Sin is a near-future shooter about a corrupt biotech multinational and the lone wolf hero who's out to stop its dastardly leader, the beautiful and charismatic Elexis Sinclaire. It was pretty good stuff, but suffered from incredibly unfortunate timing: It was released on November 9, 1998, ten days before Half-Life, and that was pretty much that.
Yesterday, for reasons (briefly) unknown, it was removed from Steam. People noticed, but Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick reassured concerned Sinners that they should not worry, because there was a "great reason" it was taken down.
SiN disappears from Steam for 5 minutes, tell my wife I love her 🥺 pic.twitter.com/B6OhGgIqPDMarch 17, 2020
People familiar with Nightdive's work had a pretty good idea about what was up, but now we know for sure: It returned to Steam today as Sin Gold, with fixed to various crashes and AI issues, overall performance optimizations, and new and restored content. Previously, the version of Sin on Steam was missing an expansion that was available on GOG, but the work in this update goes well beyond that.
It's also not all Nightdive has planned for Sin—this is just a prelude to a full remaster.
Updated Features:
- Added "Wages of SiN" expansion
- Added modernized Steam master server support
- Added and restored editing SDK
- Added support for additional 16:9 video resolutions
- Restored/uncensored various original game assets
General Improvements:
- Optimizations to math, container types, and search algorithms
- Restored support for *.sin pack files, re-packed assets
- Removed obsolete IPX networking support
- Restored original sound and music engine
- Changed video format to open-source/patent-free OGV/Theora
Fixes
- Fixed crash in Docks cinematic
- Fixed incorrect behavior in Thug AI
- Fixed undefined camera position and occasional crash in Wages of SiN ending cinematic
- r_palettemode cvar for software mode now reads and writes correct configuration variable
- Fixed memory corruption issue during multiplayer initialization
- cl_maxfps default changed to 200 to avoid issues with game running too fast
- Repaired issue with extremely loud sounds on menu screens when FPS is too high
- Fixed possible soft lock when using menu hotkeys while inside an in-game computer console
- Restored missing assets for Beecadrone enemy
Nightdive is working on a fully remastered version of Sin that will run on its Kex Engine, which is also used in games including Blood: Fresh Supply, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, and Forsaken Remastered. Expect the usual enhancements, like modern resolution support and a nice crisp UI. Nightdive didn't have a lot of details on the remaster to give us yet, but it's currently expected to be out in late 2020 or early 2021. The studio was able to dig up a pile of classic Sin art for us, so enjoy some overwhelmingly late '90s renders.
It's a busy year for Nightdive—on top of its System Shock remake, Doom 64 port, and Blade Runner remaster, Nightdive also announced today that a remastered version of Shadow Man, a supernatural action-adventure based on Valiant comics that was originally released in 1999, is in the works as well.
As the Shadow Man, players will stalk criminals in both Liveside, the realm of mortals, and Deadside, where lost souls suffer eternal torment. The updated game will support 4K widescreen displays with updated visual effects, "refined" art and audio, HDR rendering, and content that was cut from the original release.
Sin Gold is available now on Steam for $8/£6/€6.50, ten percent off its regular price until March 25. The remastered Shadow Man is expected to be out in early 2021.
