Video Games
‘Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition’ Announced by Nightdive Studios
Nightdive Studios are once again resurrecting a blast from the past. According to a story from the Hollywood Reporter, the studio behind the upcoming System Shock remake (and several restorations of classic games) has partnered with Alcon Entertainment to bring back Westwood Studios’ 1997 point-and-click adventure game, Blade Runner!
The restored version of the game, known as Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition, is being developed for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, as well as PC via Steam. It’s expected to be released later this year.
The game, based on the Ridley Scott classic film, but not a direct adaptation, follows detective Ray McCoy as he hunts down renegade replicants. Blade Runner earned critical praise upon its release, and actually won the first Adventure Game of the Year award at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science’s first DICE Awards.
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition will feature a “polished and premium restoration” from Nightdive Studios via the company’s proprietary KEX game engine, which it has used to restore Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and System Shock. The game will feature updated character models, animations and cutscenes, as well as widescreen resolution support, keyboard and controller customization and more.
“Blade Runner is still a jaw-dropping achievement on every level, so while we’re using KEX to upgrade the graphics and respectfully elevate the gaming experience in a way you’ve never seen before, we’re still preserving Westwood’s vision and gameplay in all its glory,” says Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick. “While you can enjoy the benefits of playing the game on modern hardware, the game should look and feel not as it was, but as glorious as you remember it being.”
While not quite Snakes on a Plane or Red Eye, co-developers Liquid Static Studio and Snapping Turtle have something darker in mind with their upcoming job-sim horror game, Night Plane. Coming to Steam later this year, the game has you doing the expected work as a flight attendant, but with the added bonus of trying to find demons hiding amongst the passengers.
It’s 1999, and it’s your first day on the job. You must do the usual things as a flight attendant: welcoming passengers aboard, check tickets, and attend to their needs. However, shape-shifting entities may attempt to come aboard disguised as humans. So, your additional job in Night Plane is to question passengers, and find a way to remove any unauthorized non-human visitors from the plane.
That also leads to assisting passengers in unorthodox ways inside the plane, outside the plane, and in places not listed in your training manual. To make things even more complicated, you’ll need to make tough decisions with irreversible consequences. Naturally, the company will not be held accountable for any mistakes you make. You live with them.
Oh, and seeing as this is a plane, you may encounter some turbulence while in flight, along with power failures, lightning strikes and more. All of which, including your decisions, will lead to one of the multiple endings in Night Plane.
If you wish to get in on the fun prior to the game’s release, you can sign up for the playtest via the Steam page.