adaptations at the time. The PS2 title was a third-person game with strong horror vibes and sold over a million units back in the day, becoming known as one of the scariest games of its era. The remaster of The Thing was announced last year, and the game was finally released by the Atari subsidiary Nightdive Studios on December 5, 2024.
After The Thing Remastered, NightDive Can Do the Same With Another Horror Cult Classic
Following the good reception for NightDive's recent remaster of The Thing, there's a similar classic game the studio could give the same treatment to.
Now, a recent 2024 end-of-year business report from Atari (via Yahoo Finance) revealed that The Thing: Remastered was the fastest-selling release title from Nightdive Studios. While no numbers of sales were officially shared, Atari pointed out that the game was very well received by gamers and critics alike. Part of why the release was so successful is likely tied to the improvements made by Nightdive Studios in The Thing: Remastered, which go far beyond mere graphical improvements. The original game had some scripted “burst-out” sequences where characters were forced to get infected, and this was removed to make the experience less frustrating. To balance things out, however, the developers made some NPCs more prone to be infected, which made the overall system infection fairer while keeping the same difficulty levels.
The Thing: Remastered is Nightdive Studios' Fastest-Selling Title So Far
The success of The Thing: Remastered is excellent news for Nightdive Studios’ fans, as it indicates that more remasters of beloved old-school games could be on the way. Since 2014, Nightdive Studios has been behind some of the best recent game remasters, including titles such as System Shock: Enhanced Edition, Doom + Doom 2, Quake, and others. More recently, the company has also released projects such as the System Shock remake, and Doom 2: Legacy of Rust, a new expansion divided into two chapters that features new enemies and weapons for the hardcore FPS.
At the moment, it’s still too early to know what Nightdive Studios is working on, but there are plenty of games deserving of the treatment Nightdive Studios gave to The Thing: Remastered. So, fans of old-school games should be on the lookout for more releases, which will hopefully be as polished as the studio's latest remaster.
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 72 /100 Critics Rec: 42%
- Released
- December 5, 2024
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- NightDive Studios
- Publisher(s)
- NightDive Studios
WHERE TO PLAY
No One Survives Alone.
The 2002 third-person survival horror shooter that serves as a sequel to the genre-defining 1982 film is back, remastered by Nightdive Studios to bring this innovative blend of fast paced squad action meets survival horror to the modern era. Including Antialiasing, Per Pixel Lighting, 4K Resolution and up to 120 FPS.
Where the movie ended, the true terror begins.
You are Cpt J.F. Blake, leader of a U.S. Special Forces rescue team sent to investigate the blood-curdling events and enigmatic deaths of the American scientific team that transpired at the Outpost 31 research facility located in the frozen wastelands of Antarctica. Within these inhospitable surroundings your team encounters a strange shape-shifting alien life-form that assumes the appearance of people that it kills. Trapped by the elements and infected by this horrific entity, using all your team members is critical if you hope to accomplish your objectives, let alone survive. If you only knew which ones were still human…
- Engine
- KEX Engine
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- PC Release Date
- December 5, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- December 5, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- December 5, 2024
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- December 5, 2024
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- OpenCritic Rating
- Fair
