The Thing video game adaptation was an ambitious but flawed title, so Nightdive is hoping to help realise what it could have been.
John Carpenter’s The Thing was originally released back in 1982, but 20 years later Computer Artworks opted to make a sequel to the classic movie in video game form. It sold well at the time, and while reviews were generally favourable, it wasn’t exactly perfect, but the whole concept of any of your teammates being able to potentially turn into the titular Thing was an incredibly cool one. Earlier this month Nightdive Studios announced that it’s remastering The Thing, and in a recent interview with GamesRadar, the developer spoke of its hopes for its work on the game.
“[Computer Artworks was] really, really pretty happy, and justifiably so, with the game that they produced, but they were also aware of limitations, of things that they could not do simply because the technology, the game engine, did not support it,” business development director Larry Kuperman explained. “And, without going into too much detail, without providing any spoilers, there are some things that, we were able to fulfil the original vision of the developers. That’s something that’s really important to us.”
Kuperman stopped short of explaining what those things were exactly, but did say that the game will “play the way you remember the original game playing, but that wasn’t the way it actually played.” It was also apparently quite important for both Kuperman and Nightidve as a whole that the spirit of the original game remained with the remaster, which led to bringing on a couple of the original developers from Computer Artworks (which no longer exists).
There’s currently no confirmed release date for the remaster of The Thing, but it is expected to be released sometime in 2024, and it’ll be available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.