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Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment is very busy at the moment. It has its co-op first-person shooter FBC: Firebreak coming this year. And then there’s the highly-anticipated sequel to the 2019 game, Control 2, which is in full production and looks to give a unique spin on the action-RPG genre. But that’s not all. Most excitingly, in my opinion, Remedy is remaking the original Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. Alongside Remedy’s general calibre as a developer, there are a few reasons why the Max Payne remake is one of my most anticipated games.
No Payne, No Gain
Remedy Entertainment is known for its quirky, sometimes downright bizarre action games. The developer tackles a variety of genres, but its games always feature that Remedy signature. Aside from the vehicular combat game Death Rally, it all started with Max Payne.
Released in 2001, the third-person shooter told a gritty noir story of the titular former detective’s blood-soaked fight for vengeance. With its comic book-style of storytelling and its revolutionary bullet-time mechanic, Max Payne seared itself into anyone who played it. While not as groundbreaking, the sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne improved on many aspects of the original two years later.
It wasn’t until 2012, however, that we were treated to Max Payne 3. This time, though, the publisher of the previous games, Rockstar Games, also took on development duties. The result was a short but polished narrative shooter. What it perhaps lacked in the comic book grittiness of the prequels, it made up with incredibly fluid, responsive combat.
Now, Remedy is returning to develop the Max Payne 1 and 2 remake, bundling the first two games into one package. 13 years after the last entry in the franchise, Max is returning, and there are a few reasons why I’m more excited about this than for any of Remedy’s other projects.
Growing Paynes
When Remedy created Max Payne and Max Payne 2, it was a very young, relatively inexperienced studio. The fact that Sam Lake, Max Payne‘s writer, also provided the facial scan of the titular character, tells you all you need to know. And yet the games were brilliant. Yes, they had some rough edges, but the storytelling on display and the solid combat made them unforgettable experiences.
That said, Rockstar Games brought all of its game design skills to bear on Max Payne 3. The result was arguably the best third-person shooter gunplay we’re ever seen. At the same time, with Control and Alan Wake series, Remedy have grown. Perhaps learning from Rockstar’s achievements with Max Payne 3, Remedy has become very adept at fluid third-person combat.
One aspect that I’d argue hasn’t markedly improved, however, is Remedy’s storytelling. Not because it’s weak—far from it—but because it was so strong to begin with. With its continued preoccupation with the Remedy Connected Universe, however, Remedy’s stories have become increasingly idiosyncratic. In my opinion, it’s about time the studio returned to its narrative roots with the gritty noir style that Max Payne did better than practically any other game out there.
In short, Remedy Entertainment is in the perfect place to revisit the Max Payne franchise. With Rockstar Games in full support, the Finnish studio can bring the lessons it has learned from over two decades of development to breathe new life into the iconic hard-boiled detective’s blood-soaked adventures. And, if the remake is successful, with any luck Max Payne 4 may be on the cards. And I’m sure Max would agree that don’t seem like such a dumb idea, after all.
