Cult classic XIII received an HD remake in 2020 from developer PlayMagic. The project attempted to update the game for modern platforms, but it fell more than a little short. Which is why, just two years later, publisher Microids has announced that it has handed the game over to a new studio to give XIII Remake a remake of its own.
The re-remade version of the game is set for release on Sept. 13 as a free update for everyone who already owns the existing remake on PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One, Microids said in a news release this week. The long-delayed Nintendo Switch version will also arrive on that date.
Microids also listed some of the upgrades that new developer Tower Five is delivering, saying that the studio has “reworked the entire game”:
Refined art style
Enhanced A.I.
Reworked HUD
Revamped sound design
30fps framerate on Switch
60fps framerate on PS5/Xbox Series
Online multiplayer (2 to 13 players)
This remake shouldn’t come as a complete surprise, given XIII Remake’s extremely poor reception. Critics weren’t positive about the changes — it has a 33% average rating on Metacritic — and fans weren’t pleased either, giving it an “Overwhelmingly Negative” average review rating on Steam. On top of that, the remake was originally supposed to come out on Nintendo Switch.
Microids acknowledged the ways in which XIII Remake fell short of expectations.
“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,” Microids CEO Stéphane Longeard said in a statement. “A bit more than a year ago we took the decision to hire the studio Tower Five to finish the development of the game. Tower Five worked with us in the past, notably on the great port of Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders on Nintendo Switch. We really wanted to take the time to fix the game and offer owners of XIII Remake a free update paying the best possible tribute to the original game we all love.”
The original version of XIII was released in 2003, and was loosely based on a graphic novel series of the same name. The game was developed by Southend Interactive and Ubisoft Paris.
Source: Polygon
