Fans of rail shooters will be excited to hear that new details have emerged regarding the House of the Dead remake on the Nintendo Switch. An interview with the House of the Dead remake's publishers, Forever Entertainment, has confirmed a number of visual and gameplay updates for the game, as well as the addition of some new features that may be unexpected.
For the uninitiated, House of the Dead was originally released as a light gun game for arcade machines back in 1996. It has been credited, along with the original Resident Evil game, with re-popularizing the use of zombies in popular culture after that time. While the game's sequels, House of the Dead 2 and 3 were ported to the Wii back in 2008, the first game didn't receive the same treatment, most likely due to the game's sources being "lost" and assets being unavailable for the developers.
The new remake is being handled by MegaPixel Studio, and they are using the Unity Engine for House of the Dead, just as they did for the Panzer Dragoon reboots that they worked on. House of the Dead's remake will have a lot of new features, including an entirely new Horde Mode consisting of "15 times the number of enemies" and unlockable characters, a redesigned UI, updated graphics, HD rumble for shooting, as well as a host of new settings for players to tweak.
Forever Entertainment's Artur Gregoznyc has stated that the House of the Dead remake already "works way better and looks way better" than the Panzer Dragoon titles the company has been working on recently. MegaPixel is aiming for 60fps while the Nintendo Switch is docked and 30fps during handheld mode, with both running at 720p. Importantly, the game isn't being limited to a Switch release, with testing occurring for 4 other platforms and a high likelihood of a Steam release occurring. The team at MegaPixel are also working on a remake of House of the Dead 2, with the games to be released separately.
On-rail shooter games are certainly something that fans of the arcade will likely be seeking out, as they are less commonly made these days. With Nintendo already having success with the motion control functionality in House of the Dead 2 and 3 on the Wii, coupled with the franchise being in the hands of a company that has already handled the Panzer Dragoon series with aplomb, fans can likely be rest assured that the new House of the Dead remake will utilized the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Cons to good effect.
Source: FragmentsofSilicon