Polish publisher Forever Entertainment, who you might know for their remakes of Panzer Dragoon and its sequel (available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch soon) has confirmed reports that they’re also remaking the light gun shooters, House of the Dead and House of the Dead 2.
Confirmed on their Twitter account, not a lot is known of the project besides that the remakes will include new graphics and tweaked gameplay for the bustling, modern-day – but more importantly, we know for sure that they’re retaining the original scripts. Let’s hope the legendary cheesy dialogue is preserved also.
SEGA still owns the IP, but Forever Entertainment will be co-financing the remake with development duties delegated to MegaPixel Studio. Additional financing will be by TA Publishing too, just in case you’re interested in the internal financial workings of video games.
As it stands, no release date, price or even the platform has been announced yet – or even if a light gun will be compatible. That’s obviously a tricky hurdle to overcome since light guns are seldom available on modern platforms. Would you be willing to play House of the Dead with a thumbstick or a mouse?
The first House of the Dead originally hit the arcades in 1996, with it seeing ports to the Sega Saturn and the PC in 1998. The sequel was also released in 1998 with its own ports landing on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 and the PC in 2001. As a cool easter egg, it was also playable in the Xbox version of House of the Dead III. There have been a decent number of sequels and spin-offs since, with the latest arcade offering; House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn released only last year.
Back to the remakes: images of the work in progress are expected in several months, although the first part isn’t slated for release until the end of 2020.
