Pigs and rabbits are going to war this May in a remaster of S.W.I.N.E.
The update of the 2001 game promises better graphics, improved gameplay, and restored multiplayer.
S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster, an update of the 2001 RTS about armored warfare between rabbits and pigs that was announced last month, will be out on May 23. Developer Assemble Entertainment revealed the release date and dropped a new gameplay trailer today to mark the 58th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
S.W.I.N.E—Strategic Warfare In a Nifty Environment, and which I will be calling "Swine" from here on—begins with the National Army of the Pigs invading Carrotland, an onslaught that overwhelms the rabbit defenses. With a frontal assault impossible, the rabbits resort to gorilla—that is, guerrilla—tactics to knock out the pig supply lines and recapture lost objectives.
The idea was cute but the execution was dodgy: It holds a "mixed or average" score of 65 on Metacritic. The HD remaster of Swine promises to address those shortcomings: Along with updated graphics and "extended" settings for things like antialiasing and v-sync, it will also feature "bug fixes, extended zoom, improved unit ordering, and plenty of other updates." Multiplayer functionality, which the original release lost when Gamespy shut down, will also be restored.
Swine HD Remaster will be available on Steam on May 23. Pricing hasn't been set but you can find more information at swinethegame.com.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.