Of no surprise to anyone given Nightdive’s not exactly subtle tease earlier this week, cult classic squad-based survival horror shooter The Thing is getting a remaster – and it’s launching later this year on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC.
The Thing, developed Computer Artworks and released back in 2002, serves as a direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 horror movie classic. It casts players as United States Army Special Forces member Captain Blake, who heads to the Antarctic outpost seen in the movie to find out what happened to its ill-fated research team.
The ensuing action is a third-person shoot-y kind of thing, with players able to get assistance from jittery survivors they meet along the way as they confront all manner of sinewy, alien-inhabited monstrosities. And the game did alright for itself back in the day, managing to shift over 1m copies – but Computer Artworks’ collapse meant a planned sequel never emerged.
The Thing: Remastered – Official Reveal Trailer | IGN Live 2024 But now, back in 2024, retro specialist Nightdive Studios has announced it’s working its magic on The Thing, promising improvements to character models, textures, and animations, plus updated lighting and atmospheric effects. All this will run at up to 4K 120fps on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, with achievements and trophies also being added.
The result, according to Nightdive Studios (which is also currently working on a remaster of cult-classic 3DO haunted house shooter Killing Time), is a “suspenseful and disgustingly detailed remaster that reanimates the thrilling game for modern audiences.”
The Thing: Remastered, as the spruce-up is officially known, doesn’t have a release date yet but it’s launching digitally for PC (via Steam and GOG), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch later this year.
