The universally criticized XIII Remake is getting an overhaul, will release later in 2022

Back in 2003, Ubisoft released a little-known game called XIII (the number 13). It was a sales flop but was praised for its unique artstyle. Since then, the linear first-person shooter has garnered a following. So, when it was announced that the game would be getting a modern remake, fans were ecstatic.

The XIII remake was released in 2020 and developed by PlayMagic. Unfortunately, the game got poor reviews all around, with criticism geared towards artstyle, design changes, and technical issues. Now, publisher Microids has announced that massive changes are coming to the game via another studio, Tower Five.

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XIII Remake will finally get improved upon

Via a recent update, Microids' official statement said:

"To achieve the quality standards and offer an optimal gaming experience, Microids decided to entrust the development of XIII Remake to the French studio Tower Five (known for Lornsword: Winter Chronicle). (They have been) hard at work for more than a year on a major update. This update will be released on September 13th."

The changes set to be included in this overhaul include:

• Reworked artstyle, bringing the game closer to it's cel-shaded origins as a Belgian comic book series.
• Improved AI. The remake featured poor AI that falied to respond as it should.
• Improvements to the HUD (heads-up display) that protrays relevant on-screen informaton to players.
• Improved frame rates (30 FPS on Nintendo Switch while 60 PFS on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S).

Everything seems promising to say the least. Owners of the remake can expect to get their hands on the update free of cost when it arrives on September 13, 2022. The game is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC for now.

The Nintendo Switch version will drop alongside the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions in September.

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What is XIII about and what went wrong with the remake?

XIII tells the story that is set across the first five volumes of a Belgian comic of the same name. It features an amnesiac man who finds himself trapped within a government conspiracy.

This sees players traverse a variety of levels from snowy mountains to tropical coastlines, and taking down foes using an assortment of weapons. While the gunplay was not particularly good in the original, and the remake didn't improve the experience either.

It also made changes such as replacing the comic panel cutscenes with generic in-engine shots; this is without considering the fact that the artstyle looked nothing like the 2003 entry and had a lot of bugs and glitches.

The original game (dubbed XIII Classic) is available on Steam, so players who wish to check the game out for cheap might want to grab it on Steam thanks to the ongoing Steam Summer Sale 2022.