While seeing new games announced and shown off is the biggest thing most gamers were looking forward to coming out of E3 2016, some were hoping to hear word of some remastered releases. Two of the big ones that jump to mind fans really want to see polished up and re-released are the Mass Effect trilogy and the BioShock trilogy.
Sadly, neither of those was announced during E3. We did, however, get a small new peek at the next Mass Effect game, Andromeda. And as for a new game in the BioShock series, while we do know 2K plans to make one eventually, we don’t know for sure if it’s even being worked on yet.
But never fear! It’s been a couple of weeks since E3 now, and 2K has officially announced BioShock: The Collection, the remastered re-release of the original game, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite along with DLC. You can read more about it and see a trailer below.
Here’s all of the information from the 2K Games blog:
It’s been nine years since Irrational Games and 2K took you on a terrifying journey to the depths of the underwater city of Rapture with BioShock. Five years since you returned to Rapture in BioShock 2. Three years since you grabbed a skyhook and sailed across the floating city of Columbia in BioShock Infinite. And on September 13, 2016 (September 15 in Australia and September 16 internationally), you can relive these award-winning adventures or experience them for the very first time remastered for current-gen consoles and digital PC with BioShock: The Collection.
Countless fans have asked for this since the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One arrived – and we listened! Working with Blind Squirrel Games, we’ve remastered BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC making them look better than ever*. BioShock: The Collection brings the three titles together for the first time, complete with all single-player DLC** and a never-before-seen video series, “Director’s Commentary: Imagining BioShock,” which includes insights from Ken Levine – over $100 of content – for only $59.99. It’s a circus of values!
If you’ve never experienced the series before, now is the time to play it and see for yourself why the award-winning BioShock franchise has topped countless “Best-Of” lists and garnered more than 125 awards including two BAFTA honors, as well as many Best of E3, Best of Gamescom, and Game of the Year accolades from respected outlets such as IGN, GameSpot, Game Informer, and many more. The weapons, plasmids, levels, and character models that shocked you years ago have been reskinned and retextured to look better than ever. On top of that, all single-player DLC created for all three games comes loaded in one package. The bundled content for BioShock: The Collection includes:
BioShock
The video series, “Director’s Commentary: Imagining BioShock,” featuring Ken Levine, creative director on BioShock and BioShock Infinite and Shawn Robertson, animation lead on BioShock and animation director on BioShock Infinite.Museum of Orphaned Concepts: Walk through a Rapture-inspired virtual museum that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at discarded concepts that never made it into the original game.Challenge Rooms: Outside the story of BioShock, tackle puzzles, splicers and Big Daddies. And achievements, of course.BioShock 2 (**Multiplayer will not be included)
Minerva’s Den: A self-contained BioShock story, presenting a side of Rapture you’ve never seen before. Use expanded combat abilities with the experimental Ion Laser and chaotic Gravity Well Plasmid, unique to Minerva’s Den, as you face off against the Lancer Big Daddy.Protector Trials: Take control of an Alpha Series Big Daddy woken out of hibernation just before the events of BioShock 2.BioShock Infinite
Burial at Sea – Episode 1 & 2 Add-On Packs: This major two-part DLC pack completes the BioShock trilogy by taking the series back to where it all began. Return to Rapture just before the events of the original BioShock!Clash in the Clouds Add-On Pack: Face 60 waves of challenges across four additional maps for leaderboard glory and unlock areas to explore in The Columbian Archaeological Society hub museum.Columbia’s Finest Pack: Combines the contents of the Industrial Revolution Pack and the Upgrade Pack and includes 500 Silver Eagles, five Lock Picks, six unique Gear items, and two weapon upgrades: Comstock’s China Broom Shotgun and Comstock’s Eagle Eye Sniper Rifle.In short, BioShock: The Collection offers more than $100 of content remastered for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and digital PC for only $59.99.
Remember: A man chooses. A slave obeys. So, would you kindly follow the new @BioShock handle on Twitter, visit us on Facebook or go to the webpage and prepare for a remastered BioShock experience?
BioShock: The Collection for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC will be available in North America on September 13, Australia on September 15, and internationally on September 16.
*BioShock Infinite is not being remastered on PC because it already meets current-gen console standards and runs smoothly on high visual settings.
**BioShock: The Collection will not include BioShock 2 multiplayer.
You can pre-order the collection on Xbox One and PS4 now.
This all excites me greatly as a fan. I just hope the proper amount of effort was put into remastering the original. Infinite is only a few years old and still looks great, so it’s not as in need of a remaster. The original is still awesome too, but at almost a decade old now (wait, seriously?!) they could do a lot to improve it visually, as we can see in this Unreal Engine 4 update of the Medical Pavillion area. I doubt this remaster will look that good, but we can hope!
Trailer
Meh.
Comment by Mishca Moishkalov — July 1, 2016 @ 1:43 pm