Remaster masters Nightdive have released a teaser for their next project, which suggests a remaster/remake of the 2002 The Thing game.
The developer’s social media account asked fans to guess the game it was announcing at Friday’s IGN Live, and provided an image as a hint.
Eagle-eyed folk recognized the image of a twisted face as almost identical to one found on the box art for the 2002 game based on the world of John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror movie classic.
The Thing video game was developed by Computer Artworks and acted as a sort of sequel to Carpenter’s film. In it, a U.S. Special Forces team investigates the two camps from the film in the aftermath of the shapeshifting alien force’s invasion of them.
The Thing remaster could revive a flawed PS2 gem
The Thing plays as a third-person shooter with a unique fear/trust system. NPCs have to be convinced the player character isn’t The Thing. Depending on their trust and fear, they’ll react differently to you. The fear system can see soldiers behave erratically, potentially harming themselves and others.
Additionally, there’s an infection system that can see NPCs become infected with The Thing outside scripted moments.
Surprisingly, John Carpenter was involved in the original game, voicing a scientist who heads a research team. The game also gives some closure to who was or wasn’t The Thing at the end of the movie.
The PS2 version of the game is a tad flawed, but a PC port fixed a few things to make it play like a more modern title. It would be easy to assume Nightdive will use that as a base for a remaster.
Nightdive has been behind successful remasters such as Quake, Turok, and Shadow Man. It also made the System Shock remake, which finally hit PlayStation consoles last month.
Furthermore, this isn’t Nightdive’s only announcement this week. Killing Time Resurrected was leaked ahead of the Guerilla Collective reveal, which is due today.