Activision has quietly re-released the Prototype games for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

The gaming industry sure loves to promote the current remaster craze, where games made for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are given resolution boosts and DLC bundles on the next-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Despite being quick re-releases of games that could potentially be just a couple of years old however, these remasters get a lot of fanfare… Unless they’re the Prototype games, apparently.

PBB - Promo ArtCall it Christmas in July, but Activision has been quietly developing next-gen remasters for both the original Prototype, and its sequel, Prototype 2. Both are bundled together, and both were given a surprise release today on the digital channels of both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Dubbed the Prototype Biohazard Bundle, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ports of the two games feature slightly upgraded visual resolution, as well as boosted framerates in contrast to their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 predecessors. For now, the games must be bought together, though Activision has confirmed that they will be split and sold separately on August 11th.

Prototype is an open-world action-adventure game where players take control of Alex Mercer, a man infected by a deadly pathogen that grants him violent and visceral shape-shifting abilities. Players run, leap and glide around the city of New York at breakneck speeds, trying to piece together a conspiracy, and stop those responsible for Alex’s gruesome transformation. In Prototype 2, gameplay is similar, though players instead control a new protagonist, James Heller, who is granted the same shapeshifting abilities, and now hunts the original game’s protagonist, Alex Mercer, blaming him for the murder of his family.P2 - Gameplay

It’s interesting that Activision would bother remastering the Prototype games, as they blamed Prototype 2 for the severe downsizing of the series’ developer, Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment, due to the game’s underwhelming sales. Still, reception to both games was mostly positive, albeit inferior to Sony’s competing PlayStation 3-exclusive inFamous games that released around the same time as both offerings. The most likely reason for these remasters however is that Activision could be gauging potentially renewed interest in a Prototype 3, particularly since Sony has brought their similarly-themed inFamous games to the PlayStation 4 quite successfully.

The Prototype Biohazard Bundle is available for $49.99. It’s presumed that each separate Prototype remaster will later sell for $24.99 in August.

Keep shifting to Eggplante for all news and updates on Prototype.