Rockstar, Remedy shake hands on new Max Payne 1+2 remaster series

Enlarge / Max is back. (credit: Take Two / Remedy)

Remedy Entertainment and Max Payne are together again-and the reunion is coming in the form of a full-blown remake of the hard-boiled series' first two action games.

The news arrived on Wednesday in the form of a press release signed off by both Remedy, the series' creators, and Rockstar Games, the franchise's current rightsholder after the license passed between companies in the early '00s. The two companies have entered a publishing partnership that will see Rockstar finance a remaster of Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne as a combined gameplay package.

Both games will be remade using Remedy's proprietary Northlight game engine, which was most recently used in Ars Technica's 2019 Game of the Year, Control. In addition to a launch on PC, the resulting two-game package will be a current-gen console exclusive on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. This means the game could possibly flex the same ray-tracing muscles seen in 2021's Control Ultimate Edition, also a current-gen exclusive. No date for the game has been announced, and "The project is currently in the concept development stage," according to the press release.

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