Remember the joys of XIII from 2003? Remember how those brilliant memories were ruined with the release of the remake in 2020? Microids have acknowledged that things weren’t great, but have promised to fix them, reworking pretty much everything in hope of dropping a major update to the game in September. And it’s about then when a Switch version will hit home too.
Having released on Xbox, PlayStation and PC in 2020, XIII was a mess. Our review (1.5/5 if you’re wondering) spoke of how it was buggy to the point of frustration, how the art style was ruined and how the controls were a mess. Those great memories that we picked up from back in 2003, tarnished.
But thankfully Microids knew it and so have been working on a fix – some two years after release. This fix will come in the form of a major update for XIII, releasing alongside the Nintendo Switch version on September 13th 2022 – we’re hoping that’s not a Friday.
XIII Remake is the remake of the iconic cel-shaded FPS from 2003, and is the adaptation of the first five volumes of the Belgian graphic novel of the same name by artist William Vance and writer Jean Van Hamme.
In order to achieve the quality standards and offer an optimal gaming experience that should be par for the course, Microids decided to entrust the development of XIII Remake to the French studio Tower Five (Lornsword: Winter Chronicle – although we only gave that 2.5/5 in review so don’t expect too much). They have been hard at work for more than a year on a major update for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC versions, the studio has also worked on the multiplayer content as well as the Nintendo Switch port of the game. This update, the multiplayer content and the Switch version will simultaneously be released on September 13th.
It’s then when owners of the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC versions will receive a free update, finally given the chance to enjoy the game as intended. The development studio have reworked pretty much the entire game too, from the Art Direction to the AI and added numerous technical improvements. Finally, Tower Five implemented the highly awaited online multiplayer mode for up to 13 players.
“We are fully aware and terribly sorry that the initial launch of XIII Remake on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC did not reach players’ expected quality standards. A bit more than a year ago we took the decision to hire the studio Tower Five to finish the development of the game. Tower Five worked with us in the past, notably on the great port of Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders on Nintendo Switch. We really wanted to take the time to fix the game and offer owners of XIII Remake a free update paying the best possible tribute to the original game we all love. The Nintendo Switch version of the game will of course benefit from all the work done to improve the game as well as the multiplayer mode, which will mark the end of the game’s development. We can’t wait for players to put their hands on this improved version of the game and (re)discover the classic adventures of Agent XIII, as soon as it’s released after the Summer.” declares Stéphane Longeard, CEO de Microids.
We won’t be re-reviewing XIII after this fix, but expect to see XIII Remake launching on September 13th 2022 on Nintendo Switch as the free major update hits Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4 and PC.