Not only are we nearing the fortieth anniversary of the cyberpunk classic Blade Runner, but we are now in a time past what is portrayed in said film. At least we have another two decades and change before we’re past the events of Blade Runner 2049.
The influence of the 1982 original cannot be understated. Without that movie, we may not have The Matrix, Dark City, Cyberpunk 2077, and so much more. It came out long before the days of tie-ins and extended universes, which makes the 1997 point-and-click adventure game adaptation, done by Westwood Studios, something of a hidden gem. Electronic Arts bought the studio the following year, and within five, Westwood had merged with EA Los Angeles. Sadly, the source code for the game was lost during the relocation from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, as Westwood co-founder Louis Castle lamented in a 2015 interview with RagnarRox.
Enter Nightdive Studios, who have remastered classics such as System Shock and Turok, and their reverse-engineering of the code using their proprietary KEX game engine. This has made it possible for Nightdive to release a remastered version of Blade Runner, which will hit consoles in an Enhanced Edition later this year, as first reported by Hollywood Reporter. The game’s events “run tangentially with the events of the film,” and will follow a detective on the hunt for replicants.
For those interested in getting a taste of the original game, it is available on GOG.com for PC users. In the meantime, see the trailer for the 1997 game, and stick with us as we follow this developing story:
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