SiN: Reloaded GBAtemp review
PlayStation 5
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): September 24, 2026
- Release Date (EU): September 24, 2026
- Publisher: Atari Inc
- Developer: Nightdive Studios
- Genres: FPS
- ESRB Rating: Mature
- PEGI Rating: Sixteen years and older
- Also For: Computer, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Game Features:
Nightdive Studios is a name synonymous with brilliant modern console ports of retro first-person shooters from the late 90s, which are powered by their proprietary KEX engine. SiN: Reloaded takes a relatively obscure cult classic by Ritual Entertainment and gives it the modern facelift and gut-tuck it requires to get it back in action for 2026 and all without even bowing to political correctness.
Until 2026, I had never played SiN in my life. The only reason I can think of for this is that the game was released in 1998, an era where I had nothing on my mind other than my trusty Nintendo 64, and PC gaming was so far off my radar other than a bit of borrowed Worms 2 and Duke Nukem 3D, and a side of NESticle and SNES9X because I was far more obsessed with emulation than paying for anything new.
Having released in 1998, SiN would have had some stiff competition. Half Life absolutely dominated the PC FPS market that year, I remember all my friends playing and raving about it, but I was still all about GoldenEye 007 (1997) on my N64 and it's incredibly addictive and replayable split-screen multiplayer modes, so I didn't even have time for catching up with Half Life until many years later around 2001, when I got a PS2, and again when it leaked for Dreamcast in 2003, because it was super impressive to see!
Regardless, SiN was never considered a top 5 game, barely even a top 10 game, but why was that? Where other games cashed in on movie licenses or immersive stories, SiN opted for an over-the-top high-octane B-movie style comedy approach, akin to Duke Nukem 3D, and as a result it didn't carve itself any kind of niche or push any boundaries.
Playing it with my matured yet nostalgia appreciative 2026 eyes in place, I happily dove into SiN and SiN: Wages of Sin, giving it my utmost attention and scrutinising every retro nuance and modern amelioration in complete granularity. I have to say that the experience was a mixture of giddiness and frustration, but most of all sentimentality for an era of gaming I grew up in and enjoyed so much.
A B-Movie Boomer Shooter with Boisterous Ballistics
Starting the game, you get to meet John R. Blade and J.C., his partner, eye on the sky, and co-member of security force; the HardCorps. You're thrown into the action, blasting away with a mounted gun on a helicopter during your insertion into 2037's Freeport City, a place overrun with drugs and criminal activity. The dynamic between Blade and J.C. is like a good buddy cop movie, they're constantly in communication hyping and glibly joshing each other along throughout.
The overall story follows your exploits of preventing a bank heist only to uncover a plot by Elexis Sinclaire that involves mutating humanity through a powerfully addictive drug manufactured by SinTEK called U4. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to prevent this and save humanity from nuclear war.
The game immediately sets the tone of the campy-comedy B-movie, with brash voice-overs, and a pigeon getting blasted to smithereens by enemy NPCs who are bored of guarding rooftops and bragging about shooting cops for fun. While it never takes itself too seriously, SiN is, at it's heart, a boomer-shooter with a simple story that isn't afraid to punch holes through walls, cause massive explosions, and champion cliche-driven powerful, sexy, or over-the-top characters throughout.
SiN has been transformed from it's basic Quake 2 engine-using original self, and given the full KEX engine treatment with all the mod-cons you could possibly want. In addition to gyro controls and upgraded graphics, Nightdive has seen fit to port any QOL updates from SiN: Wages of SiN (the included expansion add-on for SiN) as options for the original game. These include the ability to dual wield weapons and tweaks to enemy AI that improve upon the original game.
The transition to the KEX engine has been a little bumpy. The graphics are slightly wobbly across all models, an area where I didn't think I'd see this kind of strangeness. Instead of models looking crisp and clean, they literally undulate 24/7. This is fine when the buxom PVC-clad femme fatales enter the scene; yes the jiggle physics are through the roof when they're in the right places, but across your characters limbs and hands, and even the weapons, it looks strange to say the least.
The lighting is notably improved, and stealth sections are altered to make them more playable, but with these tweaks I found that it makes the game feel a little bit more cartoon-like and basic than it used to look, at least,. according to all the moody screenshots I can find online from 1998.
Most notably, the stealth sections have been reworked to be more player friendly, offering alternate routes and allowing your to play the game's scenarios slightly differently each attempt.
There are a lot of indicators that this game used the id Tech 2 engine, but upgraded to be a little more adventurous and realistic. The bullet impact and particle effects are emitted from certain points, the bodies explode into gibs with a spray of blood particles, and the weapons and ammo pickups still look overly like re-used Quake II assets that have only been slightly modified so not to step on any toes.
The feel of the weapons are great once you graduate to the bigger weapons. Pistols feel flat and there is no punchy recoil. Shotguns feel superb, as they should in a Quake-based game, with powerful blasts and a feeling of dominance when using them. Machine guns feel weak with no tactile punch, and it feels like it takes too many rounds to down a guard, but luckily there is plenty of ammo to be found.
Repetitive Levels & Nostalgically Nuanced
The formulaic layout of levels is both endearing and trite in equal abundance. There are vents to break open and skulk around in, platforms to venture up to, and board walks to cross, all the while you have enemies guarding each way point ready for you to arrive.
It's almost like yellow paint, but not. Instead it's ubiquitous yet recognisable objects like the aforementioned ventilation grills or manhole covers that lead you around the industrial environments, should you spot them. If you don't spot them, then good luck figuring it out.
Environments are brighter and more vibrant than the OG 1998 release, and I noticed some corridors with automatic doors have been repositioned so not to crush yourself to death beneath them. This is where Nightdive has made their mark, improving the game's look and feel as well as updating the underlying issues Ritual Entertainment had, though it's not all plain sailing.
I love the feel of these games, the look of the levels and the density of interactive (read: shootable) objects, like a pyramid of coke cans on a desk, or vials and books on a shelf, were unbelievable to see and felt fully immersive back then, though today it does actually look sparse and extremely rudimentary.
The lay up for each area is best described like a scene from Time Crisis. You hear some dialogue or see a cut scene, walk in to the environment, the scene then unfolds, waves of enemies repel in from helicopters above, or pop out of no where, jumping into frame yelling one liners and then you blast them. The obvious difference with the gameplay is that it's fully 3D and you control the angles instead of it being on a path. I couldn't get past the feeling that these Time Crisis-like set pieces were overly scripted, but then, that was the style in these early games, which goes to show how our sensibilities have changed over time and it's only when looking back on games like this that you realise how much has changed for the better and how cinematic they can be.
A Mediocre Game Given Fresh Annoyances
I continually got stuck or some strange glitch took over my game. For example, in the opening chapter you need to get a bulldozer though a wall, I jumped in and rag doll physics threw me 100 feet into the air and I did about 50-thousand flips. In another scenario I appear to have approached the level through the wrong door and ended up in a loop where I couldn't progress, nothing would trigger, and in another example I couldn't complete the level or do anything because the objective didn't spawn.
Admittedly, I did run around in circles quite a lot because I neglected interacting with computers, such looking up passwords, locking/unlocking gates or disabling turrets, for example. But in general there was a distinct lack of direction. In one level I remember travelling through the sewers, coming to a ladder, climbing it and removing the manhole cover only to get stuck in the room with nowhere to go. It turned out there was a second ladder in the general vicinity that wasn't the one you assume would be the right direction given it was front and center. Perhaps that's my muscle memory kicking in that if you look for visual clues, that's the way forward, but in the case of SiN, it's not always the rule to follow.
I also felt quite nauseous while playing through this game. I had to immediately turn off the gyro controls because it was totally unbearable, but also in various stages of backtracking in a chasing my tail around looking for an exit, I felt extremely motion sick. I can't say that it's because the engine's movement is janky, it's not, if anything, it's so smooth and flowing that it's possibly that which makes it difficult for your eyes to focus with such rapid movement.
Overall, SiN: Reloaded is quite the package for fans of early PC shooters. Combining the two games in one with decent QOL updates, remastered graphics and adding split-screen multiplayer (4 modes including hoverbike deathmatch and 5 arenas in SiN and 10 arenas in Wages). I feel a lot of fantastic nostalgia flowing through this release, even if it does have some rather annoying and basic issues plaguing it, but I also would have liked to see online modes, and character models that don't give me seas-sickness for my £29.99
Verdict
- Smooth and high definition gameplay
- QOL updates are great overally
- Wages of SiN included too
- Couch multiplayer modes are a blast
- Nausea inducing motion
- Lack of direction at points
- Massive glitches present
- Quite repetitive
- Corny lines aplenty
- No online multiplayer modes
