Here's the thing about The Thing: Remastered; it's still very much 2002 Thing. Which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how much you like your The Thing.
See, 2002's The Thing, developed by Computer Artworks and based on Kurt Russell's intensely sexy film, Thing — alone on the basis in the news that it is not called The Thing — is a real mixed game, really. It sets up its space impressively, tapping into the creeping dread and slowly building paranoia of the classic film, giving you light squad control and an intriguing fear/trust system, while presenting its story in a setting that, while certainly dated now, still totally hits the vibe of things ( I didn't even think of that). But! It also falls apart pretty badly in the second stretch of its small running time.
Let's stick to the positives for now. This is a game that has always had its own presentation, and that foreign experience only gets better with the masters at Nightdive on remastering duties. We already know this team is doing great work (we'd certainly love to see their magnificence System shock remake on Switch), and this time is no different, luckily. The Thing: Remastered is a smooth and crisp revision of 1980's Antarctica. It handles perfectly, has motion controls, HD Rumble, fully mappable options for your controller settings and sensitivities, and all the jerkiness you'd expect to ensure you get the original vision, presented at its best.
The graphics have been refined and improved, of course, with flashier character models and textures. Nightdive even hand-crafted some of the animations, as well as introducing updated lighting and atmospheric effects. Antialiasing and depth-of-field effects also make the cut in this Switch version, so we have a handsome game (for its age) that's now easier than ever on old eyes. Oh, and we get achievements, which is always a pretty big plus on a Nintendo console.
One fly in the ointment we noticed in this version (compared to Xboxat least) is that load times on the Switch can be a bit frustrating. They are much longer than we expected on such an old title, even on old hardware. It's not a deal breaker by any means, but it's a shame they can't be shorter on such an old game, remastered or not.
So everything is fine on a technical level, except for a few loading screens. Overall it runs very nicely on Nintendo's console, feels as smooth as a horribly mutated baby's ass, and the first two or three hours are worth getting into. Even now, some 22 years later, it holds your attention in a strong start that asks you to use your brain a bit as you team up against the elements, solve some reasonably decent puzzles and get wrapped up in the suspense of gaining the trust of your companions while also being able to indulge some sweaty moments from movies – which we won't spoil here, just in case.
At the beginning, everything seems set for a big success. You'll need to monitor your temperature as you dash from building to building, monitor your stress levels (don't act crazy in front of your team), use a hypo gun to calm your nerves and issue orders to repair blown fuses, open doors, heal and figure out what's going on. All of this early stuff is great, especially when it looks and feels this nice, and dealing with finding keys or reading documents to gather clues about how to move forward is the kind of old-school fun we're 100% into.
However – and this is a big but, unfortunately – this is also a game that falls flat on its ass in its second half. It's not an uncommon situation, especially for the era, for a licensed action game to start with a decent premise, cleverly using aspects of the film, before succumbing to the temptation to just add lots of guns and things to shoot at, but it really stings here. If only they had stayed quietly inventive, we could be watching an all-time horror classic. Oh good.
Yes, once the guns are out, the bigger enemies arrive and the worm turns to a pretty poor attempt at blockbuster action, it never recovers. At the time this was about a 7/10, an enjoyable few hour ride if you were really into the movie. Now, two decades later, even with a very skillful remaster that showcased its best parts in the best possible light, it's hard to recommend it to anyone other than avid fans of the source material or those of us who cherish the memories of playing the original. We will say that gaming on the Switch is nicer than on the big console, it's all a bit more charming in portable mode, but it's still a pretty tough sell.
It's a messy experience at its core, and in those stretches of always-poor and now-dated action — which completely takes over as the story rolls along in the final third — the game fails to stay fun at all. There is nothing wrong. Once the wheels start coming down and it prioritizes shooting bland enemies over enjoying the unique atmospheric fear/trust system, it's toast.
Well, it was a rough end. Something like a movie.
Conclusion
The Thing: Remastered is another great remaster from Nightdive. There is absolutely no problem with the improvements, control tweaks and other work that has been done here; the game itself, unfortunately, leaves a lot to be desired for more than half of its running time. A good start, one that digs into the paranoia and fear of a classic movie with a handful of unique mechanics, is wasted too soon as the tension gives way to sloppy gunfights that aren't fun, no matter how slick or pretty they look now. It's certainly still a treat, and fans of the film or returning players will enjoy the nostalgia. But apart from that, it does not deserve a hearty recommendation.
