If names like Clive Barker, Stephen King, or John Carpenter mean anything to you, then you’ll likely already be chomping at the bit for your next horror fix. Today’s subject is The Thing: Remastered, a remaster of a 2002 video game, which was based on a 1982 film, which itself originated from a 1938 novella. Nightdive Studios have seen fit to unthaw the monster and unleash it onto a brand new unsuspecting crowd.
“I Dunno What the Hell’s in There…”
The Thing: Remastered follows on from the legendary horror film The Thing (1982), initially tasking you and your team of soldiers to investigate radio silence from the iconic base in Antarctica. What follows is a tale that is not only considered to be canon to the story of The Thing but is also genuinely strong enough to stand on its own. The story involves Captain Blake as he slowly makes his way around various military outposts in the chilling Antarctica wasteland, all while not knowing who to trust because “The Thing” can be around any corner and be anyone.
The story in The Thing has always been the strongest point of this game. You know it’s good when the master of horror, John Carpenter (director of the 1982 film), considers the game not only to be canon but also has himself a cheeky little cameo in the game. For those familiar with the film, you’ll know exactly what you’re walking into, likewise if you played the game back on the Playstation 2 or original Xbox.
“Startin’ to Lose it, Aren’t Ya?”
For those unfamiliar with the source material, The Thing: Remastered sees players working their way around harsh environments and military complexes trying to wipe out an alien lifeform that has the ability to infect and control with the goal of consuming everyone. That means you’ll never know who has been infected and who you can trust.
The Thing: Remastered is a third-person action horror title. Unlike survival horror titles like Signalis, Hollowbody, or Alone In The Dark, this title is fast in terms of movement and pacing and has a strong emphasis on action and combat. This isn’t a title with plenty of scripted scares, obscure puzzles, and scarce resources. But don’t let that fool you; this game can still throw its horror hands when it needs to.
The Thing: Remastered gives you the ability to manage a squad, at least to an extent. The characters you come across have certain jobs. You have a commando who can tank and dispense damage, a medic who is more than happy to heal you but makes it perfectly clear that they will not be carrying any dead bodies, and finally, an engineer who can fix broken stuff to help you progress further. A radial menu is used to issue simple commands, like “go here” or “fix that”. It’s basic, but it works. This is one of the many things that reminds the player that this game originally came out in 2002.
Alongside the squad system, a major selling point of the game back when it first came out was the “Trust and Stress” mechanic. As you come across some rather grotesque and stressful scenes, your team members can start panicking, resulting in them ignoring your commands and even suspecting you to be an alien before attacking you. Offering them guns and ammo sways their opinion very quickly and you can find items to use or just move away from the dead bodies to reduce stress. It’s a good idea in principle, but is quite limited, perhaps due to constraints at the time. This hasn’t changed with the remaster.
“If it Takes Us Over…”
There is another mechanic that is somewhat insubstantial. A blood tester can be found, which you can use on yourself and your teammates to prove whether they are or are not infected by the alien. Sadly, it’s scripted as to who gets infected and where, and it often comes off a little pointless aside from your first time playing. Hindsight really exposes this as you can test a teammate who you know is infected and if it isn’t their “time” they will be clear of all infection, making this idea’s potential diminish on replay.
Another keen indicator of this game’s age lies in the combat. Despite higher emphasis than other horror games on combat, it’s very basic of a third-person shooter aim-and-shoot kind of affair. There is a first-person aiming mode for added accuracy, but it comes with the drawback of locking you in place. When you’re being swarmed by the alien menace, sometimes you can’t help but want to rely on the trusty “hold back and shoot” strategy.
The enemies are mostly small spider-like creatures, but you also come across more humanoid-shaped aliens and larger foes. The humanoid ones are the most interesting to fight as they require you to cause enough damage to them before you set them on fire, ridding you of them permanently. Failure to burn the creatures results in them not dying, putting you closer to death yourself. Fortunately in this remaster, Nightdive has included an indicator that shows when an enemy is ready to be burnt. This is unlike the original, which would have you relying on a crosshair color change, something that could easily be missed in the chaos of combat.
The Thing: Remastered took me eight hours to complete, and it’s paced well. The puzzles are typically straightforward, such as finding a computer or using a CCTV camera to find a code. There are a few boss fights which are quite fun too.
That said, The Thing: Remastered is still a product of its original time and despite tweaks to the controls and a clearer user interface it still feels like playing a Playstation 2 era game, for better and worse.
“We Gotta Burn the Rest of Them”
When The Thing was originally released back in 2002, it was not only quite a looker but it absolutely nailed the aesthetic, not only of the film but of horror media in general. Time has dulled the visual impact the game has to some extent, but due to a strong art direction and the pure, unfiltered love and care from Nightdive Studios, you’ve got a game that looks deceptively younger than it is.
The remastered version has some fantastic HD textures throughout. The lighting has seen an absolutely stellar improvement where shadows will dance across the facility making you question if you have just seen something move or if the light was just playing a trick on you. It does wonders for the immersion of the game making it just as effective as it was two decades ago when it was originally released.
That said, character models are a little hit or miss. Some characters stick out like sore thumbs while others have seen a vast improvement. Still, the aliens have never looked more grotesque, really leaning into the source material while still having some surprises for fans of The Thing. There’s plenty of the red stuff floating around too, as you’d expect from a true horror.
The voice acting is frankly quite hammy. This is rather common when it comes to horror, though there’s a bit of inconsistency. While some characters sound a little bored as if they’re just reading from the script, others lean into the role and create some quite likable and dislikable cast members. There are quite a few surprises in the voice casting too which I imagine fans of 80 and 90s sci-fi will find a treat.
There isn’t much in the way of a soundtrack. While a few little music bites are found here and there, it’s mostly ambient sound, piercing silence, explosive gunfire, and horrific screams human or otherwise that will dominate your ears throughout the game. I highly suggest you grab some headphones to play this one and really heighten your experience.
Verdict
I loved replaying The Thing. You can tell what a labor of love this was for the team at Nightdive who have a fantastic track record for not just porting titles to modern but making them a much more enticing product for everyone. Yes, the game still feels like an older title but it’s both easier on the eye and easier to play. This makes The Thing: Remastered the definitive way to experience The Thing. There are so many nods and cameos relating to the original film you’d be hard-pressed to find such an impassioned love letter to a source material anywhere else.
THE THING: REMASTERED IS RECOMMENDED
If you are looking for another Horror game, you might want to check out Alone In the Dark (2024).
Many thanks go to Nightdive Studios for a PlayStation 5 review code for The Thing: Remastered.
Pride of utopia & greatest thing ever, I found the One Piece, Collected the Dragon Balls & won the Mortal Kombat Tournament in one night, it was quiet for me that night! Follow me on Twitter @powahdunk
