Publisher Nightdive Studios is preparing to launch Blood: Refreshed Supply, a remaster of the 1997 horror FPS classic from Monolith Productions. The new version looks a lot like the studio’s 2019 game, Blood: Fresh Supply. However, people are calling this the best version ever because of a big success, Nightdive finally found and used the game’s original source code.
Nightdive Studios had to rely on complex reverse engineering for the initial Fresh Supply remaster, as the original source code for Blood was unavailable at the time. According to Nightdive’s lead KEX developer, Samuel “Kaiser” Villareal, this method is far less precise.
“Reverse engineering is extremely time-consuming and is prone to mistakes, leading to various aspects of gameplay feeling off or not behaving exactly like how one would remember it,” Villareal explains. He stressed that for more complex titles, having the full source code is “absolutely mandatory.”
After years of searching, the Nightdive team finally located the source code. “With the original [code] in hand, our developers were able to revisit the reverse-engineered code we’d previously worked on and update it to be as authentic to the original as possible.”
Nightdive CEO and founder Stephen Kick highlighted the ongoing challenge of securing these historical assets: “It’s often difficult to obtain the original source code for classic video games… It’s often the case that copies no longer exist, or the people who still have them are difficult to find.”
Thanks to the newly acquired source code, Blood: Refreshed Supply delivers numerous small but meaningful improvements. The game will feature remade cutscenes and visual improvements, including support for 4K resolution at 120 FPS on Xbox Series X.
The game promises a more faithful feel, particularly with player movement. Villareal confirmed that those familiar with the original DOS game and Fresh Supply “will immediately feel the difference right off the bat, particularly with player movement.”
Additional improvements include expanded options for improved enemy behavior, bug fixes for the game’s original levels, and the reintroduction of a previously cut weather effects feature. Project Manager and Producer Grover Wimberly IV added that the team had the chance to go back and implement level refinements not possible in the previous remaster.
Blood: Refreshed Supply marks the debut of the horror FPS on Xbox consoles, featuring improved controller gamepad support and offering 8-player split-screen multiplayer on Xbox Series X/S.
On all platforms, the game will include additional content previously unreleased in an official capacity: the Marrow and Death Wish scenarios. These expansions are the first official content additions to Blood since Cryptic Passage and Plasma Pak back in 1997.
The remaster will also include a brand-new Vault packed with bonus materials for enthusiasts, featuring dozens of playable cut-content levels, concept art, behind-the-scenes photos, and unused sprites.
Blood: Refreshed Supply is set to release on PC via Steam, GoG and Epic Games; Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.
