One day after the leaked trailer for Crysis Remastered, which had a July 1st scheduled drop, publisher Crytek has released a statement on the game’s delay. Originally slated to release on July 23rd, Crysis Remastered was hit with severe backlash due to the overall quality of the remaster. The leaked trailer has over 61,000 views, with nearly 800 dislikes against an unfortunate 500 likes.
The Crysis IP boasts jaw-dropping visuals for all three of its entries, but for 2020 next generation standards, it seems rather dated. Facial animations look wonky and unappealing, while the lip sync never seems to line up. When the original released back in November of 2007, gamers were treated to fantastic visuals, tight gunplay and controls, and semi-open environments that countered the linear structure of most first-person-shooters at the time.
The YouTube comments are about as toxic and crass as you would expect, however I don’t question the validity of the few. Some read, “Maximum fail,” or one of my favorites, “So where is the remastered part lmao?” It’s evident that expectations were high for a remaster of this beloved first entry, where some expected gameplay to be reminiscent of the Cryengine 5 teaser.
Blame quickly fell upon developer Saber Interactive as many gamers’ sodium levels remain dangerously high after the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary – referenced several times in the comments section with the occasional expletive. In Crytek’s statement, it reads, “Your passion for the Crysis franchise deserves an undeniably high-quality game…we will need to delay the launch date (all platforms) and trailer premiere by a few weeks… we want to take the time to polish the game.”
Many game developer and publisher statements have dropped this year mostly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but when games like Resident Evil 2 and 3 remake and the recent Battle For Bikini Bottom Rehydrated exist, it’s tough to support half-baked remasters. Resident Evil 2 remake runs on the incredible RE7 engine that, more often than not, looks photorealistic. It’s quickly becoming clear that some developers dump an insane amount of money into nostalgia alone, while simultaneously forgetting why we fell in love with these games in the first place.
It’s difficult to predict what a few weeks of bug polishing can do for the game’s disappointing reception, but at least Crytek acknowledges the criticisms, and has taken action to both respond to fan backlash and to revisit some of their priorities. A solidified release date has yet to be announced, but expect to see the game launch on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC at some point soon.
