A remake of The House Of The Dead is on the horizon and a new trailer has been released, showcasing the remake's gameplay on Nintendo Switch. The classic late-90's rail shooter is getting the full remake treatment with updated graphics, audio, and gameplay mechanics. The trailer is brief, but it shows that the remake shares the same over the top zombie fun as the original.
The House Of The Dead was first released by Sega as a rail-shooter arcade cabinet in 1996. Following its international release in 1997, the game quickly became a staple of arcades everywhere. Alongside the Resident Evil series, The House Of The Dead is credited with bringing zombies back into video games, and many say that franchises such as Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising would not exist without The House Of The Dead's success. The game also introduced the concept of fast running zombies as well as other mutated monster variants outside the slow shambling corpse that is the norm. The series eventually spawned multiple sequels with the most recent, The House Of The Dead: Scarlet Dawn, releasing in 2019 to positive reviews.
Polish studio Forever Entertainment has been tasked by Sega with developing both The House Of The Dead: Remake and The House Of The Dead 2: Remake for the Nintendo Switch. The trailer for the first entry was released and shows updated graphics sprucing up the now classic aesthetic of the series. The music has the same arcade techno thump, to keep the adrenaline high while players mow through the undead and move through narrow passageways from stage to stage. The brief trailer also shows that the user interface will be similar to the arcade cabinets as player's cursors will be visible on the screen for various prompts both during gameplay and during cutscenes.
The trailer showcases how the classic levels have been updated, with HD graphics as well as character models. The trailer ends with the reveal of the new character model for the first game's main villain, Dr. Curien, the man responsible for the dead coming back to life. The House Of The Dead series' many sequels held with the original's over the top portrayal of the undead, but with physical arcades seemingly a thing of the past, it's unknown what a sequel might look like.
The Nintendo Switch seems to be a natural home for point-and-shoot arcade remakes, since the diverse platform can support splitscreen co-op, motion control, and online capability. With titles such as The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD being remastered and updated, one wonders how many other classic titles from gaming's past could someday make their way onto Nintendo's latest console.
Source: Forever Entertainment