The Thing: Remastered is in the works for consoles and PC (GOG, Steam) featuring two of the original game’s developers.The Thing: Remastered is being developed by Nightdive Studios with the assistance of technical director Mark Atkinson and senior artist Cumron “Ron” Ashtiani who were a part of the team at Computer Artworks that made the 2002 game. SyFy Wire first broke the news of the remaster with the announcement trailer and interviewed its original lead designer Andrew Curtis along with Mark and Cumron about it.
Per SyFy:
“Amazing to hear The Thing is getting remastered to Playstation, Xbox, and Switch 22 years later!” echoes Andrew Curtis, lead designer on the original game. “It’s still regarded as a special project for our small team and we remember this time with great fondness. Wishing the team at Nightdive good luck with the remastering [and] bringing it back to the fans of the original and new players — even with some of the questionable creative and UX design choices I made back then.”
Atkinson isn’t afraid to mention how the remaster presents a new opportunity to fix or possibly change things from the original game that couldn’t be done back then due to timelines or hardware limitations of the time. Mark enthusiastically adds how he is in constant contact with Nightdive Studios to provide as much material as possible to assist with the remaster.
“I’m talking to them almost daily … because stuff comes up and somebody finds a file. People keep going, ‘I was on my hard drive and I found this. Is it useful to you?’ Unfortunately for the Nightdive team, every two seconds I’m going, ‘Here’s another thing, here’s another item.’”
Blessings from John Carpenter and other surprises
The 2002 game served as a sequel to John Carpenter’s cult classic 1982 movie starring Kurt Russel and included a voice-over from William B. Davis (X-Files). Davis, while still performing as the “cigarette smoking man” in the X-Files took on portraying another yet questionable government authority figure throughout the game. Unlike many games adapted from movies at the time The Thing managed to garner praise from the film’s director. Carpenter also allowed his likeness to be used in the game for one of its key characters but the developers were unable to align their schedule with that of the filmmaker to have him provide its voiceover.
“This is one intense action/horror game. You gotta play this one, man – it’ll blast you against the wall.”
-John Carpenter
Description (via GOG)
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 144 FPS.”
Key Features:
- In 20 frightening levels, lead your team against terrifying monsters, from the scuttling head-spiders and human-like walkers to gigantic multi-tentacled beasts.
- Advanced trust/fear interface adds a new level of interaction – How you influence your teams psychological state determines whether or not they will co-operate with you.
- Experience brand new dynamic lighting, specular mapping, shadows, depth of field complemented by improved models, textures and environments to create a deep level of immersion.
- Use awesome firepower like machine guns, explosives and flamethrowers to torch your enemies.
Brand new Achievements. - Quality of Life gameplay enhancements to improve your experience.
- Choose multiple paths to solve problems that lie ahead and accomplish goals.