Screenshot: Crysis Remastered Trilogy
If you haven’t played
Crysis you’ve probably seen the nanosuit. It’s not as popular as Master Chief, but that corded black suit that resembles some alien muscle suit has been part video games for a while now.
Crysis was almost infamous when it first came out for both its graphical fidelity and the hurt it put on your computer if you tried to run it. I always had a soft spot for the first game, and was
surprised to discover that nostalgia didn’t hold up as well as I was hoping. I played through
Crysis 2 and
Crysis 3 to see if my opinion what change on those games, and surprisingly, they held up pretty well.
The
Crysis Trilogy Remastered is a package that gives you all three
Crysis Remastered titles. That means upgraded graphics and some quality of life improvements—especially for the first title. Don’t expect a complete remake like the
Demon’s Souls release late last year. The
Crysis series was already known for its fidelity, but these remasters do a bit to make them look more modern. There is also support for graphical bells and whistles the older games didn’t have, like DLSS. Even with my chonky gaming computer, I was having issues running
Crysis Remastered with everything turned up high—and for seemingly little graphical improvement.
Crysis 2 Remastered and
Crysis 3 Remastered were showing their age, but they were still pretty impressive looking, and with much better optimization—I had everything turned up on the PC version of
Crysis 3 Remastered and it ran great on my setup.
Screenshot: Crysis Remastered Trilogy
I always thought that the
Crysis trilogy went through a bit of an identity crisis and reawakening. It’s a strange trilogy, if you think about it: you start out playing as one character, and by the third game you’re playing a guy who is essentially possessed by another guy via technology. It’s one of those stories that fall about if you think about it too hard, but having all three laid out like that makes it hard to ignore. The fate of Nomad and even Alcatraz never really sat right with me, but hey, as long as I get to run around in a super suit being a badass, who cares, right?
The
Crysis Remastered Trilogy has been updated graphically but there have been little gameplay changes. The most notable changes are in
Crysis Remastered, where you have the option to use the nanosuit in a way that more matches how the sequels handle it. Despite not being narrative masterpieces, the
Crysis Remastered Trilogy has consistently fun encounters and good gunplay. The first
Crysis takes a more open world approach, while the following two are much more linear—and feel like an attempt by developer Crytek to match
Halo’s pacing—and
Crysis works well that way.
Screenshot: Crysis Remastered Trilogy
One of the biggest draws to
Crysis is the nanosuit. Narratively, they’re a body horror nightmare that bonds with the wearer. Gameplay-wise, it makes you feel like a superhero in a modern war setting.
Crysis’s nanosuit is like a wartime power fantasy, with the abilities that make you able to take shots from a tank and keep fighting. The nanosuit in each game allows you to cloak, activate an armor mode and run and jump faster than would otherwise be possible. If you’re tired of that soldier taking pot shots at you, you can turn invisible, sprint over, pick him up, and chuck him over the edge, which is always fun.
I also appreciate that any encounters with
Crysis’ hostile alien race, the Ceph, is a challenge—but never makes you feel like you’re fighting on equal footing, as you can pick up and toss most Ceph soldiers like the other fodder you’re up against.
Screenshot: Crysis Remastered Trilogy
It’s hard to review an entire trilogy of games, but
Crysis is a solid series, and the
Crysis Remastered Trilogy packages the three main series games in a convenient way with a graphical upgrade that makes them more palatable to contemporary gamers or those who just want to revisit the series.
Crysis Remastered Trilogy is available now on PC via
the Epic Games Store and for
PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 as well as for
Xbox Series S|X and
Nintendo Switch.
