For the uninitiated, Phantom Dust is an action strategy game that originally saw release for the original Xbox in 2004 in Japan and 2005 in North America. Developed by Microsoft Game Studios and produced by Panzer Dragoon director Yukio Futatsugi, the game was not quite like anything else on the system. As such, it developed a strong cult following, so much so that a full reboot was announced for the Xbox One and PC during Microsoft’s E3 2014 presentation.
Unfortunately for fans of the original, things did not quite go according to plan. The studio creating the reboot was closed down, and although Microsoft stated that the reboot was going to continue development, this unfortunately was not the case. This remaster of the original game may help ease the disappoint of the reboot being stuck in development hell indefinitely.
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The remaster of the game is going to tie in with some of the new features that are coming to Xbox One and PC. For starters, the title is going to be part of the Xbox Play Anywhere program, so after purchasing a copy of the game digitally it can be played on either platform. The title will also have competitive play, courtesy of Arena for Xbox One.
What this means for a future reboot of the game remains to be seen. Microsoft allegedly had a “lack of confidence” in the team behind the remake of Phantom Dust, and new ideas were thrown forward without sufficient budget to back it up. The game was shelved but never officially cancelled, so perhaps development could restart should a remaster of the game become popular enough.
That said, there’s still a long way to go before Phantom Dust returns to the fold. Currently, Microsoft is planning to release the game at some point in 2017, although there were no further finite details about a release window. Hopefully, more will be confirmed over time.
Phantom Dust will be re-released in a remastered form at some point in 2017 for Xbox One and PC.
