Not content with just re-releasing the original Resident Evil trilogy on PC, GOG has decided to take things further by announcing that it has re-released Capcom's classic Dino Crisis and Dino Crisis 2 right now for PC.
Dino Crisis was a critically acclaimed survival horror game that terrified gamers back in 1999 just as much as Capcom's more famous, PlayStation 1-era Resident Evil games did. It had a dark sci-fi atmosphere, challenging resource management, and aggressive dinosaur enemies that could ambush you at any time.
Its sequel, Dino Crisis 2, went for a pure action-shooter approach and was beloved by fans (myself included) for its over-the-top gunplay and action-packed set-pieces. Some would argue Dino Crisis 2 was even the progenitor of the action-heavy direction the Resident Evil series would adopt when Resident Evil 4 first debuted on the Nintendo Gamecube in 2005.
Fans have begging Capcom to revive the Dino Crisis for decades (along with other dormant Capcom IP that deserve a comeback) yet their pleas go unanswered. So, GOG has decided to bring back Dino Crisis itself by re-releasing the first two games on PC, complete with a myriad of improvements to make them playable on modern PC rigs while making them DRM-free.
These improvements for each respective game (as stated on GOG's official website) are:
Dino Crisis improvements
- Full compatibility with Windows 10 and Windows 11
- All 6 localizations of the game included (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese)
- Original, Arrange, and Operation Wipe Out modes included
- Improved DirectX game renderer
- New rendering options (Windowed Mode, Vertical Synchronization Control, Gamma Correction, Integer Scaling, Anti-Aliasing, and more)
- Increased rendering resolution to ~4K (1920p) and color depth to 32-bit.
- Improved geometry calculation, more stable transformation and texturing.
- Improved alpha transparency
- Improved game registry settings
- Issue-free animation, video, and music playback
- Issue-free saving (the game no longer corrupts save files after leaving dropped weapons)
- Full support for modern controllers (Sony DualSense, Sony DualShock4, Microsoft Xbox Series, Microsoft Xbox One, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, Logitech F series and many more) with optimal button binding regardless of the hardware, hotplugging and wireless mode
Dino Crisis 2 improvements
- Full compatibility with Windows 10 and Windows 11
- All 2 localizations of the game included (English, Japanese)
- Easy difficulty, Dino Colosseum and Dino Duel included
- Improved DirectX game renderer
- New rendering options (Windowed Mode, Vertical Synchronization Control, Gamma Correction, Integer Scaling, Anti-Aliasing and more)
- Improved music playback and volume scaling
- Improved item rendering and fogging
- Improved cartridge boxes alignment
- Issue-free video playback, task switching and game exit
- Full support for modern controllers (Sony DualSense, Sony DualShock4, Microsoft Xbox Series, Microsoft Xbox One, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, Logitech F series and many more) with optimal button binding regardless of the hardware and wireless mode
In addition, GOG has announced it is launching the GOG Dreamlist, a place where gamers can cast their votes on what classic, old-school games GOG should revive next in their crusade to save old video games from becoming lost media.
If Capcom won't bring Dino Crisis back, then GOG will do itself
While I personally never grew up with the original Dino Crisis as a kid (Dino Crisis 2 was more my speed as a lover of action games), I can see why fans praise this title to heaven and back. It's rife with creative ideas that deserve to be explored to their full potential with a next-gen remake in the RE Engine just like Resident Evil's remake series, which has produced some of the best Xbox games and best PC games of the past decade.
However, the chances of Capcom bringing back Dino Crisis are looking higher these days as Capcom announced during The 2024 Game Awards, that it is reviving the Okami and Onimusha franchises. With GOG's re-release of Dino Crisis 1 and 2 on PC, you can now make your voices to Capcom be heard louder with your wallets and show them how much money you are willing to spend to see your favorite franchise return.
