Hydrophobia makeover announced

A new version of water-themed digital-only action outing Hydrophobia will arrive on Xbox Live tomorrow for just 800 MSP – that’s 400 MSP cheaper than the first time the game was released.

Dark Energy Digital’s aquatic title received a mixed reaction from critics, averaging a rather underwhelming 58 per cent on Metacritic.

Indeed, upon reading Edge’s scathing 3/10 assessment the studio infamously lashed out, telling VG247: "Clearly, they haven’t played the game. We’re extremely frustrated by the review. We’ve got reviews that are absolutely outstanding that say they love the product. If they don’t do the review properly, they shouldn’t do a review at all.”

This new version, called Hydrophobia Pure, is not only available as a 800 MSP download but will also be offered as a free title update to all owners of the current game.

Changes include new butting mapping, improvements to the controls, camera, combat and cover systems as well as clearer signposting and beefier visuals.

Thanks to the bespoke procedural technology and data driven architecture of the InfiniteWorlds TM engine, we’ve been able to cram a huge amount into a tiny patch – to be honest we didn’t think it was possible to make as many changes as we have," joint creative director Pete Jones stated.

"The camera and control changes alone makes it play so differently; it’s a whole new experience. We have listened to what the community liked and disliked about the game; we know we didn’t get everything right first time around but we have taken this time to refine the experience.”