SiN Reloaded [REVIEW] – A 90s Shooter Treat

I’m a sucker for a remastered release of a classic title, and the team at Nightdive Studios have been keeping me happy over the last few years. And now, with SiN Reloaded, they’ve delivered the definitive package of the 1998 first-person shooter that probably deserved a bit more attention back in the day. Sure, it has those 90s quirks that are easily associated with the genre, but it’s still a lot of fun to play and has certainly stood the test of time.

Check out some screenshots down below:

SiN Reloaded puts players in the role of John Blade (a fantastic name), a heavily muscled security commander who, much like his genre compatriot Duke Nukem, communicates almost entirely in action-movie one-liners… what more could you want from a 90s shooter? You are trying to stop an evil megacorporation from flooding the cyberpunk city streets with a mutant-creating substance called U4, with the antagonist of the tale being Elexis Sinclaire, your typical femme fatale villain who fits the role perfectly. It is all incredibly silly, over the top, and rarely takes itself seriously, but that’s part of the charm and what makes SiN Reloaded so damn endearing.

Where SiN Reloaded really shines is in how it actually plays, because despite very much feeling like a product of the 90s, there have been a massive amount of quality-of-life features included to bring things up to modern standards. For starters, you no longer have to manually hit a button to pick up health and ammo (something that was a crazy design choice even for the 90s), whilst the difficulty curve has been smoothed out to offer a more balanced and enjoyable experience too. Sure, it’s still challenging in the manner that you’d expect from a 90s shooter, but it feels fair.

“SiN Reloaded is a 90s first-person shooter treat, with the over-the-top narrative and fun gameplay making for an experience that holds up well today.”

One of the more impressive features of the game is the locational damage system, with enemies reacting differently depending on where you shoot them… and the exact same applies to you. If Blade is missing a helmet and takes a sniper round to the head, it is game over instantly, meaning you have to actually think about your armour distribution rather than just running in all guns blazing without a care for the world. It was genuinely intuitive for its time, and even now, it helps give the game a unique feel that you don’t find in similar releases in the genre.

Oh, and the fact that the gunplay feels great helps, with slick level design and plenty of cool set pieces in place that keep the momentum going. There are some cool immersive-sim elements like hacking computers and finding alternate stealth routes, giving the game an element of variety that allows players to approach things differently. Sure, you deal with some bland hallways and vacant areas now and then – a hallmark of the genre back in the 90s – but there’s certainly a heck of a lot more good than bad.

Check out some screenshots down below:

On the presentation front, the game looks surprisingly crisp. The in-game textures have been given a high-definition overhaul to make things shiny and smooth, whilst the actual visual style itself holds up really well considering the game is close to thirty years old now. And, much like similar releases, you can switch back to classic visuals if you want, which is something I always appreciate in these remastered releases (especially when you want to see how much effort has been made to make things look better). Add to that the bonus extras including old concept art, manuals, and other development goodies, and you’ll quickly find that SiN Reloaded really does serves as an excellent time capsule for the era.

Developer: Nightdive Studios, Ritual Entertainment
Publisher: Nightdive Studios, Atari
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/632950/SiN_Reloaded/