The remake of XIII released earlier this week and the reception has not been pretty to say the least. Early adopters have been experiencing nothing but issues with the game and are far from happy. Developer Playmagic had planned to release a day one patch, but as of this writing, it isn’t ready. Publisher Microids has put out a statement, which you can read an abbreviated version of below.
The highly anticipated remake of XIII, awaited by many fans, came out earlier this week. Unfortunately, players expectations have not been met by the launch version and we hear loud and clear the legitimate criticism and disappointment.
First and foremost, we would like to offer our most sincere apologies for the game’s technical issues. In its present state, XIII does not meet our quality standards and we fully understand players’ frustrations. The pandemic has impacted the game’s production on many levels. Pivoting to home working for the teams has added unexpected delays in the development schedule and the QA process. We hoped we would be able to provide a Day One patch fixing all the issues but the development of this update is taking more time than expected.
Microids also published a list of what they will aim to fix in upcoming patches. This is detailed below ⬇️
KNOWN ISSUES TO BE FIXED WITH INCOMING PATCHES:
Technical:
Framerate will be improved in the following locations:
- Rooftops – Departure
- Emerald Base – Insertion
- Emerald base – Rescue
- Kellownee Lake – Exploration
- Spads Base – Sabotage
- Spads base – Destruction
- Spads Submarine – Evacuation
- Resolute base – Intrusion
- Sanctuary – Sunset Sanctuary
- SSH1 Base – Forbidden Entry
AI:
- NPC AI improvement is planned.
Save System:
- Will be improved: the player should be able to load his progression at the last checkpoint and with his weapons saved.
Stability:
- Will be improved in following locations:
- FBI Headquarters (Games crashes when FBI agents kills XIII)
- Spads Base 02 (Game crashes when the character dies in the water)
- Emerald Base 02 (Game crashes when XIII dies 2 times near ladder with electricity.)
- Emerald Base 03 (Game crashes when XIII dies 3 times near electric surrounded area)
Graphics :
- Sometimes, 2D asset may stay on screen indefinitely if triggered before a loading
- Vsync setting will be added on PS4 and XB1
- Some 3D models will be improved
- Lights will be improved on PS4 and XB1
Design:
- Some issues with objective marker might be missing in some levels or stay active even though you finished the objective.
- “Finish Him” achievement – There are currently issues to unlock this achievement.
- You could be stuck if you switch the Spying Microphone for a weapon.
- Player can fail to grab ladder to go down and fall (Pressing A/X/Space mid air to grab the ladder while falling to catch it).
- Sometimes, ammo can not be picked up.
- Escort in Prison can be broken.
- Alarm in Prison/Asylum does not have the behaviour expected.
- Kellownee Lake Exploration – A deer fails to run away and can get stuck.
- Sometimes, you can go out of the world if you press the button for crouch at the starting of the mission.
- Sometimes, Game over message does not match with the condition.
Sound Design:
- Some voice lines are cut before the end of the dialog.
- In some parts, some SFX and musics are missing.
XBOX ONE SPECIFIC ISSUES TO BE FIXED :
- Switch profile from Xbox menu issue:
There is an issue if you change profile on the main menu by disconnecting the profile in the Xbox menu and connect to the another profile. If you are stuck on the main menu, please relaunch the game.
- Launching the game without first signing into Xbox profile issue:
There is an issue if you launch the game without signing into an Xbox profile. You could be stuck on the title screen. If this issue occurs, please close the game and relaunch it with a profile connected.
- Newly signed in user can continue the previous user progression issue:
There is an issue if you change your profile from the Xbox menu during an active gameplay. If you are able to continue the previous user progression, please relaunch the game with your new profile.
Our Take: Where to begin. Being generous I will say it is good to see the publisher come out and apologise for the state of the game, but really, this shouldn’t have been released in the state it is in. That list of known issues is longer than my backlog – which is saying something! I never played the original XIII, but the remake looked cool and so it was a real disappointment to see it released in its current form. Hopefully, Playmagic can get through this laundry list of issues and get the game back on track.
-VDZE 🧐
Excerpt: TheSixthAxis