Well, the XIII Remake has been a bit of a hot mess, hasn’t it? After first being announced in April 2019 ahead of a November 13, 2019 release, the game was delayed into 2020. After all of that, the game released in a horrific state, leading the publisher Microids to issue a public apology 18 months later, and outline their plans to fix the mess. While it took far too long for the apology and outlined plans to be presented to buyers of the remake, we’re now starting to build a bit of momentum towards what is hopefully a fixed title that is worthy of the cult following that the 2003 original had deservedly garnered. Microids have today shared an update on the fix, sharing three minutes of gameplay from the SPADS Military Base sequence, giving fans a look at the reworked art style, the HUD, and improved AI.
Fans were quite understandably upset by the 2020 remake which abandoned the original game’s graphic novel style in favour of a cell-shaded aesthetic, and this new footage (above) shows that the Remaster of this Remake is righting the ship in that regard, reverting back to the style that made the original so eye-catching to begin with on the PS2 and Nintendo GameCube.
Beyond the aesthetic improvements, this new footage highlights several other improvements including in the audio realm, when it comes to AI, where opponents are moving in notably smarter ways, while the game has also received some other technical improvements with the game being boosted to 60 frames per second. The game is even getting multiplayer.
Despite the lengthy amount of time it took for the remaster to be announced, fans will be pleased to know that the turnaround between announcement and release is quite short. The patch to fix and replace everything in the original 2020 XIII remake will release on all platforms, Xbox One, PS4, and PC, alongside a brand new Nintendo Switch version on September 13, 2022. The remake’s original developer Playmagic is no longer involved with the project, with Tower Five being enlisted by Microids to fix the original mess that was made.
In June, Microids CEO Stephane Longeard issued a the following about the game’s state, and their plans to fix it, saying, “We are fully aware and terribly sorry that the initial launch of XIII Remake on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC did not reach players’ expected quality standards…We can’t wait for players to put their hands on this improved version of the game and (re)discover the classic adventures of Agent XIII, as soon as it’s released after the summer.”. Well, now that the day is nearly upon us, I must give both Microids and Tower Five credit – it looks more like the 2003 game we loved now more than ever, in all of the best ways.
