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Yep, Another Hydrophobia Re-Release Coming

Second (third?) time's the charm. Maybe.

Yet another Hydrophobia re-release is on the horizon. Earlier this morning, creator Dark Energy Digital announced Hydrophobia Prophecy, a Steam and PSN-bound “comprehensive reinvention” of the original Xbox Live Arcade release. As such, Prophecy features new levels, new puzzles, a re-tooled narrative, and even several technical enhancements like better lighting, textures, and animations. 

The title is slated to hit both networks this coming May 9, and you can spend your idle time waiting for it by reading the freaky list of tweaks, fixes, and additions to Prophecy on the game's official Web site.


No Caption Provided


== TEASER ==Dark Energy Digital has devoted what feels like an unreasonable amount of time to tweaking and fixing Hydrophobia. Months after the game’s initial release earlier in the fall, the studio dropped a title update called “Pure,” which also had a laundry list of promising fixes: from the physics, to the visuals, to the camera, and even to the action, Dark Energy attempted to fix a game that wasn’t well received by players and games critics alike. Also, it dropped the price on the game.

Prior to the update, Dark Energy went on the offensive against some select outlets for its mixed takes on the title. Famously, Dark Energy accused Edge of not playing through the introductory portions of the game for the purposes of its negative review and lobbed the criticism that a Destructoid reviewer was ‘playing the game wrong' after a negative tweet.

User feedback played huge in what was addressed in Pure and, for what its worth, Dark Energy will be taking feedback to the extreme in Prophecy. At any point in the game, in fact, you’ll be able to bring up a feedback tool and comment directly to Dark Energy about your experience. 

Prophecy was first believed to be a sequel when it's name was spotted on the sleuth-tastic Australian Ratings Board Web site a mere week ago. Hydrophobia is slated to be a trilogy.

You can pre-purchase Prophecy on Steam right now for $10.19, a 15 percent savings on the regular price. No word on the PSN price as of yet, but I assume it'll be equal in price.

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BradNicholson

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Edited By BradNicholson

Yet another Hydrophobia re-release is on the horizon. Earlier this morning, creator Dark Energy Digital announced Hydrophobia Prophecy, a Steam and PSN-bound “comprehensive reinvention” of the original Xbox Live Arcade release. As such, Prophecy features new levels, new puzzles, a re-tooled narrative, and even several technical enhancements like better lighting, textures, and animations. 

The title is slated to hit both networks this coming May 9, and you can spend your idle time waiting for it by reading the freaky list of tweaks, fixes, and additions to Prophecy on the game's official Web site.


No Caption Provided


== TEASER ==Dark Energy Digital has devoted what feels like an unreasonable amount of time to tweaking and fixing Hydrophobia. Months after the game’s initial release earlier in the fall, the studio dropped a title update called “Pure,” which also had a laundry list of promising fixes: from the physics, to the visuals, to the camera, and even to the action, Dark Energy attempted to fix a game that wasn’t well received by players and games critics alike. Also, it dropped the price on the game.

Prior to the update, Dark Energy went on the offensive against some select outlets for its mixed takes on the title. Famously, Dark Energy accused Edge of not playing through the introductory portions of the game for the purposes of its negative review and lobbed the criticism that a Destructoid reviewer was ‘playing the game wrong' after a negative tweet.

User feedback played huge in what was addressed in Pure and, for what its worth, Dark Energy will be taking feedback to the extreme in Prophecy. At any point in the game, in fact, you’ll be able to bring up a feedback tool and comment directly to Dark Energy about your experience. 

Prophecy was first believed to be a sequel when it's name was spotted on the sleuth-tastic Australian Ratings Board Web site a mere week ago. Hydrophobia is slated to be a trilogy.

You can pre-purchase Prophecy on Steam right now for $10.19, a 15 percent savings on the regular price. No word on the PSN price as of yet, but I assume it'll be equal in price.
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Brizik47

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Edited By Brizik47

neat


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deathstroke75

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Edited By deathstroke75

more water for other platforms

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Yummylee

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Edited By Yummylee

I suppose I'll finally get this since it's coming to the PSN. Been meaning to for a while, but it was kinda pricey on the 360, for what it apparently had going, and at least this version will arrive with some extra doodads and improvements.

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Seraphim84

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Edited By Seraphim84

^^  A microcosm of the relevant audience's reactions to Hydrophobia.

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benjaebe

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Edited By benjaebe

Maybe they should just give up and focus their energy elsewhere. At this point sheer name recognition alone will steer people away from it.

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Knurrunkulus

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Edited By Knurrunkulus

And here I was, thinking this could be my "Yes, I'm first!" chance. ;)

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Olivaw

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Edited By Olivaw

Okay, at some point you just have to give up the ghost and realize that the game you made is not very good, and stop trying to fix it.

But at the same time, I love that they're trying. And that player feedback tool that you can use to comment at any time is actually kind of amazing. That level of dialogue between the player and the developer is almost unheard of, and it shows that they're willing to have a discussion, despite their insistence that some people were "playing the game wrong."

It would have been so easy for them to say "YOU JUST DON'T GET IT MAN" and do the Derek Smart thing. Just take their ball and go home. But they're not doing that.

And regardless of the eventual quality of the game, I respect that.

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nintendoeats

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Edited By nintendoeats

You know what? Given how much time they have put into this game I feel like I owe it to these guys to check Hydrophobia out. They really seem dedicated to it.

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geneduffy

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Edited By geneduffy

I liked it when it originally came out and I loved it with the Pure patch I hope that they are gonna add some prophecy stuff into the XBLA game.  When it is at its best it reminds me of disaster report and  raw danger

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aaronchance

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Edited By aaronchance

The very beginning of the game is rough, but when it gets into the swing of things it becomes a fun ride... right up until the end where it become total garbage. It tries to become a straight up third person shooter with an engine that just isn't capable of it. I don't expect that final part will change with this new release either.

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alwaysbeclothing

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Edited By alwaysbeclothing

Once, Twice, Three times a lady

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jacksukeru

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Edited By jacksukeru

They're going hardcore George Lucas on this one it seems, pretty impressive.

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SubwayD

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Edited By SubwayD

Re-record the voices and I might be interested.

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Jeffsekai

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Edited By Jeffsekai

They should stop.

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Pop

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Edited By Pop

I feel sorry for the guys that made the game I'm sure they spent a lot of time and sweat on that game. And to see it get bad reviews must be hard but that's the way shit goes.

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deactivated-59a31562f0e29

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But no re-re-release on XBLA?

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leebmx

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Edited By leebmx

I think this is cool and it is what makes downloadable games really interesting. They obviously have a vision for this game and believe they can attain it. They have had a lot of critisism from some areas for telling people how to play the game rather than accepting that it is broken so I think it is great that they are listening to gamers and trying to make their game as good as it can be. 

 I think I might get this on PSN as soon as I can trust Sony with my card details.
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ReyGitano

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Edited By ReyGitano
@benjaebe said:
" Maybe they should just give up and focus their energy elsewhere. At this point sheer name recognition alone will steer people away from it. "
I was interested in the game when I first heard of it, but after seeing that first version in action I don't think they could do much to change my mind.
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DarkEnergy

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Edited By DarkEnergy
@Olivaw: Thanks! We do recognise we didn't get it right first time, but we're a small independent team and we've tried to make up for it. Actually the Pure update was really well received and we got a lot of great comment from players and a brilliant response to the listening post. We decided to return the favour and go even further with Prophecy and we're really proud that we've finally got the game where we wanted it to be. We do believe in a two way relationship between players and dev and the Darknet system would not exist if it hadn't been for players showing us just how much they want to get involved and provide feedback. Really excited to see how Prophecy goes down :)
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LimpingFish

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Edited By LimpingFish

Nobody sets out to make a bad game, and the amount of time and effort that goes into getting any game onto shelves is phenomenal. So, on the one hand, I can see where Dark Energy is coming from. Their game wasn't very well received, though I can't say for certain if it was a sales failure, so, rather than start again from scratch on a new title (something they probably can't afford do to at the moment), they decided to try to rectify the situation and make some extra sales at the same time. No problem.

Or it would have been, if they hadn't initially buried their heads in the sand and vocally accused people (the very same people they rely on to get their game noticed) of bad journalism, of not playing their game properly, and other silly gubbins that only had the result of making them look like a stubborn child throwing a hissy-fit.

Whatever they release now, Hydrophobia or otherwise, they'll always have that byline. Which is unfortunate.

Still, I might try it out on Steam. We'll see.

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DarkEnergy

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Edited By DarkEnergy
@AaronChance: Actually there is an entire new ending, we corrected all those issues. Think you'll be impressed if you get a chance to check it out :)
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MisterMouse

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Edited By MisterMouse

Well that would be awesome if it eventually reaches a point where it is actually good. Also maybe they are working out the kinks in this game before they put out a higher tiered release using this tech.

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DarkEnergy

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Edited By DarkEnergy
@SubwayD: Done Sir! The full list of changes can be found at www.hydrophobia-game.com
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jeffk38uk

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Edited By jeffk38uk

You got to hand it to them for being persistent on this one game really. Whether thats a good thing or not is questionable however. We'll see I guess.

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DarkEnergy

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Edited By DarkEnergy
@Jeffk38uk: Thanks :) We're feeling really good about it, so we're looking forward to seeing what people think. We've built a developer feedback system called Darknet into the game now so if people want to they can provide feedback directly.
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Maotou

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Edited By Maotou

 @Jeffk38uk said:

" You got to hand it to them for being persistent on this one game really. Whether thats a good thing or not is questionable however. We'll see I guess. "

 True, but at least it shows they are dedicated to ensuring or at least trying to take the game and realize it's full potential. That said, I might actually pick this up on Steam or PSN since I skipped out on getting it on XBL. 
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deactivated-5865c6a5c9438

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Improvement is always good, but I'll wait on this one.

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MEATBALL

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Edited By MEATBALL

Bless their hearts for trying so hard. :')

Hope they go with less repugnant voice acting, maybe?

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cornbredx

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Edited By cornbredx

I think what hurt the game more so then it being mediocre is how they seem to act like they want to force people to play this game.

I respect that they want to make the game good, but I lost interest in this game the moment they went on the attack against reviewers. That was uncalled for and unheard of. Maybe a bit ballsy, but it makes me not want to support this game in any way.

I'm not generally one to steer away from a game just because a majority don't like it- but I don't like what I have seen of the developers attitude shown and I don't feel I can support that kind of reaction to how the game was received.

I also noticed they are responding here which made me kind of worried about voicing my opinion on this, but sometimes you have to voice your real concerns even if you may get back lash for it. Maybe that's what the one developer that decided to go on a rampage thought as well? I don't think I took it to far though.

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DarkEnergy

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Edited By DarkEnergy
@MEATBALL: Yes indeed - that's on the list
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MormonWarrior

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Edited By MormonWarrior

...why? Seriously, can they just deal with the fact that they made a mediocre product and move on? Chair made Undertow, which was lame, and then moved on and made Shadow Complex, which was amazing. Learn from your mistakes and spend your time somewhere useful. Geez.

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Scooper

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Edited By Scooper

Not good enough.

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crusader8463

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Edited By crusader8463

Now that's it's finally coming out for PC I will give it a look.

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harinosho

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Edited By harinosho

"Scoot character recast, now played by Oliver Vaquer (GTA: Liberty City Stories, The Warriors, Law & Order)"


thats one of the updates, they changed voice actors for this game? im getting this   
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xyzygy

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Edited By xyzygy
@MormonWarrior said:
" ...why? Seriously, can they just deal with the fact that they made a mediocre product and move on? Chair made Undertow, which was lame, and then moved on and made Shadow Complex, which was amazing. Learn from your mistakes and spend your time somewhere useful. Geez. "
Also, this. Learn from Chair. Don't spend years making and updating a short, singleplayer arcade game. Move on to bigger and better things.
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m0rdr3d

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Edited By m0rdr3d

I checked out Hydrophobia before all the tweaks and thought it was pretty cool.  The voice acting is pretty bad, but the game is fun...And rather impressive for an XBLA game.

Surprised by how dedicated they are to this game. I don't notice that from devs very often.

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MEATBALL

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Edited By MEATBALL
@DarkEnergy said:
" @MEATBALL: Yes indeed - that's on the list "
Nice. I hope this game delivers on the team's original intent, it'd be a nice ending to what's been a pretty long story with some real low notes.
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Twinblade

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Edited By Twinblade

the combat was my biggest issue with this game. It just felt so clumsy and unintuitive.

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DarkEnergy

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Edited By DarkEnergy
@m0rdr3d:  @MEATBALL:  Thanks kindly :) We really feel Prophecy is the realisation of the potential for this game, and it's better than Pure in every way. Can't wait to hear what people think :)
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xyzygy

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Edited By xyzygy
@DarkEnergy said:
" @m0rdr3d:  @MEATBALL:  Thanks kindly :) We really feel Prophecy is the realisation of the potential for this game, and it's better than Pure in every way. Can't wait to hear what people think :) "
Love how this "developer" is coming in here and only replying about the positive questions and aspects about the game.
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SubwayD

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Edited By SubwayD
@DarkEnergy: Haha. Really? Well, true to my word, I'll totally check out Hydrophobia now. 

Got to say the dedication to making this the best possible game it can be is highly commendable. Let's hope it all pays off. :)
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Edited By kreeztoff

I was following updates on Hydrophobia with various degrees of interest up until its release. I thought it had a lot of promise, but when I played through the trial it just didn't stick with me. They then did the massive "pure" update and dropped the price, at which point I tried the new trial, which while better was still not quite there for me. I'm still willing to give this latest version a shot, but I'm not going to hold my breath for some kind of revelation. I hope it's good.

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m0rdr3d

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Edited By m0rdr3d
@xyzygy:
I'm surprised they're on GB replying at all.  And would you rather they came in here and were slugging it out with the haters?  Seems their answer to them is through continually improving based on crtiticism.
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ch3burashka

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Edited By ch3burashka

"Hydrophobia is slated to be a trilogy."


A trilogy of re-releases, apparently. This is hella weird.
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rudyarr

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Edited By rudyarr
@SubwayD: they actually stated that they got new voice actors for it
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weakleydrake

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Edited By weakleydrake

haha its kinda sad how hard these people are trying to get gamers to like this game

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xyzygy

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Edited By xyzygy
@m0rdr3d said:

" @xyzygy: I'm surprised they're on GB replying at all.  And would you rather they came in here and were slugging it out with the haters?  Seems their answer to them is through continually improving based on crtiticism. "

I'm just saying that creating an account saying you're a developer and promoting the shit out of your game that so little people care about because it's re-release track record is getting up to FFIV levels... is kind of dumb.

If this is their idea of marketing then they seriously need to make a better game and use the actual GAME to promote itself by, you know, being awesome and getting good reviews, word of mouth and recommendations. Not creeping message boards with a default site avatar the day a news story is posted.

(The hostility isn't directed at you, more so at DarkEnergy :P)
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Wacomole

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Edited By Wacomole

Maybe Giant Bomb will give them an updated Quick Look of the overhauled version of the game?

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swoxx

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Edited By swoxx

Really? Really? Okay