Film noir sad sack Max Payne is getting his due with a full remake of the first two games, developer Remedy Entertainment announced today. The new compilation will include both Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max and be exclusive to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Remakes of the PS2-era games are part of a new publishing agreement with Grand Theft Auto maker Rockstar Games. Remedy will develop the games using its proprietary Northlight game engine, which made 2019’s excellent paranormal thriller, Control, while Rockstar will fund the production.
The Max Payne games mixed together traditional crime noir tropes and comic book storytelling to weave together a grim tale of a detective whose life spirals out of control after his drug and mob connections lead to his family’s murder. The games were also famous for their then-unusual bullet time mechanic.
The studio says development will be “in line with a typical Remedy AAA-game production” and that it’s still in the concept stage. It’s years away, in other words, which is probably why it’s not coming to PS4 and Xbox One. But in the meantime the studio has been doing just fine for itself.
Remedy has been making a number of big moves lately. Following the success of Control, it released a remaster of the original Alan Wake last year. Then in December it revealed that Alan Wake 2 was in development and expected sometime in 2023. Remedy is also working on two new Control games, a sequel with the working title Condor, and a multiplayer spin-off.
It also found time to work with Smilegate on the Western release of lackluster first-person shooter CrossfireX, and has a deal with Tencent to release a new online game that’s currently code named Vanguard. Remedy currently only consists of some 300 employees. It’s also notably one of the few remaining large-scale independent studios in the games industry, as others get snatched up left and right by Microsoft, Sony, and others. Deals like this are one way for it to stay that way.
