A polished version of Blade Runner, a point-and-click game from Westwood from 1997, which is related to the well-known science fiction film, is due to be released this year. The game will be released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Nightdive Studios creates Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition based on its game engine KEX, which it previously used for remasters of System Shock and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. The game will receive support for widescreen display and adjustments for control with a controller, among other things. In addition, the images of characters, animations and cutscenes have been polished. That writes Hollywood Reporter based on information from Nightdrive.
The announcement is notable because the game’s original creator, Westwood Studios, said in 2015 that the game’s original source code was lost when the studio moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. He then indicated that a remaster was only possible with an investment of ‘millions of dollars’. Nightdrive claims to have recovered the source code via reverse engineering enough to use it for the KEX engine. The studio wants to “keep Westwood’s vision and gameplay” as much as possible.
Blade Runner was released on four CDs in 1997. It is a point-and-click adventure game starring Ray McCoy. Westwood wanted to keep the atmosphere of the 1982 film of the same name, but chose a different story, which parallels the events of the film. Some characters from the film appear in the game, and original actors have provided voices.
The game is characterized by its thirteen different endings, depending on choices in the story, and the use of voxels for 3d rendering. Incidentally, the original version appeared on GOG for Linux, Mac and Windows last December, running via ScummVM. The Enhanced version will be released this year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.