The House of the Dead: Remake was announced in Spring last year and was due in 2021, but it clearly slipped and there'd been minimal updates in recent times. Thankfully publisher Forever Entertainment has finally confirmed release details, announcing that it'll launch on 7th April, with pre-orders from 31st March. Those will definitely be the eShop dates, we also know that Microids is producing physical editions; we'll see whether they roll out at the same time.
Aside from that we have a new trailer that focuses mostly on actual gameplay, giving us a feel for how this remake has shaped up. Last May there were reports that we can expect both physical and motion control options, along with 720p/60fps docked and 720p/30fps in handheld, for example. As for the official details at present, they're below:
- Well known arcade classic with modern graphics and controls
- True to the original gameplay
- Local 2-player multiplayer
- Multiple endings
- Photomode
- Achievements
- Armory with unlockable weapons
- Hordes of the undead monstrosities in a new game mode
- Gallery with encountered enemies and bosses
Are you planning to pick this up in April, or will you wait to hear how the remake turns out? Let us know, as always, in the comments.
Comments 77
Had some fun times with it way back when with a friend. Hopefully the gyro aiming is done well since I found it very hard to go back to analog only aiming these days.
Switch Zapper anyone?
I forgot about this announcement due to their radio silence. At least they had the decency to not release it on a very stacked March month for Switch
I would also like a remaster of the excellent Wii game. That was a great game with great humour and killer soundtrack.
Hotd Overkill please.
Love that game.
Still have my Bang Bang Box in mint condition, play it regularly
Well with a physical edition confirmed I am 100% getting this!
So weird that the Sega logo isn't anywhere to be seen in that trailer (outside of the tiny copyright notice at the end). You'd think Sega would have insisted?
Day 1 for me…..’we must stop Curien’
Remember having it on the Saturn, it wasn’t as good as Virtua Cop but still loads of fun.
@Damo I thought the same, but wasn’t it like that for SOR4 too?
@Inaroomalone It was, and that didn't sit well with me either! These games NEED that iconic logo on the cover.
If the motion control is spot on with TVs and we get a gun attachment like the Wii did then this should be good.
Also we could then do with some more of the games like this. Especially Namco ones, time crisis 4, dead storm pirates etc.
The switch could cut out a nice niche market for itself here.
This is 100% a day one for me. HotD is one of my all time favourite videogame series. The fact that we're getting a physical edition is the cherry on top. Would love it if we could get an AMS styled Zapper like the hand cannon on the Wii
@Inaroomalone And the Panzer Dragoon Remake I think. I wonder if they decided from the outset when licensing out these games to keep their name away from them to avoid looking like they’re directly involved with the games themselves in case they turn out to be rubbish. They’ve licensed a lot of stuff out over the last few years and if the majority of it turned out to be of poor quality it wouldn’t reflect well on SEGA if their name was front and centre on each release. The Square-Enix logo is all over the Front Mission trailer which makes me think this is an insistence on SEGA’s part and not Forever Entertainment’s. Who knows though
Glad it's got a release date. I was starting to think it had been cancelled over lack of updates. Count me in providing it reviews well, although I would like a physical copy. Hopefully the release for that is not that long behind the e-shop version..
Can you shoot and aim with joycon? Like hotd overkill on wii, that game is fun 😃
Bring it on. Ghost Squad, Time Crisis etc. Sadly I do not think the accuracy from joycons would be good enough for the likes of Point Blank though.
Looks like stick control
I'm really liking what Sega is doing with some of their old franchises. Or rather the hands off approach their taking and letting other companies go nuts.
Oh my. Now this is an absolute shocker and a must-buy for me as a longtime Sega fan. I always wanted to have a good way to play this game at home and the Saturn was never the best way to play it.
Might have to try the co-op on this one.
it was fun with playstation move on PS3. Hope theres some gun to put Joy Con inside
No light gun controls = no buy. Tilting a gamepad is not enough. Surely the IR sensor on a joycon does something more practical than just work with labo.
I will likely get this down the road sometime. It's not an early buy buy but a wait- for-sale game to me.. I had a blast with HOTD 1 and 2, and I don't think there is anything like it on the Switch.
Will see how the gyro aiming holds up. There needs to be a switch zapper / gun holder thing to make this a pure experience. Overkill on wii was just GOLD. I loved it so much, I want that experience again!
Physical, AND a way to shoot at screen.
Gyro controls are fine, but House of the dead is meant to be played with a gun. And a friend. And beers.
@Duncanballs and quite everybody on this thread … how come switch is lacking ALL this kind of games ???
Yeah, if a lightgun option is there and a physical release, I'm in. If not, I'm not spending any Cent on this.
Also, who would play this undocked?
Day 1, I am a huge fan of this series.
Fun fact...
When I played The House of the Dead 2 (Wii), that high-pitched sound before you fight a Boss used to freak out my dog. He would bark non-stop, every time.
...my wife had to eventually ban that game from being played in our home.
Huh...
If there's gyro aiming then ya, I'm on it.
Premiere on Switch, a bit of fan service although Sega fans are everywhere. I'll get it for Xbox or play House of the Dead 1 & 2 on my Wii U.
I love house of the dead, but for me there needs to be some kind of gun, even just a rudimentary shell that you slot a joycon into. If it feels like I'm just moving a pointer round a screen, it's just not going to do it it for me.
The most important piece of information always gets left out with these games…will you be able to use your joy-con as a zapper in docked mode or not?
Not saying it’s NL fault, but it would be helpful for some of us who will get this only if it has zapper mode.
I’m still intrigued about how the the controls work and everything I read leads me to believe it’s gyro aided. But I need the facts before I buy…..physically!
Also seems the gun sounds are less chunky.
I wonder what gun controllers if any this is compatible with.
Gyro is a pretty poor substitute for a proper old school light gun for me. Shame they never nailed a cheap way to do that properly on LCD TVs. The best solution I can think of right now would be VR and a motion controller, as Pistol Whip was brilliant.
Nintendo should never have abandoned the sensor bar. See how it almost locks out an entire genre of games from the system. That said, carrying the Wii Remote into this generation probably would’ve made it the longest officially supported controller in gaming history. Wild.
@Freek one of the best Wii games at that time. And together with RE4 (between Gamecube and Wii), RE Revelations (mostly 3DS), Plants Vs Zombies (DS), Aladdin (GB), Eternal Darkness, and Timesplitters 3 (Gamecube), one of the games I replayed the campaign a ridiculous amount of times over and over and never got tired of.
@masterLEON Can't beat the Gamecube controller, still going on the fourth system with official connection port peripherals (not even wireless!).
That said, sensor bar was an amazing thing, bringing back lightgun games was such a, well actually, breath of fresh air. Easy to learn, actual skill required to master. Pick up and play co-op fun on every skill level. I was delighted when I learned the Wii U supported it, and the Gamepad had its very own built into it.
Nobody needs a gun! Gamers can do it with a JoyCon! 😁
@Dezzy70 There really isn't another system that would be able to duplicate motion based aiming. There are probably dozens of fondly remembered gun based games that could be remastered for the Switch. I'd be all about T:2 for example.
But can I plug my keyboard into my Switch dock, and type zombies to death?
Man, we used to play the heck out of this game on my cousin's PC. I'll surely get this one along the line.
"Da House of Da Dead"
@BionicDodo check out the Sinden lightgun. Hoping it is the start of the return of lightgun games.
@masterLEON GameCube pad is probably the longest supported but yeah, I wish they’d just add in Wiimote support on Switch and put out a USB/battery powered sensor bar for developers and Switch owners who want to use them. Seems mad to consider but they put out GameCube controllers and adapters for the past two generations so not like there’s no precedent for it.
I wouldn't even consider this without some sort of "gun" control method. If it can only be played with a joystick, then I'm not even sure what the point of releasing this game is.
Anyone remember The Punisher game on the NES? It was a shooting game that didn't use a light gun.
Had fun with this series on the Wii motion controls. Wonder if the Switch remake will have them as well. I am interested.
Not a day one buy just cause the dev needed to fix a lot of things in their panzer dragoon release, but will eventually grab.
@masterLEON That's the thing, the Wii Remote is better than the joy-con.
@Duncanballs Thanks for the heads up, but I've been considering one of those for a while. Shame it's Windows/Linux only. Also, the reason I mentioned wanting a cheap solution is that the £160 required for two of those is a bit out of my price range right now. £260 if you want recoil. I'd buy them without a thought at £50 each, but I understand that their costs must be very high right now. I'm sure I'll buy one soon anyway and then get a second down the line.
So excited for this one! Even if gyro isn't perfect, I'm glad Switch is finally getting a proper rail shooter.
To those wondering what kind of controls will be available, Forever Entertainment left a few comment replies in the YouTube video page saying "You can use gyro ", and when asked whether players would be able to calibrate, their response was "there's reset button."
So my guess is that the reload button will do double-duty as the reset button.
I was excited until I saw the developer is Forever Entertainment. That Panzer Dragoon remake they made was ABYSMAL.
Also, a possible reason Sega’s logo is so hard to find on these productions…
@RobotReptile Didn't they update Panzer Dragoon remake and fix it? I'm interested but I haven't bought it yet.
@KayFiOS
I was just going to say, my last experience with this series was The Typing of the Dead and wowwee that was a long time ago!
I think I played it on my long-gone Dreamcast. (;_;)
I certainly hope they give us the option to use joycon as a pointer with this game. I mean, the devs of World of Goo and Little Inferno implemented it wonderfully.
Please take the time to port it right for us 100million Switch owners!!
Gyro is not how I would like to play this game.... Hope it comes to PC, then I can play with my Wiimote+ and get a much better experience!
I went to a pizza place the other day and had a fun time with one of my kids playing this on the arcades, will grab it if reviews are good, should spend some quality time kiling zombies 🙂
I'll probably buy this game for the 3rd time for a 3rd game console when it's on sale, but give me a Ho'tD2 remake and I'll buy 3 copies at 3x full price.
Now will they release a bluetooth zombie shooting gun for Switch so I could play this the way it's suppose to be?
@Banjo- they updated it, but it still felt busted to me. I played it through completion and it was the first Switch game I’ve uninstalled—icon and everything.
I might be harsher than some reviews but the game just felt incredibly hollow to me.
@RobotReptile That's a pity. If you have an Xbox make sure to play Panzer Dragoon Orta via backwards compatibility.
I wonder if there’s a way to plug a USB infrared sensor into the switch dock —like the Wii motion bar— that would read the movements and aiming of the joycon?
Is that possible to pipe it in through USB-A on the dock and then feed that signal into the system through the dock’s USB-C connector into the docked system?
@BionicDodo I'm the same. A bit too pricey as they are but hoping the tech takes off and we see a resurgence in the genre.
@Duncanballs Just been reading a review that says they're a bit on the laggy side too, so definitely not willing to put up big money for one.
Day one for me love house of the dead
I'm assuming this will work with the joycons? if this is just cross hair aiming it's completely pointless.
I want Time Crisis 1 remake for Switch.
In fact bring all the Time Crisis games to Switch.
Left joycon for coming in and out of cover, right joycon for shooting bad guys.
Day 1 Purchase for me for Sure! I can’t wait!!!
@Damo SEGA don't these days lol.
Can i get house of the dead overkill remake….. please
Picking up a physical copy but mostly be waiting for this to come to PC so I can use my sinden lightgun, unless there's a way for my sinden to work on my switch
I HOPE they didn’t screw this up!! Otherwise Day 1 for me. I guess Sega doesn’t have the time nor the will to put out their own classic IP???
@RobotReptile To be fair, the original Panzer Dragoon on Saturn isn't really all that great of a game to begin with. Sure, it looked and sounded fantastic 27 years ago, but the actual gameplay was never all that great. I played the remake once and waves of nostalgia rushed over me, and then I didn't feel any huge desire to play it again. Kind of like the original.
@Banjo- I don’t have an Xbox, but would definitely give it a shot if I did. Appreciate the suggestion 👌
YESSSS!! And physical version!!
And heres hoping that we get a Typing of the Dead remake.
@WaveBoy Yeah agreed. I will wait for reviews and see people think before diving in. Could be a good one to get on sale later on... maybe.
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