SATURN FANS, REJOICE! From Nightdive Studios, developer of remastered ports such as Doom 64, Turok, Shadowman and the upcoming System Shock, comes ‘POWERSLAVE EXHUMED’, an enhanced remaster combining the best elements of both the SEGA Saturn and SONY PlayStation versions of the original cult classic mid-’90s first-person shooter!
The possibility of such an official remaster was mentioned all the way back in 2015, and Nightdive CEO, Stephen Kick, tweeted a tease in July, suggesting that it would be the next game to get the remaster treatment…
Finally, Powerslave Exhumed was revealed at 3D Realms’ Realms Deep event yesterday, with a full trailer and a Steam page.
Official Trailer
Released in 1996 on Saturn, PowerSlave introduced a unique mix of traps, puzzle-solving and first-person platforming that is often described as a precursor to later games such as Metroid Prime. It’s what put Lobotomy Software on the map and led to further Saturn ports of Duke Nukem 3D and Quake, and it’s become quite the crowd favorite in recent years, as folks have revisited it and newcomers have discovered it for the first time.
Powered by the Kex Engine, a game engine framework and renderer created by Samuel “Kaiser” Villarreal and designed for easy porting of classic 3D first-person shooters, POWERSLAVE EXHUMED promises to be faithful to the original, albeit with enhanced performance in terms of graphics and control.
Nightdive plans to blend both the Saturn and PlayStation versions of Lobotomy Software’s shooter, however, judging from the trailer (shown above), which only shows the original PlayStation footage of the game, it’s hard to say exactly where they will draw the lines between SAT and PSX versions.
However, while both console versions featured wildly different levels and features, we understand that the remaster will keep the non-linear Metroid Prime-like design of the console versions and forgo the linear FPS style of the original PC version…
They’ve also retained both the US and European titles by combining them together into one POWERSLAVE EXHUMED, which ought to help increase recognition of the title across all regions…
Beyond the PC release, other possible platforms have not yet been announced, and while there is already a GOG page, there is currently no release date set.
Game Description / Official Blurb:
PowerSlave: Exhumed is a KEX Engine port of the classic console game perfectly blending both the PlayStation & Saturn versions.
Destination: The ancient Egyptian city of Karnak. Alien forces possessing horrifying powers have sealed off the once thriving community from all outside contact. As a covert operations specialist, you have been trained for all forms of contingencies. Nothing can prepare you, however, for the nightmare you are about to enter…
New Features:
- Widescreen / HD Display
- Modern gamepad support
- SMAA Antialiasing
- Anisotropic texture filtering
- Achievements
- Vulkan / DirectX 11 graphics API
- Smooth object interpolation for high refresh rate monitors
- Both versions of the original game combined to bring the best of both worlds
Nightdive Catalog
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