Classic ‘Blade Runner’ adventure given new life on PC

Players assume the identity of Ray McCoy in “Blade Runner”, a replicant-hunting detective like the film’s hero. Image: Courtesy of Westwood Studios via AFP Relaxnews

Acclaimed point-and-click adventure “Blade Runner”, a side-story to the celebrated 1982 movie of the same name, is finally available to play on modern computers.

First debuting in 1997, the “Blade Runner” video game was praised for its adherence to the movie’s tone and themes, while delivering an original storyline that dovetailed with Ridley Scott’s boundary-pushing film.

Though Scott and lead actor Harrison Ford were not involved, the game did secure the services of several cast members, including Sean Young (Rachael) and James Hong (Hannibal Chew), with a Vangelis-style soundtrack and multiple locations taken from the movie.

Released at a time when developer Westwood Studios was better known for strategy games like “Command & Conquer” and “Dune II”, sci-fi detective mystery “Blade Runner” made advanced use of a voxel-based approach — a variation on technology made famous years later by “Roblox” and “Minecraft” — winning Computer Adventure Game of the Year from the industry’s Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, even over the beloved “Curse of Monkey Island”.

But thanks to lost code, a 2003 studio closure and a four-disc retail edition incompatible with modern computers, “Blade Runner” was essentially confined to history for most would-be players.

That has changed now with the release of “Blade Runner” for PC, Mac and Linux through GOG.

Thanks to “programmers who spen[t] around 8 years dissecting the code from Blade Runner’s original CDs and then painstakingly putting it together again to form the digital version,” and a collaboration between publishing and restoration platform GOG and film production company offshoot Alcon Interactive, “Blade Runner” has been given a new lease of life.

The timing means the “Blade Runner” re-release comes in the same year that it is set — the game starts in November 2019 — while GOG and Alcon hope that recent movie sequel “Blade Runner 2049” will have helped to reignite interest in the tie-in, just as a “Blade Runner” Director’s Cut did before the adventure game first released. RGA

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