Phantom Dust HD is a 'remaster' of the original Xbox game Phantom Dust. It was an obscure battle arena game that was actually way before its time, which is described in detail in the video below.
Thanks to Polygon, the footage below includes 19 minutes of gameplay from the remastered game:
What's really interesting is that, for the most part, this isn't a remade game in the development sense. When originally developing the game, the developers made hugely detailed characters and assets but had to degrade them to fit on the original Xbox. These assets can now be portrayed the way it was in the source code.
What is different is a few gameplay choices to make the game more enjoyable, like skipping missions after getting stuck, but the original progression is still available and it has achievements for beating missions without skipping.
The 'remake' also features widescreen and 4K resolution.
“The biggest thing is moving [Phantom Dust] to 16:9 and moving to native resolution”, Isgreen told Polygon. “So what that basically means is that if you’re playing on Xbox One, you’re running at 1080p so the game is going to render at 1080p; if you’re on a PC and you’re playing at 4K resolution, the game will render its assets at 4K,” he said. “So basically, if you put it in a window, the resolution will be the window size. So we’ve been able to actually take full advantage of whatever you’re playing on and render Phantom Dust correctly at that resolution.”
Take a look at the game description below:
“Phantom Dust” is a unique blend of third-person arena combat and collectable card game, in which both fast reflexes and clever thinking matter. Collect over 300 unique abilities and build your arsenal of powers, taking them into battle with up to three other opponents. You’ll compete in highly-destructible arenas—in teams or alone—and unleash a wide array of powers and tactics, including orbital particle cannons, flaming swords, barriers of ice, flight, cloaking, attack reflection, and even mind-reading abilities.
New Features for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC:
- Xbox Live Arena support integrated Play on Windows 10 PC or Xbox One seamlessly with cross-saves, retaining all of your progress and in-game items between both platforms.
- Cross-device play lets you play against friends regardless of platform.
- Full Xbox Live feature set of the original game, including downloading top player’s arsenals to practice against them – a feature not available since the original’s release!
- Looking for Group on Xbox Live so you can find and connect with other gamers more easily than ever.
- Multiplayer starter arsenals are included.
- Jump right into multiplayer with a better selection of skills!
- The Multiplayer skill shop is no longer tied to solo player progression.
- All skills are available for purchase immediately for multiplayer use.
- Improvements to game balance and frame rate
