Discontent Dismissed: Midwinter Remake Is Coming

Now is the Midwinter of my content, though not until after an inglorious summer. In the very near future of 'early 2014', a Kickstarter campaign for a remake of Mike Singleton's wonderful first-person open world RPG will begin, with an intended release date of 'early 2015' for the final product. Development duties will be handled by Chilli Hugger Software, the studio that created the Lords of Midnight remake. Mr Singleton was the creator of games so far ahead of their time that I predict the rest of us will catch up with his vision some time during the singularity.

Midwinter and its sequel shaped my ideas about what games could be and I've been excited and mildly disappointed ever since. Chilli Hugger will be joined by Midwinter's programmer, Dave Gautrey, as "the technical lead on the game, using the original game code and design documents as a foundation".

As well as securing the services of Mr Gautrey, Chill Hugger have recruited Dan Whitehead, who you may recognise from his many contributions to Eurogamer. He'll be working in "the creative lead role, responsible for narrative design and gameplay".

Chris Wild, founder of Chilli Hugger, had this to say:

Midwinter was a seminal game, and a huge influence on the open world sandbox genre, but Mike’s vision was held back by the technology of the time. Our aim is to bring Midwinter back into the modern gaming environment, combining the depth and variety of the original with today’s cutting edge visuals and processing power.

The technology of the time did a poor job of holding that vision back. I look forward to seeing more but for now here is a comparison shot.

I hope the final HUD is as colourful and lovely as the original version.