Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
The output of Nightdive Studios continues to amaze the staff at Shacknews. We've seen the studio put out remakes and remasters of beloved 1990s hits like Quake, Doom, Turok, and Star Wars: Dark Forces. We've also seen the team come to bat for lesser appreciated gems like Killing Time, PO'ed, and The Thing.
This has the Shacknews staff wondering what 1990s FPS Nightdive could potentially tackle next? The 90s was a wonderful era. We continue to appreciate Nightdive's efforts to remake it for a new generation.
Nightdive has been spending a lot of time revitalizing classic id Software shooters. There's still one series that the team hasn't quite gotten to yet. Heretic is remembered as a slight side step for the old Doom engine, taking players into the realm of magic. Picture Doom as a magical world, but one that retains all the ultraviolence.
Originally a collaboration between id and Raven Software, Heretic went on to become a full-blown series, becoming Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Hexen 2, and Heretic 2. While Heretic was re-released on Steam back in 2007, a full remaster is worthy of cracking the Nightdive agenda. Hopefully, Nightdive can ultimately bring the Phil Spencer T-shirt prophecy to pass.
I think with the remasters and remakes of the Quake games up to this point, it’s probably time to give their greatest competitor ever some love. I refuse to take part in the Quake vs Unreal Tournament debate because I have a lot of love for both franchises, but come on. Unreal Tournament has been languishing in the gutter for way too long while Quake fans have at least had remasters of the first and second game.
There are a lot of fun weapons and maps in that original Unreal Tournament, making for some of the best Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Domination game modes ever set to an FPS. If we’re going to keep having this silly argument about what’s better between Quake and Unreal, can Unreal fans at least have a good refresher of what we’ve been missing?
Since Nightdive Studios probably has the less obscure 90s FPS games taken care of, I thought I would suggest they give the Quake 2 remastered treatment to Redneck Rampage. They could even include a new episode that features an assault on the capital building with players having to defend Congress and freedom.
I’m not asking for this because I remember it fondly. I actually don’t remember it well at all. I played a little, but that was a long time ago. If Nightdive could take this on and give us a proper remake, I’d be in for sure. My only Wolfenstein experience comes from the newer games, and it would be nice to go back in time a bit.
I never played much of the original Marathon titles. I dabbled in Durandal when it was released on the Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360, and I’ve even got the trilogy downloaded now thanks to its freeware status. And yet I’ve still never played enough to dig deep into the lore. I’ve read the wiki pages, sifted through information about the AIs, and poured over spreadsheets that show the game’s complex timeline. And yet, here I am, with maybe an hour’s worth of playtime.
Now that Bungie is in… whatever position it’s currently in… I think it’s time Sony looks to revitalize public interest in Bungie’s games with some remasters and remakes. Now, I’ve previously said that Bluepoint should take the lead here, but I think Nightdive is the ideal choice.
Bring players a modern remake of the original Marathon trilogy. Get us all excited about the lore before Bungie releases whatever Marathon ends up being.
I know that modern conversation has slightly soured on Goldeneye, with many claiming the game wasn’t as good of a shooter as we recall. That may be true, but you can’t deny the nostalgia and childhood memories caught up in the iconic shooter. A remake would not only sell plenty of copies, but would likely be Nightdive’s most high-profile remake to date.
Those are our selections. What would you like to see Nightdive Studios take on next? Join the conversation and let us know in the comments or jump into the Official Shacknews Community Discord.