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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.


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== 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.

69 Comments

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BeachThunder

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Edited By BeachThunder

Hm, not sure if want...

I've added it to my Steam wishlist anyway...I'm just hoping for a  Cryo shock.

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Rhaknar

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Edited By Rhaknar

always thought it looked cool, and its now on steam so i will own it eventually, on some crazy deal

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Avanzato

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Edited By Avanzato

Is this really classed as a re-release when it's the first time the game has appeared on PSN and Steam? Not having a 360 I'm curious to see what the fuss has been about and it was cheap enough to risk a pre-order on Steam.

I understand that Pure was a step up from the original and hope they've managed to get something entertaining out of the bits of the first broken game.

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Relys

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Edited By Relys

I was really interested in this game when I saw the first engine previews while it was in development but it was received very poorly so I passed it up.


If the major issues are fixed up you'll get my $10-15 now. :)
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JJGIANT

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Edited By JJGIANT

WHO CARES! this game will always suck, stop trying to undo your mistakes. All I will say is that reading Jim Sterling's take over at Destructoid will be HILARIOUS!

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Chris2KLee

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Edited By Chris2KLee

Gotta give em points for tenacity.

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FuzzYLemoN

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Edited By FuzzYLemoN

And not a single shit was given that day.

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ArbitraryWater

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Edited By ArbitraryWater

Listen, I think it's great that they are willing to acknowledge that their game sucked and are trying to improve it. But wouldn't they be better served making a new game where they can fully apply their knowledge, instead of trying to fix something that will always linger in the internet consciousness as a mediocre title? The pure update I could understand, if only from a PR perspective. This, no. 

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ajamafalous

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Edited By ajamafalous
@Olivaw said:
" 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. "
I agree 100%. It may not be the smartest thing to do at this point, but good on them for trying.
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dagas

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Edited By dagas

"Our game is dope! How come other people don't think so?! Are they stupid or something?! Are we the only ones who can see how great the game is?!!?" is probably what they are thinking =P It must be tough to work on a game and feel proud about it and then everyone else hates it.

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vigorousjammer

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Edited By vigorousjammer

I played the demo for the original version, and haven't went back to it since...
I wonder if it's actually become better, cause it did seem like an interesting game, just with a few annoying flaws.
I might give it another shot once this comes out.

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Evilsbane

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Edited By Evilsbane

Damn I might have to try it just because they keep bringing this damn game back up, they won't let it die! So ok Ill check it out...

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poltergeist13

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Edited By poltergeist13

Much respect to the guys at Dark Energy Digital for the way they have supported the game.  It got middle to bad reviews, wasn't much of a success, & had a fair share of problems.  They just keep working on it, making it a better game.  Now it should've been great outta the gate.  It just shows these guys believe in it and have a lot of passion for the game.  Good luck to them.

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RAGEosaurus

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Edited By RAGEosaurus

Really? Still not going to buy it

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xpgamer7

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Edited By xpgamer7

It was an OK game but they're really trying to make everyone else love it as much as they do. I interviewed a hydrophobia spokesperson at PAX and she loved the game with all her heart.

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winsord

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Edited By winsord

It's nice that they're doing these updates, but I feel like this game has just become a money sinkhole for the developers; they should really just move on, sadly. :/

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altairre

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Edited By altairre

Well, if it helps. But I don´t know, it´s weird to re-release this kinda small game three(?) times.

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Piranesi

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Edited By Piranesi

If the swimming parts of games are usually the most tedious - why create a title full of the stuff?


Sure it was a neat gimmick in a budget title but it never lived up to the over-fawning previews of the tech. Always worrying when the game engine is more interesting than the game itself and maybe they should have switched to a new IP (rather than flog this soggy dead horse).
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m0rdr3d

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Edited By m0rdr3d

@xyzygy:
Yeah, no hostility.  But how many people go to a specific game's forums?  The place to reach the players is here.

I just think people are missing the part of the article where it says the game is slated to be a trilogy.  Safe to say the developer is already at work on part 2, but maybe with a lot of the groundwork already laid, they have the luxury of making improvements to the first.  I think it bodes well for the quality of Hydrophobia 2 that they're so responsive.  AND they haven't just abandoned the first game either...The overall quality of the trilogy will be the same.

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swoxx

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Edited By swoxx

Really? Really? Okay

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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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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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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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rudyarr

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

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Scooper

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Edited By Scooper

Not good enough.

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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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DarkEnergy

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Edited By DarkEnergy
@MEATBALL: Yes indeed - that's on the list
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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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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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deactivated-5865c6a5c9438

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

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