Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition was released last week to such a poor reception that developer Nightdive Studios has now added a version of the 1997 original to play on Steam instead.
In an update on the game’s Steam page, Nightdive co-founder Daniel Grayshon announced that the 1997 version has been rebranded as the Classic version and been added to the $9.99 package as a free update.
“The free update will be downloaded automatically and when you start Blade Runner through Steam, you’ll be given a choice of launching the Enhanced Edition or the Classic version,” Grayshon said. “There is also an option to play Blade Runner with some restored content that was left unused from the original game.”
Blade Runner Classic is actually a fan-created re-release of the 1997 game, recreated using the ScummVM engine to help bring the hard-to-play game back to life in more or less its original form. It has been available on GoG for over two years, but is now also on Steam.
The Enhanced Edition currently has a “Mostly Negative” rating on Steam, garnering an overall 35/100 score at the time of writing. Criticisms center on how the remaster looks, its new fonts, freshly added bugs and audio glitches, and more.
One community reviewer, Tom Britton, said “this is not an ‘enhanced’ edition of that game, it’s actually a lot worse and missing several minor touches the original has. Do not buy this version.” Another user, Monroe, said “this is how the original game looks like when your eyes are full of tears in the rain,” while Damoclez recommended players to “just play the classic edition”.
In the same update, Grayshon suggested that the Nightdive team is aware of the issues and planning to address them. “We are looking at all your feedback for the game, and we’re still working on our first official patch for the game which will be coming as soon as we can,” he said.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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