How Blade Runner Reinvented Adventure Games | War Stories | Ars Technica

[@megamangos7408]

Dear Westwood Studios: Thank you for all your games including Dune 2. I'm sorry that EA got into you.

[@Sgt_Glory]

Games are unique in that you can't always assign the title of Art to them. But when the passion and effort are clearly there, you just know.

[@Seth9809]

You do understand that they are remastering C&C right?

[@megamangos7408]

@@Seth9809 My expectations are gone and I'm not holding my breath. OpenRA is enough for me.

[@Abdi_Akhmet]

I'm so happy to remaster of C&C

[@returnofbeaux]

@@megamangos7408 300x200 dosbox is enough for me. I love the crunchies.

[@Linus89]

In my opinion Bladerunner is the best movie-based game ever. It was a stroke of genius to make the plot play out in parallel with the movie instead of just "playing the movie" since you can meet many characters and visit many places from the movie, but everything is still new and unknown.

[@MrBelmontcain]

Amazing how they pulled it off so well.

[@Youtuber-lv6eh]

2nd place: the riddick game... jesus christ it was insanely good

[@sevenproxies4255]

Honourable mentions of GOOD movie based video games: Mad Max from 2015 by Avalanche studios. Alien vs Predator 2 from 2001 by Monolith Productions

[@chase36chase]

ganz deiner Meinung!

[@bjornstromberg4481]

@@sevenproxies4255 AvP 2 the video game predates (lol) the first film of that crossover franchise! Absolutely fantastic game in any case. I have fond memories of playing it in MP, using the motion tracker, EMP grenades and a knife(!) to wreck Predator players.

[@woffman37]

Love how he makes sure we know what polygons are before talking about modeling, but rattles off about normal vectors and z-buffers like it's nothing

[@Videosaurus_Wrex]

and mispronounces zed-buffers to, what a guy

[@zaphero5518]

@@Videosaurus_Wrex Oh no that's just how Z is pronounced in the US.

[@pedrofelck]

@@zaphero5518 whooooosh

[@megatacka]

Hahaha I was thinking the same thing.

[@LiamPorterFilms]

This is how all tech guys explain things, lol

[@AVUltra]

I would have watched another HOUR of that. I've been an ars lurker for too long. These stories totally won me over as a paid subscriber.

[@ThatGingerCuntFromTerminator2]

paid subscriber?

[@dylan8736]

ars lurker (laughing inside)

[@RoboArdy]

on my Channel I have the BETA version of the Game when VIRGIN INTERACTIVE was suppose to publish it.

[@ElEscolta]

Well, guess what? they just released the full interview and its close to an hour

[@mycosys]

lies can be quite engaging

[@VitoVitonerLanci]

This game really needs a re-release on GOG or some other platform. I imagine it would be licensing hell, but still it's a shame to have lost such a gem. EDIT: Apparently original code and assets were lost and a re-release or remake would cost millions and will probably never happen. Wikipedia says the rights are owned by The Blade Runner Partnership and... EA.

[@xMehL]

It's been on the GOG community wishlist since 2012, still ranking in the top 10 most requested games of all time. There's a patch to make it playable on modern windows systems, but an official re-release would be so much nicer. Who even holds the copyright currently?

[@VitoVitonerLanci]

@@xMehL Bad news straight from Wikipedia: "Speaking in 2015 regarding a possible re-release of the game via Steam or GOG.com, Louis Castle explained the source code and assets were lost when Westwood moved its studio from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, thus making a re-release or a HD-remaster impossible. Even if the code was found, to restore almost a terabyte of assets, whether for new pre-rendered backdrops or full real-time 3D, would cost tens of millions of dollars, making a re-release as unlikely as a sequel. The Blade Runner Partnership and Electronic Arts currently own the rights to the game." ç_ç

[@xMehL]

@@VitoVitonerLanci what a shame. let me see if i can scrap together some tens of millions of dollars…

[@WadeDMcGinnis]

My first instinct was to go on GOG to find this. Sadly no go.... Which then lead me to possibly buying the original disc but DAMN watching Zeke send time getting it to work. May be wait hehe.

[@xBINARYGODx]

People still own the discs and there is a patch to make it work on modern Windows versions - therefor, I strong suspect you can torrent the game if you want to play it. I am of the opinion if no one is selling it, this is morally fine.

[@stunthumb]

I find these videos fascinating - old school development heaven and hell. I need to make time to watch them all.

[@rotaryz3335]

stunthumb I haven’t played most of the games “War Stories” talks about. But I’ve liked each and every video, they’re all great videos.

[@VeeeeryyyFaaaastSlooooth]

This game was a labor of true love and should be more known.

[@theelectricindian]

RIP Westwood Studios. They were my childhood with their games, especially Dune and CnC.

[@StrangerHappened]

Why the studio was derailed after releasing many hit games?

[@Jan-xf8sk]

@@StrangerHappened Because of the string of release failures (like, Renegade and later on, the Emperor for Dune MMO) that, for EA, didn't give them money like what they get from Madden and FIFA. EA had a really long damning history of buying up studios and later on, killing them when it "didn't meet up their standards" or not earning money. They were never ashamed of it.

[@oddheader]

Wow! This was an amazing video! Blade Runner may be my favorite game so it was crazy to learn so much stuff about it and finally see and hear from one of its creators. Also the editing and the graphics really added!

[@rickacton7540]

and then they "lost" the code ...

[@mistersurrealist]

@@rickacton7540 EA has the code, but they won't touch it because of licensing issues.

[@Posesso]

​@@mistersurrealist I feel there is a story behind your comments. So what, somebody asked for the code, to use it in later games, but due to licensing, it could not be used, and so all these very nice SW graphic ideas that could have make many games look nicer, was lost in oblivion? That is pretty sad. I wonder if you know more details, who, which games, maybe a link. Thanks for the info so far! To add to the original comment: I love when I am seeing a video about smth I loved when I was a kid, but back then I was convinced to be overhyped by my personal taste, and never knew the thing afterwards was considered a piece of master crafting. I loved Blade Runner, but never knew it was so legendary until now. I had the same thing, but more exaggerated, with Starship Troopers xD In these situations I lonely say to myself: I was right! Aha! :)

[@Posesso]

Ok, I read more of the story in other comment, thanks for the hints :)

[@richard-hawley]

Deferred rendering in 1995, wow. These guys were five years ahead of everyone else. Really impressive.

[@petercampi2840]

If you think that's impressive, wait until you learn about Westwood's final magnum opus: Earth & Beyond.

[@TheScienceofnature]

When the technology is limited and the ambetion is at this level, the outcome is timeless. Some of these old games are so elegant.

[@RabidArtists]

I was blown away when this game came out, I remember getting the multiple CDs and thinking it was the biggest game I'd ever had. Then when I started playing, I was fooled multiple times over the realism. It's like special effects in most 90s movies. Plus the places felt reel, the choices felt reel, this game was so far ahead of it's time. It was a glympse into the future

[@CornyBum]

*real *glimpse Just trying to help. ;) Your experience sounds amazing. Reading such positive reviews and memories makes me wish I'd played this game.

[@RabidArtists]

@@CornyBum haha thx, must've been thinking about my videographer's demo reels. Yea it's hard to get the same feeling about anything when experienced decades apart, like I've always wondered what the 70s were like, but can't fully understand it without having been there when it was present time w/o future comparison

[@StanleyKubick1]

*its *glimpse

[@happydawg2663]

lots of these rendering techniques are mind blowing still today. Blade Runner was far ahead of its time.

[@digitalsarcomere]

My brother & myself were huge Blade Runner fans and absolutely adored this game back in the day. Regarding Louis mentioned fans telling him they got it absolutely right, yep, they nailed it. To this day I've never played a game like it. I'm guessing the licencing & copyright is what's stopping a remaster. Such a pity. Given the flourishing of indie point and click & narrative adventure games nowadays combined with the success of remasters from the same genre, such as Grim Fandango, it could do incredibly well with some smart social media marketing behind it.

[@PresidentialWinner]

Nah bro it's on GOG, go buy it

[@digitalsarcomere]

@@PresidentialWinner Already did when it went live. Thanks though 🙂

[@kevinschram7667]

The Blade Runner adventure game was incredible. I played it once as a teenager and have been thinking about it ever since (my copy is long since gone). I know the rights are a mess because of the way the original movie was financed, but I would love a re-release on GOG or Steam.

[@Nick-GR]

Take a look here if you want to play it again. abandonwaregames.net/game/blade-runner www.myabandonware.com/game/blade-runner-a43

[@j.a.weishaupt1748]

Nick Thank you!

[@magicmurderbag7581]

@@j.a.weishaupt1748 It's on GOG now

[@pitchingwedge7546]

It's on GOG and consoles as of 2 days ago

[@RaceToNowhere]

This game represents one of my best gaming memories - ever. I was 16, in 1997, and this hit me like a truck, influencing and refining my tastes as a gamer

[@younghifi]

The game been re-released today on GOG!

[@VitskyDS]

You just made me cry a little - you are right, the game is out and it made me one of the happiest people on earth today.

[@JohnnyCacheX]

And it was an instant buy... ;)

[@VitskyDS]

@@JohnnyCacheX For me as well - didn't think twice about it

[@espinillasypuntosnegros1715]

Mr. Castle seems like a super nice, intelligent and creative person. It's a real joy listening to him explain how the memories of our childhoods were made

[@antonioloiacono6439]

Man, dunno if you're gonna read this but thank you so much. I loved the game, played it dozens of time in so many ways, and the time i spent on it has been among the best of that age of mine. To this day if I think of Blade Runner I think of the game even before the movie, and if I rewatch the movie when I look at the places and settings and scenes I fondly remember "going there in person". So... Great job

[@barbarianlife]

Something that never happened before and never happened since is that we came together as a family and played this game. It was so good that people who never played otherwise, saw it and wanted to join in.

[@vjvolition]

One of my favourite games of all time. Thank you for the fantastic memories.

[@EdaliaDayCreative]

this was brilliant. bladerunner was one of my favourite games as a kid. it felt closer to the book than the film and really nailed that feeling of questioning your identity. it’s great hearing these interviews. thanks for making them

[@caramelconundrum9280]

I still have my copy; 4 discs. Idk if it will work with win10 tho

[@VitoVitonerLanci]

It will, you just have to download a patch.

[@parmesanballz4631]

Vito Lanci can you put a link to the patch, please?

[@VitoVitonerLanci]

@@parmesanballz4631 www.replaying.de/files/blade-runner-patch-windows-vista-7-8-x64/

[@parmesanballz4631]

@@VitoVitonerLanci Thank you kind sir

[@dengamleidiot]

Wasn’t it 8 discs?

[@ippatsuman]

it's even better than what I remembered. I only played once and I didn't know about the randomized replicants! :O

[@Picollus1]

Me too, i just leaned it. It explain so much now !

[@MrBelmontcain]

This game was so amazing. I remember playing through it so many times trying to see every little possible thing. I can't believe it has been 24 years!

[@latedoomer45]

Thanks to GOG I experienced this lost gem in 2020. Beautiful and mature adventure classic.

[@allansrensen1480]

This is one of the absolute best games I've ever played and what a great behind the scenes video.

[@HunterTinsley]

One of the greatest adventure games ever made! Still works on modern Windows with a little patching.

[@franciscomejia9549]

Really? I thought it was near impossible because the scene where the bomb blows up

[@SpontaneousWeasel]

A wonderful moment in my teenage gaming years, Bladerunner captivated me and immersed me in that familiar world without compromise and the level of creativity given the limitations of the average pc spec at the time were ingenious. It STILL holds up well today (somewhat limited by audio and visual fidelity of course!). As others have stated, I would LOVE for this to be remade in unreal/unity to 4K fidelity and modern audio mix I would love for newer generations to enjoy playing this gem!

[@teacupalice]

The blade runner game was gorgeous, I played it recently and it still blew me away.

[@shizyninjarocks]

I just discovered this video series and am hooked on these old school stories.

[@jeromelange7401]

One of the absolute greatest pieces of art EVER made....Way more than a "game", a total and absolute unique EXPERIENCE that stimulates all the senses and haunts you hours after playing it....Masterpiece !!!!

[@carloscastanheiro2933]

The good old days. Thank you for all the happy moments.

[@shingshongshamalama]

Remember Westwood? Remember when Westwood existed? Remember when EA bought them and then killed the studio right after Earth And Beyond came out for no reason whatsoever? Good times.

[@pilouuuu]

That's what EA does. Now they sadly got BioWare.

[@user-jl1sz7su4p]

great production ars team!

[@Vindicator12Music]

I never got to play this game but i really wanted to...... i remember reading all about it in gaming magazines back in the day and it looked amazing. i just didn't have a good PC to run it at the time.

[@Pentti_Hilkuri]

It's on GOG now, go play it =)

[@azcaz16]

From what I remember, I honestly don't think it actually needed a decent PC to run. My family had a very standard PC, nothing special and ran fine on that. At least you can experience it for the first time now from GOG.

[@GamingPicks]

Thank you for this video! One of my favorite games ever, fortunately I still have my copy and still works. I remember playing it more than once and discovering completely different endings.

[@VeggeMight]

Westwood's NOX was and is still one of my favorite games,how did EA kill such a beautiful thing.

[@AceStrife]

Definitely one the best RPGs I've ever played. And that multiplayer, oh boy.

[@petercampi2840]

How did EA do it? The same with all other developers: greed and stupidity. They milked the devs to the breaking point and simply tossed them away when they were done.

[@brentage5000]

Loved this game so much as a young teen. I hadn't even seen Blade Runner and only had a passing familiarity with it (like someone who's never seen the shining but thanks to media prevalence knows the stuff), but playing this game with all its options and alterations really put me in love with the universe.....and prepped my body for the equally beloved and complicated Mass Effect fifteen years later.

[@necrotoaster94]

FYI this game was released on GOG last week for $10. I bought it immediately. :)

[@FuKuy_youtuber]

We need an HD remake of this game!

[@TueLesPigeons]

This

[@zazenboy]

The source code and assets were lost, so it's highly unlikely to happen

[@apocalypserik]

You're in luck.

[@delavago5379]

apocalypserik lol right

[@barriniho]

@@delavago5379 apparently being released this year

[@ThomDull]

i remember bcs i loved movie so much, when i first started the game i was so happy to be immersed in this BR world that i didn't even trying to solve puzzles i was just going from one place to another and enjoy the atmosphere.

[@RS4KING]

I love these "behind the scenes" documentaries about video games.

[@dzobie]

I loved playing this back in the day. Such an awesome game! Crystal Steel was dope. "Can it, shitbird." Lol

[@therocketboost]

"All ya gotta do is ask slim"

[@enilenis]

Thank you for giving us Westwood Studios and for leaving me some of the best memories of my childhood.

[@BertBaumann]

This is still one of my favorite games. Many thanks for this video. I'm looking forward for the remaster.

[@KokoRicky]

I just can't get enough of these video essays on 90s hardware workarounds. Back then, at the advent of real-time 3D, there were a lot of hacks and tricks used to sell the illusion of "full" 3D rendering, and after seeing this I think I'll finally check out the game!

[@PlaySA]

Wow can't believe how good that game still looks! Also love how fast this guy explains things, manage to pack a lot of information into a relatively short video

[@pulgasari857]

Thanks Ars Technica for making this interview, please do one on Sanitarium (1998) !

[@mariomendez7727]

That would be Nice!

[@nalilord]

Never played the game, but the interview and the guy speaking are great. Much respect! Lot's of new features they managed to develop.

[@brantub]

this game was so far ahead of its time... i honestly think the art direction for it is truer to the original movie than the 2049 sequel

[@CSM100MK2]

who's here rewatching this to hype after the release of the new Enhanced Edition?

[@scopex2749]

TOTALLY INCREDIBLE! I am a MEGA Bladerunner nut and I loved the game thanks for all your work!

[@blueplanet9917]

I'd love a full length doc on this. Also would be great to see it re-mastered! :D

[@gamzillio]

Blade Runner Enhanced Edition coming 2020. Hell yeah!

[@azure1259]

Only big box PC game I ever kept. Truly amazing achievement for the time.

[@RealMcDudu]

The best game I ever played, and the best movie I ever saw (the original, not the crappy sequel). I bought and played it when it came out, and I played it 10 years later. Thank you Westwood for making this! Wish you made more!

[@psoridian]

Wow, I’m really tempted to play this now!

[@DouglasBierend]

this is great. spent so much time playing this game and exploring the world they built, fascinating to learn about what went into making it feel so immersive and real

[@Novasky2007]

So much work. Such a slick outcome. It looked effortless. Voxels, genius.

[@SersonPerson]

My favorite game of all time. I still play it once in a blue moon. I'd love to see them make a Blade Runner game with modern technical capabilities, keeping it's detective, clue-finding, branching-story awesomesauceness. "Gots' to makes more out back."

[@raytrumble1994]

this is such an underrated channel!

[@truenorth365]

This was the game I cherised the most, new voxel-tech and It had great graphics and story/gameplay like the "The fate of atlantis". So happy to see how this was put together.

[@M4TCH3SM4L0N3]

Seriously such an incredibly beautiful game. I didn't have a computer in 1995, but I wish I had so that I could have played this.

[@GeertOosterhof]

I have played this game extensively. So great to hear some backstory on its development. Thanks for this video. And thank you Mr. Castle for all the great hours of gameplay. Tip of the hat.

[@GamingKick]

Love War Stories. It's crazy to learn more about the behind the scenes of Blade Runner. Well done

[@bornon18]

One of my all time favorites. The atmosphere, the ambience, the music, the variying dialogs and scenarios - all comes together splendidly. Also strangely enough it ran near flawlessly on my Win 8 laptop. P.S. Never realized prior to this game that something as simple as a shooting range training level could be done so moody.

[@Azathoth13]

Welcome to GOG 🤘 What a great gift for Christmas.

[@SquabbleBoxHQ]

One of my favourite games of all time. It was also the first opportunity I got to see the movie, as it came with a VHS copy of the Director's Cut from whatever retailer I bought it at. Westwood did a superlative job of capturing the film's look and spirit, and it's a damn shame it probably won't ever see a spiffed up re-release. A classic.

[@babaghannoush1156]

I absolutely adored this game when it came out...made me fall in love with a film I'd not seen yet...

[@Drahcael]

What an amazing video! Also we miss you Westwood =/

[@andreajungblut886]

I LOVE this game. It holds up even today. A ree realise please!!!! Higher res character modells is the only wish I have.

[@sxyqt3.14]

Start the Tinder app in Blade Runner before Tinder was a thing

[@therecalcitrantmisanthrope1892]

Awesome, thank you. I used to play that game as a kid. It blew my mind that it had multiple endings.

[@CSM100MK2]

the intro text crawl that imitates Blade Runner is brilliant.

[@fathammy]

I still own a copy of this game somewhere and I didnt really appreciate the technical complexity and achievements back then. Im still amazed at how great it looks today, not only does it stand up really well but I think the quality of the scenes and imagery etc would still drop some jaws today. This really was a classic and imo one of the top 10 games of all time

[@xophaser]

I felt like the only person that ever played this game, nobody I knew personality played it. Read about it on a pc magazine or something like that. I like the game so much, that I went and rented the original blade runner movie as I heard it was based off. Blade runner is my top 5 movies of all time.

[@samilaakso2928]

I played this first time in 2018 and it blew my mind. What a classic game from classic era.

[@devil5051000]

Remember I had to buy a new CD-ROM drive for that game. My Mitsumi 6x speed CD-ROM simply din´t liked the disks and made unhealthy noises and took long loading breaks.

[@deadbzeus]

This game blew my mind, when it came back to GOG I was so happy.

[@carpemkarzi]

A great game, I am sure I still have my discs. Great dive on the development, they did so much with so little.

[@persianheir5218]

Still one of my favorite adventure games of all time. Everyone involved with this should be highly commended as nothing has even come close to this since.

[@FlymanMS]

Best channel that was recommended to me.

[@GérannGerberChannel]

Brilliant video. I really hope that episodes will be released where he talks about all the C&C's games that he was involved with, in depth!!

[@ridebywire6712]

Oh man. I still love this game. Have the Original Box on my Desk.

[@erichamilton2314]

Played it over and over. Loved it!

[@Joeylikecoffee]

This tickles so many memories.

[@PopCultureMinefield]

Great video. But, and this is addressing the comment he made near the end of the video, that the androids/replicants were sympathetic in the book and film. This is incorrect. PKD's androids in the book were loathsome, spiteful, and not meant to be sympathetic. Ridley, on the other hand, made his replicants more sympathetic in the film. Again, thanks for this video! I will be sharing it on BladeZone, the online Blade Runner fan club.

[@chuck2501]

I played this game 6 times on a P75 (I had less CPU and mem than required) it still ran well. Didn't get all the ending though. I may still have the glossy EDGE magazine cover reviewing the game.

[@wilshore]

Loved these videos. I beat it on release and loved every minute of it. Going to replay it soon on GOG.

[@dartfrogger]

I remember seeing this game featured on a tv show in the 90s, and being completely blown away. They had mentioned that the software in this game would revolutionize gaming....and they were definitely right.

[@h0laPlaneta]

YES YES YES!!! Thanks!!! Since Devs Plays I have wanted to see this!! And yes, I would like the one+ hour version too!

[@Nosfeast]

My favorite sci-fi game ever.This gamed really took me inside and I loved every bit of it.

[@JustAllinOneResource]

Incredible game. I bought it when it first came out, and I enjoyed every moment. This seriously was one, and still is one of the best games ever made. Todays games don't even come close to Blade Runner. Sad to see the gaming industry be driven purely by greed now, and they never care about quality. Now it's all about copy & paste, and get it out in a few months, and who cares if there are game breaking bugs since todays gaming industry has people thinking a Day One patch is a positive thing when in fact it's absolute garbage.

[@Jizzlewobbwtfcus]

Never got to finish the game but I was a HUGE Westwood Studios devotee. Command and Conquer series, Dune, Blade Runner, Lands of Lore series (Lore II my fav). Best gaming era ever in my opinion

[@struki84]

Not just Westwood, the competition was also going at it, Interplay, Blizzard, ID Software, Bioware, black Isle 90's were the golden age of gaming!

[@ShindlerReal]

They should interview Castle about Emperor: Battle for Dune. That game was really impressive in 2001.

[@MentoliptusBanko]

Give us more of those war stories. This one was amazing! I never knew there was this secret ending.

[@smallbluemachine]

Louis Castle is a rare pedigree, it's a joy to listen to him recall the work put into these products. -Really pushing the art forwards, very inspiring.

[@mycosys]

i dont get why he felt the need to lie so much

[@smallbluemachine]

Maybe he was just having a bad day.

[@StravaigingMTB]

Singularly my all time favourite game and yes, they absolutely nailed it in terms of keeping in line the world of the film. I tried for so many different endings but never killed al the replicants on the shuttle, I was too invested in going to the stars in those scenarios.

[@johannesdolch]

How have i never heard of this game back in the day ...