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The Pandora Directive 25th Anniversary - Possible Remake/Remaster Announced!

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As I’m sure many of you fellow adventure game fanatics will be aware, an indie studio called Chaotic Fusion, run by a small group of dedicated Tex Murphy fans, had been working on an officially sanctioned remake of Tex Murphy: Overseer for some years now, titled The Poisoned Pawn, which then evolved into a fully blown sequel, which was eventually joined in co-development by Big Finish Games (the studio headed by the original creators of the Tex Murphy series).

Sadly a new update on Big Finish Games’ site has some disappointing news regarding the fate of The Poisoned Pawn (the long and short being that it looks as though it may be cancelled due to the fracturing between the two development studios caused by disagreements in creative direction), but there’s some wonderful news regardless, as Big Finish Games have revealed that as a part of a celebration for the 25th Anniversary of the classic Tex Murphy adventure game The Pandora Directive, they are planning to remake the game with today’s available technology.

Deatils here.

According to Big Finish Games, though work on the remake of The Pandora Directive has began, the chances of going into full production largely depend upon the reaction from the adventure game community to the news, so I figured it would be a good idea to create a thread on this site’s forums, which I did do and you are reading now, with your eyes.

Spread the word and let’s make this a reality.

Viva la Tex!

EDIT: There are more details on the remake of The Pandora Directive here and here.

     
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St_Eddie - 01 June 2021 10:46 PM

According to Big Finish Games, the chances of The Pandora Directive remake going ahead largely depend upon the reaction from the adventure game community to the news, so I figured it would be a good idea to create a thread on this site’s forums, which I did do and you are reading now, with your eyes.

What if I said I would have possibly been interested in buying The Poisoned Pawn or some kind of sequel, but am not really interested in remakes?

Can we convince the studio it’s a bad move?  Money Mouth

     
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Luhr28 - 01 June 2021 10:59 PM

What if I said I would have possibly been interested in buying The Poisoned Pawn or some kind of sequel, but am not really interested in remakes?

As per the update on Big Finish Games’ site, The Poisoned Pawn is no longer in their hands, as they ran into “creative differences” with Chaotic Fusion.  The Poisoned Pawn was always primarily Chaotic Fusion’s project to begin with.  Big Finish Games simply decided to graciously lend their support via their own in-house developers midway through the production (as well as have Chris Jones and company film new FMV sequences for the game) but have now ceased any further creative support on the project.  They’ve simply handed all assets back to Chaotic Fusion and said that the studio still have Big Finish Games’ blessing to continue development of The Poisoned Pawn, should they so choose to do so.

To be clear, The Pandora Directive remake is a separate thing to The Poisoned Pawn entirely and is being handled solely by the series’ original creators over at Big Finish Games.

Luhr28 - 01 June 2021 10:59 PM

Can we convince the studio it’s a bad move?  Money Mouth

I dare say that if you’d care to see an entirely new Tex Murphy adventure, then it would be prudent to support the remake because interest and support in one Tex Murphy project increases the chances of further Tex Murphy projects down the line.

     
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Sorry, I just realised that perhaps my previous posts didn’t quite make it clear that The Pandora Directive remake isn’t perhaps what you’re envisioning, Luhr28 (especially if you didn’t click on the provided links which go into detail on Big Finish Games’ intention for the project).  It’s not a ground up reimagining, but rather a restoration of the original video footage from the game upscaled into 4k, alongside the original gameplay and level design, but upgraded to more modern standards of graphical expectations.  They’ve scoured their warehouses and retrieved all of the original video tapes and source code for the remake.

The creatives over at Big Finish Games have made it perfectly clear that they intend to honour the original vision as much as possible, right down to reusing the original assets, so it’s perhaps best to think of the project as more of a remastering primarily.  It’s not the fully blown remake/reimagining that you perhaps feared it would be.

     
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St_Eddie - 02 June 2021 12:08 AM

Sorry, I just realised that perhaps my previous posts didn’t quite make it clear that The Pandora Directive remake isn’t perhaps what you’re envisioning, Luhr28 (especially if you didn’t click on the provided links which go into detail on Big Finish Games’ intention for the project).  It’s not a ground up reimagining, but rather a restoration of the original video footage from the game upscaled into 4k, alongside the original gameplay and level design, but upgraded to more modern standards of graphical expectations.  They’ve scoured their warehouses and retrieved all of the original video tapes and source code for the remake.

The creatives over at Big Finish Games have made it perfectly clear that they intend to honour the original vision as much as possible, right down to reusing the original assets, so it’s perhaps best to think of the project as more of a remastering primarily.  It’s not the fully blown remake/reimagining that you perhaps feared it would be.

Feared? Not at all. I’m even less interested in remasters. At least a remake would have offered something relatively new.

St_Eddie - 01 June 2021 11:48 PM
Luhr28 - 01 June 2021 10:59 PM

Can we convince the studio it’s a bad move?  Money Mouth

I dare say that if you’d care to see an entirely new Tex Murphy adventure, then it would be prudent to support the remake because interest and support in one Tex Murphy project increases the chances of further Tex Murphy projects down the line.

If “further Tex Murphy projects” means more remasters, then… meh. I’d rather they open a kickstarter or something, the chances of me donating something over buying a remaster is much higher.

     
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St_Eddie - 01 June 2021 11:48 PM

I dare say that if you’d care to see an entirely new Tex Murphy adventure, then it would be prudent to support the remake because interest and support in one Tex Murphy project increases the chances of further Tex Murphy projects down the line.

That argument has been thrown out with Monkey Island remakes, Double Fine remakes, Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded*, Gabriel Knight Anniversary remake, etc. etc.

The only thing they have increased is players’ distrust in such reasoning.


(* = OK, technically speaking there have been new LSL games, but because they are from a German developer with no connection to any previous creators, I don’t think that counts.)

     
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GateKeeper - 02 June 2021 03:03 AM

That argument has been thrown out with Monkey Island remakes, Double Fine remakes, Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded, Gabriel Knight Anniversary remake, etc. etc.

The only thing they have increased is players’ distrust in such reasoning.

It should be noted that Big Finish Games are not a big studio.  There’s likely a very good financial reason why they’d be more keen to repurpose preexisting assets for a remaster of an old game, than to start from scratch with an entirely new and expensive to produce sequel.  Also, Big Finish Games haven’t stated at any time that they’d care to develop a brand new adventure in the series, so why not be supportive of a remaster of an existing game, if that’s what interests them at this time?  Ultimately, if it’s a choice between a remaster or no game at all, then that’s a no brainer for me.  It’s not like there’s a third option on the table for a brand new sequel and the fans are being asked to vote in a poll for which they’d prefer between that or a remaster.

Having said that, of course I would be happy to contribute to another Kickstarter should they care to go back to that particular well for a new sequel.  However, I’d also be extremely happy to receive a remaster of The Pandora Directive.  I must confess that I’m a little surprised to see fans of the series being so down on what I consider to be very exciting news within the realm of Tex Murphy.  Whilst the remakes of the first two Monkey Island games and the Double Fine remasters didn’t lead to any new sequels, I’m still immensely grateful that they exist all the same.

     
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I am extremely excited for this! The Pandora Directive is still my favorite game of all time, so this announcement is a dream come true! What has been shown so far looks amazing!

     
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Adventure Games Forever - 02 June 2021 03:50 AM

I am extremely excited for this! The Pandora Directive is still my favorite game of all time, so this announcement is a dream come true! What has been shown so far looks amazing!

Now, you, are my kind of peoples. Cool

     
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I’m not excited about a remake but I would certainly buy it, if only to support BigFinish. I have had so much fun with Tex over the years - and that includes the best, the most original and the funniest Kickstarter campaign of all the adventure games I backed.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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St_Eddie - 02 June 2021 03:20 AM
GateKeeper - 02 June 2021 03:03 AM

That argument has been thrown out with Monkey Island remakes, Double Fine remakes, Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded, Gabriel Knight Anniversary remake, etc. etc.

The only thing they have increased is players’ distrust in such reasoning.

It should be noted that Big Finish Games are not a big studio.  There’s likely a very good financial reason why they’d be more keen to repurpose preexisting assets for a remaster of an old game, than to start from scratch with an entirely new and expensive to produce sequel.  Also, Big Finish Games haven’t stated at any time that they’d care to develop a brand new adventure in the series, so why not be supportive of a remaster of an existing game, if that’s what interests them at this time?  Ultimately, if it’s a choice between a remaster or no game at all, then that’s a no brainer for me.  It’s not like there’s a third option on the table for a brand new sequel and the fans are being asked to vote in a poll for which they’d prefer between that or a remaster.

Having said that, of course I would be happy to contribute to another Kickstarter should they care to go back to that particular well for a new sequel.  However, I’d also be extremely happy to receive a remaster of The Pandora Directive.  I must confess that I’m a little surprised to see fans of the series being so down on what I consider to be very exciting news within the realm of Tex Murphy.  Whilst the remakes of the first two Monkey Island games and the Double Fine remasters didn’t lead to any new sequels, I’m still immensely grateful that they exist all the same.

I’m a big Tex fan since UAKM, it’s one of my favorite series of all time.

If I had to guess as to why there is some resistance to this news, the crux of the matter is that this is FMV we are talking about. The source footage can be restored anytime, and probably the later the better because the technology is always improving. Chris Jones however isn’t going to be getting any younger, and if there are going to be any more Tex Murphy games then the clock is ticking.

Now, when you say it’s better to have a remastered TPD than not, that’s perfectly correct. However, when time is a finite resource, as it is here, and it’s being put towards a project which will make a new sequel unlikely, then it’s perfectly understandable that fans wouldn’t think that this is the best move for Big Finish Games.

Were this just any old animated game - no problem! There are Larry games still being made and they will probably still be made in 2060, with no barriers. That’s not the case for Tex.

     
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cyfoyjvx - 02 June 2021 05:35 AM

If I had to guess as to why there is some resistance to this news, the crux of the matter is that this is FMV we are talking about. The source footage can be restored anytime, and probably the later the better because the technology is always improving. Chris Jones however isn’t going to be getting any younger, and if there are going to be any more Tex Murphy games then the clock is ticking.

Now, when you say it’s better to have a remastered TPD than not, that’s perfectly correct. However, when time is a finite resource, as it is here, and it’s being put towards a project which will make a new sequel unlikely, then it’s perfectly understandable that fans wouldn’t think that this is the best move for Big Finish Games.

Were this just any old animated game - no problem! There are Larry games still being made and they will probably still be made in 2060, with no barriers. That’s not the case for Tex.

That’s a fair point but the thing is that like many Tex Murphy fans, I had accepted that we were unlikely to ever get any more entries in the series after Overseer, much less a resolution to the cliffhanger ending to that game, so when the Kickstarter for Tesla Effect launched, it was a joyful and spellbinding surprise.  Then after that game launched, I resigned to accepting that it was a wonderful farewell to the series and an epilogue to the saga as a whole.

Then The Poisoned Pawn was announced and that was yet another welcome surprise out of nowhere.  It’s now looking like it’ll never see the light of day, but my goodness; a lovely surprise yet again in the form of a remaster of The Pandora Directive!  Incredible!  My point being that any kind of new Tex Murphy content (be it a sequel or remaster) should be seen as a bonus from this point forward.  It’s not like there needs to be another sequel to resolve a cliffhanger anymore.  I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and question the thinking behind Big Finish Games’ decision to remaster The Pandora Directive.  I’ll gladly take whatever I can when it comes to Tex Murphy.  We’re lucky to be getting anything at all, quite frankly.

     
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I for one will happily buy and play an updated version of PD. Was very excited to hear that the original movie material had been found.

Wish there was a similar project updating UAKM, since I belong to the relatively few who love that game even more than PD.

Both games could definitely benefit from technical updates, including more modern controls (WASD + mouse/gamepad).

     
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St_Eddie - 02 June 2021 03:20 AM

It should be noted that Big Finish Games are not a big studio.  There’s likely a very good financial reason why they’d be more keen to repurpose preexisting assets for a remaster of an old game, than to start from scratch with an entirely new and expensive to produce sequel.

Bigger studios earn more, but they also spend more.
I’m sure any business would build new sales on existing material if they ever could.

St_Eddie - 02 June 2021 03:20 AM

Also, Big Finish Games haven’t stated at any time that they’d care to develop a brand new adventure in the series, so why not be supportive of a remaster of an existing game, if that’s what interests them at this time?  Ultimately, if it’s a choice between a remaster or no game at all, then that’s a no brainer for me.

OK. I would choose “no game at all” in 10 cases out of 10.
There’s much value in keeping original games available. I see really no reason to keep releasing remasters. Even remakes are a bit too much usually, although there are a couple of cases where the remake seems more complete than the original game, the first Leisure Suit Larry for instance (in other words, the third of the five games telling the same story).

     
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Tex Murphy games are among those I’ve wanted to see remade for the longest time, as I generally feel the original FMV bits suffered greatly from the tech of the era. Poor resolution and over-compression vexes me more in FMV, as I like my video image as clear as possible.

     
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I would be very interested in Tex Murphy remakes/remasters.
I’m a big fan of Under A Killing Moon and The Pandora Directive. A couple of my favorite games, in fact. Good writing, characters, stories, puzzles, etc. But let’s face it, there is room for improvement with the interface and with the graphics. I mean, while some might argue that those flat 3 pixel watches, keys, and id cards force the player to peruse the scenes with a fine tooth comb like a real gumshoe, more often than not they just lead to frustration, where the player isn’t sure whether they are stuck for a puzzling reason or a pixel hunting reason.
Also, some of the action/stealth scenes could certainly be rejigged to be more logically consistent and also less buggy. In the old days, gaming the game might have been part of the challenge of the game, but played today those are definitely weak points in the design. By gaming the game I mean things like figuring out that the robot death machine roaming the halls will reset its route every time you enter or leave a room, or save/load spamming in the fireball temple.

So yeah, I’d play ‘em!

     

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