Okay, my poor wrists were acting up a bit yesterday, so I had to cut my Microïds article short in order to get a few other posts out before things got ugly. Here’s what else is upcoming from the publisher:

Both classics have gotten separate releases already, but here’s a chance to nab a twofer starting on November 21, 2019.  As reported here, the collection features the originals and their modern remasters that capture the look and feel of their counterparts with updated visuals that aren’t far off from the source, yet add a nice coating of newness to the experience. By the way, the games aren’t sequels to each other. They did help pioneer a certain look and have similar themes, though.

New content and new features:

• For the first time, play the Director’s Cut version (2 exclusive cut scenes)
• White or pink? Choose one of the two historic colors of Conrad’s T-shirt
• Play any level you’ve completed during the adventure
• Replay the cut scenes you’ve watched during the adventure
• Jukebox: enjoy the game’s music on demand
• Street Art Gallery: earn points during the adventure to unlock images
• Graphics filter and Post-FX
• Remastered music and sound effects
• A brand new “Rewind” function which lasts for different lengths of time, depending on the difficulty level
• Tutorials

These are worth a look because of the history behind them and yes, indeed, both are pretty hard as nail on the default settings until you get the timing down perfectly.

The revival of XIII has been delayed a bit for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC and Mac, but is on the way at some point in 2020. Granted, to some it’s a bit controversial in terms of subject matter, but so were the original graphic novels and later, 2003 videogame version. That said, one has to wonder if developer PlayMagic can make the ‘cel-shaded’ comic art visuals a big thing again after it’s been done to death in many titles since. Even though the images do have a shiny new 3D aspect to them that’s appealing, you can bet that the game will be scrutinized by fans of the original as well as critics judging it against every shooter released since the original game.

As for me, it’s all about how well the story here plays out more than the visual style when all is said and done. This is one I want to see succeed in more than just the shooting stuff.

Now, as to this one:

While Syberia 3 (and 2, if I’m being honest) were disappointing when compared to the original game, I’m holding out hope that the so far 18 months in development Syberia: The World Before can successfully return Kate Walker to her former glory. We shall see as the came progresses (no screens or video have been released, but the promo art looks nice). I’m not expecting anything to pop up for a while as the last game took a few years and then some to be released and it still needed patching to fix a few major issues. But fingers are crossed that the new game arrives before Benoit Sokal’s distinctive art style is forgotten by a somewhat fickle public that’s always looking for a new trend.

As usual, we shall see. I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised, by the way. There are a few more games to look at, but they seem to be European-only releases or older games I’ve covered that are part of Microïds back catalog, so we’ll end this here for now.

-GW