Nightdive Studios is at it again, bringing another 90s first-person shooter back from the dead. This time, it’s the classic Egyptian-themed “boomer shooter” PowerSlave (or Exhumed if you lived in Europe) originally developed by the defunct Lobotomy Software — the company also responsible for porting Quake and Duke Nukem 3D to the SEGA Saturn.
The new release, PowerSlave: Exhumed, brings the game over to the KEX Engine developed for Nightdive’s Blood remaster. With the improvements the KEX Engine brings, PowerSlave looks better than ever on modern computers.
Check out the trailer below courtesy of Nightdive:
PowerSlave was originally released in 1996 by Lobotomy Software for the SEGA Saturn. Ports to MS-DOS and the PlayStation launched soon after. The game followed the trend of heavy metal-inspired FPS titles following id Software’s DOOM in 1993. Yet PowerSlave stood out thanks to its Egyptian setting and creature design.
This release is the latest effort by Nightdive to bring classic shooters to the KEX Engine following modern ports of games like Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, System Shock, and Forsaken. The remaster includes several visual enhancements including widescreen/HD support, SMAA antialiasing, anisotropic texture filtering, smooth object interpolation for higher refresh rate monitors, and Vulkan/DirectX 11 compatibility. Modern gamepad support is also promised, and achievements have been added as well.
Nightdive states that this release will combine both the Saturn and PS1 versions together. The original games each had different level design thanks to technical limitations, so it seems PowerSlave: Exhumed will merge the two together to make the best of both worlds.
This is not the first attempt to revive PowerSlave for the KEX Engine. KEX’s creator Samuel “Kaiser” Villarreal ported PowerSlave to a previous build of KEX leading to the unofficial PowerSlave EX. That project, unfortunately, was canceled thanks to legal issues, but Kaiser was brought on board to help Nightdive bring PowerSlave: Exhumed to life.
No word yet on whether or not the port will include the Death Tank minigame, but we can hope!
PowerSlave: Exhumed is developed and published by Nightdive Studios. It will launch for PC through Steam and GOG.com; support for other platforms has not yet been announced. Nightdive plans to release the game in 2021.
