Nightdive Studios, SNEG, Ziggurat, Piko Interactive and others rereleasing classic games

[LESS T_T]

Mirrorsoft goes Final Frontier (1989), another late 80s strategy game re-release. But this time it's real-time. No, it's a "real time chess game" of "infinite permutations"!

The design brief for this game was quite simple: 'Create the most advanced strategy game yet seen on a home computer'.

The scenario was unimportant - game play was all that mattered, the computer opponent had to be the most intelligent.
The controls: Total simplicity.
The players learning curve: Steep.
Addiction factor: High.
Visual appeal: Vital.
Possible strategies: Endless
The result: FINAL FRONTIER.

Quick to learn but hard to master, FINAL FRONTIER is a fast, full icon operated 1 player vs computer strategy simulation not unlike a real time chess game where the player can design his own pieces and structure his own moves.

A game of infinite permutations, FINAL FRONTIER takes game play to the limits.

 

[LESS T_T]

Fellas, sit tight! Now we're going to the 90s! Or maybe to 2100 by accident...

Dark Judgement, a beat 'em up originally released in 1997, developed by Hong Kong based company:

Re-release publisher is some entity suspiciously named Sinnesloschen, the name associated with the legendary Polybius

... Nah, it's some Spanish retro game community called FaseBonus.




And Warzone 2100, sci-fi RTS originally released in 1999 and open sourced in 2004. This is registered as freeware, I assume this is the community build developed over the years:

 

[Citizen]

And Warzone 2100, sci-fi RTS originally released in 1999 and open sourced in 2004. This is registered as freeware, I assume this is the community build developed over the years:

Very cool game, unique RTS with SMAC-like unit customization. I remember very intense LAN multiplayer experience playing it in a computer class in school after hours

 

[LESS T_T]

As spotted by MotherMachinae, it seems an entity called Ziggurat has grabbed some of the Retroism games including Darklands.

https://store.steampowered.com/search/?publisher=Ziggurat

Those games are now removed from GOG.

Looks like this Ziggurat also acquired two obscure games from Piko Interactive.





Or maybe there was legal wrangling about who actually owns what? Because, honestly, what's the point of acquiring those two games. Also both games were related to Infogrames.

---

Speaking of Piko, they're doing Kickstarter for re-issue and port of 16 bit platformer Jim Power:



I remember that for the weird and dizzy parallax scrolling. Apparently they're going to fix that and other things for this re-release.

Jim Power in The Lost Dimension for SNES - A reworked version of the original SNES version. This version has a lot of improvements and polishing. For example, the dizzy inverted parallax scroll is removed. Also, the game features a hit system, which balances the difficulty of the game. Other additions, like level screens, and different endings have been included on this version.

 

[LESS T_T]

3D Realms Discord has another mystery channel, named "?????????H???????"

People think it's Rise of the Triad, which somehow didn't get "proper" source port to this day. And as it happens, Nightdive's Kaiser has been working on a source port in his KEX engine:



And it seems 3D Realms is interested in that...



Funny development after that quarrels between 3DR and NDS.

 

[LESS T_T]

Two more Mirrosoft re-release.

Betrayal (1990):

A WEB OF INTRICATE POSSIBILITIES – BUT FAIR PLAY ISN’T ONE OF THEM!

A new barrel of fine Welsh ale had just been broached. The royal palace’s smoky dining hall resounded in cheery voices. To one side of the top table a harpist and a minstrel were struggling to be heard above the commotion caused by two dogs snarling over a bone in the corner.

Eating slowly, I leant forward to catch the breathless whisper of a rival knight.

“They came in at a run, baying like wolves, four wild-eyed barbarians ready to cut, gouge, pulverize and kill anything that moved.”

That news was indeed music to my ears. My forces’ attack on his wealthiest town had met with success. Financially weakened, militarily broken, and politically bankrupt, he could no longer hold influence at Court.

So long as no evidence of my wrong doings remained. So long as the Gods blessed the crops of my harvest. So long as the rumors of the capture of my brother were true. The throne was mine.

I’ve cheated, lied, spied and slaughtered. The fruits of Betrayal are mine.

• The West Marches is a corrupt land ruled by immoral leaders. You are one of four Knights with a lust for power, and in the pursuit of power, the end justifies the means.
  
• The bloodiest battles yield the greatest spoils. Strategically extend your domain, reduce your rivals’ resources, and tighten your stranglehold on the peasants of the land.
  
• Betrayal involves a long, hard, ruthless struggle, starting with the economic management of your towns and cultivation of your lands, culminating in the honing of your military strategy and execution of political subterfuge.
  
• The towns provide your power base. Manage the successfully, and harvest the wealth needed to buy, bribe and fight for ultimate power.
  
• Develop a mastery of political subterfuge, gaining places for your Courtiers at the palaces of the King and Bishop, ready for the coup which will make you the master of Betrayal.

Armorik the Viking: The Eight Conquests (1988):

 

[lightbane]

They're really, really scrapping the bottom of the barrel now.

 

[mindx2]

Um, what kind of game is this exactly...

 

[LESS T_T]

As spotted by MotherMachinae, it seems an entity called Ziggurat has grabbed some of the Retroism games including Darklands.

https://store.steampowered.com/search/?publisher=Ziggurat

Those games are now removed from GOG.

Well: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-...lassic-and-New-Games-to-Modern-Platforms.html

New Gaming Publisher Ziggurat Interactive to Bring Massive List of Classic and New Games to Modern Platforms
Deadly Dozen, Super Huey, and Forbidden Forest Among the First of Many Planned Releases

DENVER, March 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gaming will be getting a huge shot in the arm starting in 2020, as publisher Ziggurat Interactive has unveiled plans to remaster, rework, and restore a wide variety of classic console and PC games from the ‘80s, ‘90s, and beyond. With a goal of preserving and expanding the legacy of video games as entertainment and an art form, and making them available to a wider audience, Ziggurat Interactive will showcase a lineup of beloved retro games and entirely new IPs for modern consoles and PCs as they build out a stunning portfolio of favorites from across the decades.

The first games Ziggurat will release include remade versions of these classic titles:

• First released in 2001, Deadly Dozen is a WWII tactical squad-based shooter developed by nFusion Interactive. Infiltrate German-occupied territory with your squad of 12 military misfits. Destroy, steal, and kidnap your way out. Battle your way through a campaign spanning six war-torn countries. Each of your 12 death-dealing squadmates specializes in a different skillset such as sniper, demolitions, etc., requiring players to use teamwork if they want to survive.
  
  
• Classic battlefield helicopter combat simulation Super Huey returns to the skies! This 1985 retro Mega-hit, developed by Cosmi, features four immersive modes: flight training, rescue missions, exploration, and combat. Players must use their multitasking skills to defend brothers in arms or gather critical information about the terrain, all while keeping that bird in the air.
  
  
• Fantasy action game Forbidden Forest is back, challenging archers to cleanse the woods of evil. Armed with only four arrows per level, players must eliminate monsters that include bees, giant spiders, mutated frogs, snakes, wizards, and dragons. Four levels of difficulty— Innocent, Trooper, Daredevil, and Crazy—are sure to keep brave archers on their toes in this updated version of a 1983 Cosmi classic that used a Demogorgon before it was cool.

Each of these licensed titles will be adapted to run on the latest hardware, featuring updated visuals and gameplay.

“Everyone at Ziggurat shares a passion for classic and modern games, and we’ve turned that passion into a game company that will be unlike any other,” said Wade Rosen, CEO of Ziggurat. “For each classic game we work with, we’re doing more than just reworking it –– we’re improving upon it in ways that are respectful to the original while preserving what the fans loved about it, and also boosting the ‘awesome’ of it for modern players.”

A press kit with logos, executive bios, and key art is available here: https://uberstrategist.link/zg-presskit.

More info about Ziggurat Interactive and its current lineup is available on Facebook, Twitter, and the company’s official web site, with info on their upcoming products to be announced on the same.

So... Darklands too?

 

[toro]

Um, what kind of game is this exactly...

vomit kind

 

[vonAchdorf]

[
So... Darklands too?

Yes:

https://www.ziggurat.games/

 

[LESS T_T]

[
So... Darklands too?

Yes:

https://www.ziggurat.games/

I mean, remaster treatment or something.

 

[Farewell young Prince into the night]

A tasteful and delicate remastering of Darklands would usher in a golden age of incline.

 

[Morgoth]

https://wccftech.com/blade-runner-enhanced-edition-switch-ps4-xbox-steam/

Blade Runner Enhanced Edition Coming to Switch/PS4/XO and Steam Later This Year; Features Updated Character Models and Animations, Widescreen Support and More
By Aernout van de Velde


An enhanced version of the 1997 classic Blade Runner, Blade Runner Enhanced, is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam later this year.

Production company Alcon Entertainment and development studio Nightdive Studios have partnered up to bring a polished and premium restoration of the title to consoles and PC. Originally developed by Command and Conquer studio, Westwood, the point-and-click adventure follows detective Ray McCoy as he hunts down renegade replicants in an alternate version of 2019 Los Angeles.


The enhanced version of Blade Runner will feature updated character models, cutscenes, animations, enhanced translations, support for widescreen, controllers and keyboard, and more.

Interesing to note is that the original source code for the game was lost when the now-defunct Westwood Studios moved to Los Angeles in 2003 as part of the merger with Electronic Arts. Reverse-engineering was used to restore the code and bring the title to consoles.

"It's true that the original Blade Runner source code was lost," says Larry Kuperman, head of business development at Nightdive. "We painstakingly reverse-engineered the code, importing it into our own KEX engine, a powerful tool that allows us to do console ports of classic titles, even in the face of quite challenging situations."

"Blade Runner is still a jaw-dropping achievement on every level, so while we’re using KEX to upgrade the graphics and respectfully elevate the gaming experience in a way you’ve never seen before, we’re still preserving Westwood’s vision and gameplay in all its glory,” says Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick. “While you can enjoy the benefits of playing the game on modern hardware, the game should look and feel not as it was, but as glorious as you remember it being.”

Blade Runner Enhanced is expected to release for PC (via Steam) and consoles later this year.

Imho unnecessary, but whatever.

 

[LESS T_T]

Oh, latest Mirrorsoft re-release is more of Codex interest. Bloodwych, 1989 real-time dungeon crawler:

DO YOU HAVE THE METTLE TO FACE ZENDICK'S COLD STEEL?

An ominous presence has enveloped the small village of Treihadwyl and draped it in a shroud of paralyzing terror. As shadows grow larger the population grows smaller. Zendick the evil overlord and his undead army are feeding on the inhabitants. Now all that stands between the carnage and the land of Trazere is the Bloodwych, a secret alliance of psychic sorcerers. Divided, they would crumble under the overlord's power. But together there is at least a glimmer of hope of defeating the scourge that's devouring the countryside.

• A dark fantasy role play adventure that pits your strategic thinking against an insane ruler and his mystical forces.
  
• Fully communicate with other characters and creatures with an advanced character interaction system.
  
• Argue, barter, even lie to other characters to gain control of essential elements, or simply wield your knives, wands, rings, staves, missiles, fire and bows and arrows to get your way.
  
• Commend or correct your allies to increase their initiative and ability to fight during combat.
  
• Ultimately confront the hideous Lord Of Entropy who wishes to dissolve the fabric of the universe into the chaotic elements from which it was formed.
  
• Imaginative gameplay is enhanced with sophisticated spell casting and combat actions.
  
• Superior, real time 3-D graphics make you feel as though you're right inside the labyrinthine corridors.
  
• Features icon-based "point-and-click" interface and game save capability.

Most likely without expansion pack that was not released for DOS version.

 

[Infinitron]

Bloodwych was mentioned in the Digital Antiquarian's dungeon crawler article last year: https://rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=11079

 

[CryptRat]

The most special feature of Bloodwych is the split-screen 2 player mode.

(in the screeshot each party is looking towards the other party by the way)

The game may be quite harder than Dungeon Master and Eye of the beholder, among my friends and myself everybody finished these two games while I think Bloodwych is a game none finished.

The game also has the coolest leveling system ever with a fairy coming while you sleep to ask your characters what spell they want to learn. The first time it happens you wonder what's happening and then "hey, it's nice."

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The game may be quite harder than Dungeon Master and Eye of the beholder, among my friends and myself everybody finished these two games while I think Bloodwych is a game none finished.

Part of that reason I believe is due to the tiny viewscreen, lack of an automap and that all dungeons look the same. It's difficult to navigate in this game.

I originally tried playing Bloodwych with my mate on his C-64. We ran into a bug that stopped our progress. (Not the infamous wall bug that plagued the original MS-DOS release. Makes me wonder if the Steam release has it or not.)

Then I tried on my own on the Amstrad CPC. I reached the endboss, but he seemed to have six gorillion hit points or something.

Finally in 2003 I fired up an Atari ST-emulator for Bloodwych (plus expansion pack) and slogged through the whole thing.

There's a notable difference between the 8-bit and 16-bit versions, including how to assemble your party, dungeon level layouts and one of the coolest features that no one has mentioned (or replicated, come to think of it) yet: You can split the party!

The expansion pack includes tougher monsters and a new spell school that replaces one of your pre-existing spell school (player's choice) and is about 25%-33% of the length of the original game.

 

[Jarpie]

Didn't C64 version also have some bug which prevented you from finishing the game? Dunno about other versions.

 

[LESS T_T]

For some reason SiN Episodes: Emergence is removed from Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1300/SiN_Episodes_Emergence/

Looks like actually Nightdive is going to re-release this game. Possibly bundled with 1998 SiN.

They added both games to an unused package slot that seemingly was intended for System Shock 2: https://steamdb.info/sub/416913/apps/

 

[Grauken]

The game may be quite harder than Dungeon Master and Eye of the beholder, among my friends and myself everybody finished these two games while I think Bloodwych is a game none finished.

Part of that reason I believe is due to the tiny viewscreen, lack of an automap and that all dungeons look the same. It's difficult to navigate in this game.

I originally tried playing Bloodwych with my mate on his C-64. We ran into a bug that stopped our progress. (Not the infamous wall bug that plagued the original MS-DOS release. Makes me wonder if the Steam release has it or not.)

Then I tried on my own on the Amstrad CPC. I reached the endboss, but he seemed to have six gorillion hit points or something.

Finally in 2003 I fired up an Atari ST-emulator for Bloodwych (plus expansion pack) and slogged through the whole thing.

There's a notable difference between the 8-bit and 16-bit versions, including how to assemble your party, dungeon level layouts and one of the coolest features that no one has mentioned (or replicated, come to think of it) yet: You can split the party!

The expansion pack includes tougher monsters and a new spell school that replaces one of your pre-existing spell school (player's choice) and is about 25%-33% of the length of the original game.

I remember trying to play this and realized it doesn't have key movement, only via mouse. Stopped right there

 

[Bad Sector]

Looks like actually Nightdive is going to re-release this game. Possibly bundled with 1998 SiN.

If they release SiN Episodes on GOG it'd be great.

If they also manage to take Levelord out of retirement to finish the episodes it'd be fantastic. SiN Episodes might not have been revolutionary or whatever, but it was still a very good FPS that didn't deserve to be ignored and cancelled.

 

[A horse of course]

Looks like actually Nightdive is going to re-release this game. Possibly bundled with 1998 SiN.

If they release SiN Episodes on GOG it'd be great.

If they also manage to take Levelord out of retirement to finish the episodes it'd be fantastic. SiN Episodes might not have been revolutionary or whatever, but it was still a very good FPS that didn't deserve to be ignored and cancelled.

Never going to happen. SiN Episodes would be a huge undertaking for a minor title that bombed on release and only boomer coomers likely remember for the marketing. Now, a more realistic goal would be to remaster the latter areas of SiN , which were clearly very rushed...

 

[Nifft Batuff]

one of the coolest features that no one has mentioned (or replicated, come to think of it) yet: You can split the party!

Hired Guns does that. With four characters and four split screens. I am not completley sure but I remember also that in some platforms it allows the use of up to 4 mouses for 4 simultaneous players.

 

[LESS T_T]

For some reason SiN Episodes: Emergence is removed from Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1300/SiN_Episodes_Emergence/

Looks like actually Nightdive is going to re-release this game. Possibly bundled with 1998 SiN.

They added both games to an unused package slot that seemingly was intended for System Shock 2: https://steamdb.info/sub/416913/apps/

Well little accident (SiN was totally removed from library of people who bought it) confirmed that Nightdive is working on re-release: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1300/discussions/0/2823131567379358453/?ctp=4#c3826311001003504077

Hey, this is Tom from Valve.
In the process of helping Night Dive work on these games, I inadvertently made a change that hid the game from libraries temporarily.

I just fixed my error, so the game will display again correctly in owner's libraries now. Sorry for the downtime!