Crysis Remastered Trilogy, developed and published by Crytek in partnership with Saber Interactive, bundles the single-player experiences from Crysis, Crysis 2 and Crysis 3 together and optimizes them for modern consoles. The result is gorgeous visuals across all three titles that make the already solid gameplay better than ever, hampered by slight issues with enemy AI and framerate stutters at specific moments.
For those who haven't experienced the Crysis games before, every title drops players into the shoes of a soldier equipped with a Nanosuit that imbues them with superhuman abilities. The trilogy takes fans from North Korea to an overrun New York as they attempt to save humanity from an alien force called the Ceph, as well as deal with the shifty military contractor C.E.L.L. It's a fun sci-fi tale that gets more complicated from game to game, but players don't necessarily have to understand what's happening to enjoy the trilogy's superpowered gameplay.
Crysis Remastered Trilogy maintains the limited open-world missions and fun-to-use abilities from the original games, letting players tackle objectives in a variety of fashions. The Nanosuit comes equipped with a Stealth mode that allows players to take out targets while near-invisible, as well as an Armor mode that decreases the amount of damage the protagonist takes while in combat. The Nanosuit's Visor can also be used to scout out combat arenas in Far Cry fashion, highlighting targets and pathways that can give players the advantage over enemy forces. This all adds up to create memorable gameplay moments where players can move ninja-like through the entire game without firing a bullet, or go in guns blazing to cause as much destruction as superhumanly possible.
Gunplay in Crysis Trilogy Remastered feels smooth across all of the games, with each weapon providing the appropriate punch when firing upon enemies. Weapon selection runs the typical gamut of assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns, and more in Crysis 1, which makes sense when considering the relatively toned-down story. Crytek started leaning into more futuristic weaponry in the follow-up titles, with Crysis 2 featuring the electric-round K-Volt and Crysis 3 throwing the Predator Bow into the mix to help players take down the ever-growing alien/human threats. It's fun to see that series evolution when playing the titles back-to-back, and the weapons are made even better with the incorporation of a customization system that can be activated on the fly to allow for quick addition/subtraction of attachments to any specific weaponry.
In terms of visuals, all three games in Crysis Trilogy Remastered look the best they ever have. Crysis 1 clearly benefits the most from the optimization, with the lush forest environments of North Korea that were the benchmark for PC visuals back in 2007 looking incredibly beautiful in 4K resolution on PlayStation 5. Crysis 2 & 3 both depict a New York in ruin that's rendered in stunning detail as well, and the three titles are made all the better by smooth 60 fps animations that enhance every action-packed second. Everything from character models to shadow effects have been improved, and it's a testament to Crytek's attention to detail that lets every game in Crysis Remastered Trilogy shine bright in 2021.
Despite how pretty all of the games are, they are still some bugs that slightly hold back the experience from being truly amazing. Screen Rant's Crysis Remastered review briefly touched on the absurdity of enemy AI and random crashes back in 2020, and while the crashes appear to be fixed, the enemy AI maintains its wonky nature. Things progressively get better in Crysis 2 & 3, but there are still occasions where enemies might act out of character by walking into static structures for extended periods of time. The biggest issue across all games is noticeable stutter when reaching checkpoints in a mission, causing the framerate to drop considerably while the game saves and almost freeze before returning back to normal. It's an annoyance that breaks up an otherwise smooth experience, and hopefully Crytek can administer a patch to help fix the issue.
Outside of these technical issues, Crysis Remastered Trilogy does an excellent job of porting a classic video game series to modern day consoles. It maintains the core gameplay centered around making players an actual super soldier while upgrading visuals and performance for a satisfying experience. Those looking to try Crytek's magnum opus series for the first time or experience the adventures once again should find a lot to enjoy about Crysis Remastered Trilogy.
Crysis Remastered Trilogy is available for download October 15, 2021 on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, and can be played on Xbox Series X/S & PS5 as well. Screen Rant was provided with a PS4 code that was played on PS5 for the purpose of this review.