Review: SiN Reloaded

You likely know how it goes by now with a Nightdive Studios release. I’ve reviewed a bunch of them for my YouTube channel and each time, I say basically the same thing. Not every release from the developer has been flawless (notably, Blade Runner – Enhanced Edition released in a fairly buggy state), but for the most part, these new remasters become the definitive versions of their respective games through careful tweaks, technical polish, and brand-new content. Often when I sit down to write out a review for one of these, I struggle to come up with different ways to say, “Well, it’s Nightdive, so obviously, this is good.”

That streak hasn’t been broken with SiN Reloaded, a project announced six years ago that went through some development trouble. When Nightdive acquired the SiN IP in 2020, it set out to produce a remaster of the first game alongside 3D Realms to tie in with the then upcoming Phantom Fury. Somehow, those two universes are connected, but if you’ve been watching my channel for the last few years, you’ll know that I think Phantom Fury is lousy. It doesn’t help that 3D Realms is seemingly not longed for this world, though I have heard that 2025’s Tempest Rising is solid.

Anyway, SiN Reloaded is finally here and, wouldn’t you know it? It’s good! Strangely, though, this is one of the more conservative Nightdive releases I’ve seen in quite some time, similar in concept and execution to System Shock 2’s 25th anniversary remaster or even Outlaws. If you’ve never played the game, this is certainly the version to get, but I can’t say I wasn’t a little disappointed that we didn’t get anything new here.

SiN Reloaded (PC [Reviewed], PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Switch 2)
Developer: Ritual Entertainment, Nightdive Studios
Publisher: Atari, Nightdive Studios
Release Date: Setepmber 24, 2026
MSRP: $29.99

For those unaware, SiN is a 1998 shooter created by Ritual Entertainment built on the Quake 2 engine. It was a kind of soft evolution of what id Software had started with that game, combining old-school boomer shooter design with more realistic environments and seamless progression. For all intents and purposes, it was well-received upon release, but was totally eclipsed by a little game that came out two weeks later. You may have heard of it before: Half-Life. Within the context of the late 90s’ gaming landscape, it’s pretty understandable why SiN went mostly overlooked.

I didn’t personally hear about the series until Ritual attempted to do episodic gaming with SiN Episodes: Emergence in 2006. Built on the Source Engine (essentially admitting that Half-Life was right), Ritual had grand ambitions for this sequel that never came to fruition. I remember enjoying Emergence way back, but what primarily caught my eye was the inclusion of the original game alongside a purchase. When I booted that up, I was surprised to see there was some 90s shooter I hadn’t heard about before, though this was also nearly 20 years ago. It was harder to come by information back then.

Since then, I’ve beaten SiN a couple of times and have always enjoyed its atmosphere and stupid writing more than the gameplay. There is a punchiness to its guns that is satisfyingly crunchy, not to mention the sniper rifle is so God damned powerful it instantly gibs opponents, but certain segments feel as if they drag on. The level design could be a bit obtuse, but then Ritual was attempting to provide alternate paths with differing objectives players could complete which led to different permutations of the campaign. It was ambitious, even if I distinctly remember no-clipping through levels to get to the endings.

Thankfully, though, Nightdive’s remaster immediately fixes that problem by making smart tweaks and adjustments to every level. As noted in an interview with Shacknews, project manager Grover Wimberly IV and lead map designer Matt Tropiano went through each area to see where signposting was lacking or where environmental storytelling wasn’t properly guiding players. They note a sequence where you’re meant to walk on wooden planks, yet the game doesn’t introduce this safely beforehand, so that gets added to reassure the player they are on the right track.

I will say, these tweaks help, but they aren’t so obvious as to ruin the natural sense of exploration SiN has. The very generous breadcrumb system from Quake 2’s remaster is absent, as well, so you can’t spam that to get out of a jam. That mostly hurts the included expansion, Wages of SiN, but I’ll get to that in a bit. The main campaign is broken up into six episodes with a varying number of levels each. The first has roughly three levels, episode two is packing four, the third only has two, but then four and five make up a majority of the game with something like 10 levels together. It’s pretty standard old-school shooter stuff with a couple of sewers, lots of science labs, gang hideouts, etc. Most episodes culminate in a boss fight with a tanky SOB that doesn’t require much thought beyond dumping ammo into them.

What I do love about SiN is its arsenal, even if you could boil it down to archetypes. The starting pistol has a really neat futuristic design, and with a new toggleable tweak in this remaster, you could dual-wield it in the main campaign. The shotgun is basic looking, but is so overpowered that it sometimes gibs enemies in a single blast. The assault rifle is the weapon I remember the most, unleashing a steady stream of lead that doesn’t have the best sound effect, but is incredibly accurate and very reliable. Surprisingly, SiN has location-based damage, so going for headshots is the fastest way to end skirmishes. Then you have the M60-like machine gun with included grenade launcher that probably took the cake for most overpowered weapon in the 90s. That gun, by itself, sums up what SiN is: Schwarzenegger’s Commando as a game.

SiN is cut from the cloth of games which threw intense realism out of the window in favor of providing a power fantasy. It sometimes doesn’t hold together since the enemy AI is stupider than a bag of dirt, but the idea is that you can waltz into a room and mow everyone down without blinking. The player character, Col. John Blade, is a slab of meat who spouts nonsense and kicks ass. That’s all you really need, even if I think the underlying story about a megalomaniacal billionaire sex addict creating a virus that mutates its recipients into bloodthirsty monsters is ripe for expansion.

Any review of SiN would be incomplete without mentioning the antagonist, Elexis Sinclaire. In the 90s, she was the last in a line of hypersexualized women who were designed like blowup dolls with masochistic tendencies. She certainly doesn’t have the same depth as Nozomi does in the 2009 film Air Doll, but the characterization is more in line with something like Heavy Metal than an actual depiction of humanity. SiN is a cartoonish world at its core and Elexis fits right into that. She might wear skimpy outfits, but is surprisingly independent, strong, and self-reliant. In fact, she often treats men like objects to be used in her war on … well, I’m not sure what she’s angry about. She just wants to see humanity suffer.

That said, I’m stunned that all these years later, she is what stands out the most for me. While her later characterization in SiN Episodes would paint her as more of a sex object than actual threat, her presence in SiN reminds me of a ton of movies in the 90s that were shaking up gender norms. Basic Instinct most certainly paints Sharon Stone as a sexual goddess, but it’s also an erotic thriller meant to make the viewer question how sexuality can blind you to obvious evil. I feel like Elexis fits into that mold. The idiotic ending to the game further emphasizes this, with Blade falling for a particularly stupid trap because Elexis starts to unfold her legs. Sometimes, hormones get the better of us.

As you would expect from this era of games, the story doesn’t truly matter much. When all is said and done, Blade and Elexis only interact a handful of times and most of the campaign is focused on delivering set-piece moments before those were really given a standard. The opening bank level starts with a turret sequence, then transitions into you storming the place and fending off ambushes. It’s very thrilling and, sadly, is the highlight of the entire game. I wouldn’t say things get worse in the sense of the game phoning it in, but as classic games often did, the best parts are front loaded.

Later on, there are vehicle segments which, frankly, suck, though the remaster has some odd bug where each time I got on a vehicle, I would be thrown into the air doing backflips and barrel rolls. That’s clearly an issue with the physics of the KEX Engine, but I imagine it will be fixed. Anyway, these play out with Blade jumping into either a bulldozer or an ATV and simply plowing through enemies. This isn’t the first time a shooter had vehicles, but it was still novel in the 90s. I appreciate that you can find alternate paths in these areas, and they don’t encompass so much of the game as to drag down the experience.

It's really with the expansion, Wages of SiN, where SiN sort of loses its luster. Developed by 2015, a team which would go on to create Medal of Honor: Allied Assault before spinning off into Infinity Ward, the levels here often feel like bad fan campaigns you’d find for Doom or Quake around the same time. Levels are too big, often sparsely decorated, and have horrendous pathfinding. The extra weapons are neat, with a particular shoutout to the flamethrower, but the encounters are against almost exclusively hit scanning enemies that can sap your health in seconds. I guess this ups the difficulty, but it drops all the charm of the main set of maps. A mission in a high-rise apartment late in the campaign hides progression behind an easy to miss button and sequence of events that I’m not sure what anyone was thinking. It’s the only time I wished this remaster would have included a waypoint system, but I think you’re better off ignoring the expansion.

Apart from that, this remaster includes niceties such as allowing you to alter the light map intensity (of which I played the base game at 100% and found it sometimes too dark), the ability to swap to the old models and textures at the push of a button, and a streamer friendly mode which swaps out the sexually explicit content for SFW photos. The sheer number of options is pretty staggering, with you being able to turn everything off outright or select which features you’d like. Bringing Wages of SiN’s extra features for the main campaign is also a nice addition, granting both campaigns some cross-continuity. In terms of customization, SiN Reloaded is an absolute win for Nightdive’s continued efforts. Multiplayer has also made the jump, though it doesn’t seem to feature cross-platform connectivity.

The only reason I say I’m a little disappointed is that after all this time, I would have hoped SiN would get some extra love. Maybe this isn’t an unjustly overlooked masterpiece waiting to be rediscovered, but I appreciate how Ritual stuck to its guns and created one last hurrah of boomer shooters in an era where trends were shifting. Getting a new campaign here would have been perfect, much like we’re about to see with Nightdive’s upcoming Thief remaster, but then more people will have the chance to play SiN because of Reloaded. Nightdive also owns the IP, so maybe an official sequel can happen. Studio head Stephen Kick did recently mention he is willing to finish SiN Episodes if reception to this remaster is strong.

Whichever way the future shakes out, at least SiN has been given the treatment it deserves after 28 years. Maybe this isn’t a “rush out and play it now” type of situation, but if you fancy yourself a connoisseur of 90s shooters, SiN Reloaded is a superb way to check out this oft-forgotten title.