Something went wrong. Try again later

Giant Bomb News

69 Comments

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.

69 Comments

Avatar image for m0rdr3d
m0rdr3d

476

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

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.

Avatar image for piranesi
Piranesi

467

Forum Posts

20

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 6

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).
Avatar image for altairre
altairre

1492

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By altairre

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

Avatar image for winsord
winsord

1642

Forum Posts

86

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 13

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. :/

Avatar image for xpgamer7
xpgamer7

2488

Forum Posts

148

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 12

User Lists: 5

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.

Avatar image for rageosaurus
RAGEosaurus

128

Forum Posts

30

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By RAGEosaurus

Really? Still not going to buy it

Avatar image for poltergeist13
poltergeist13

100

Forum Posts

16694

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 6

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.

Avatar image for evilsbane
Evilsbane

5624

Forum Posts

315

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

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...

Avatar image for vigorousjammer
vigorousjammer

3020

Forum Posts

66164

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 14

User Lists: 41

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.

Avatar image for dagas
dagas

3686

Forum Posts

851

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 8

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.

Avatar image for ajamafalous
ajamafalous

13992

Forum Posts

905

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 9

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.
Avatar image for arbitrarywater
ArbitraryWater

16106

Forum Posts

5585

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 8

User Lists: 66

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. 

Avatar image for fuzzylemon
FuzzYLemoN

1609

Forum Posts

2558

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By FuzzYLemoN

And not a single shit was given that day.

Avatar image for chris2klee
Chris2KLee

2402

Forum Posts

1090

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 13

Edited By Chris2KLee

Gotta give em points for tenacity.

Avatar image for jjgiant
JJGIANT

884

Forum Posts

1002

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 6

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!

Avatar image for relys
Relys

1001

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

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. :)
Avatar image for avanzato
Avanzato

162

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

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.

Avatar image for rhaknar
Rhaknar

6300

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 12

Edited By Rhaknar

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

Avatar image for beachthunder
BeachThunder

15269

Forum Posts

319005

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 30

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.