Dino Crisis is back, but not quite how you may have hoped. While turn-of-the-millennium gaming nerds like me still cry out for Capcom to remake it in the same way it transformed Resident Evils 2, 3, and 4, GOG has instead recreated the original PS1 outings of Dino Crisis 1 and 2 for PC.
Frankly, this sells GOG’s efforts short. The CD Projekt-owned digital distribution service, which specializes in DRM-free games, has rebuilt the original game’s source code from the ground up, creating what is, effectively, the ultimate editions of the duo.
Unlike the 2024 port of Dino Crisis that ended up on PS4 and PS5 last October, GOG didn’t simply acquire the rights and quickly translate it to new tech — as with its efforts on Resident Evil, it overhauled DC 1 and 2 while balancing old and new, offering the bells and whistles expected by modern gamers while protecting what made these original, turn-of-the-millennium experiences so popular.
“It’s hands down the best version of Dino Crisis you can officially buy or play right now, compared to the [2024] PlayStation version, which is simply an emulated version of the original,” says Bartosz Kwietniewski, head of business development at GOG, who helped lead the Capcom partnership. “We really took it to the next level, like the number of changes, especially the graphical ones, compared to Resident Evil. It’s not even comparable.”
Having played the originals and reboots of Dino Crisis and Dino Crisis 2, it’s impossible to disagree. Its success could open the door to much more, too. GOG Dreamlist, a new tool that aims to gauge community demand for games and influence publishers’ decisions, also launched today, hoping to make it easier for developers to work with GOG on bringing back specific titles.
Yet the most impressive thing is Kwietniewski’s unwavering belief that the release of these Dino Crisis rebuilds could force the hand of Capcom to finally pull the trigger and reimagine the series through the ninth generation of consoles.
“I feel that at some point, Capcom is gonna announce that they are remaking it,” he says. “Like, I’m sure of it.”
What you get with GOG’s Dino Crisis 1 and 2
Alongside a whole host of tech improvements, both games offer:
- Full compatibility with Windows 10 and Windows 11;
- Full support for modern controllers (including DualSense, DualShock 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Switch, Logitech F series, and more) with optimal button binding;
- New rendering options (Windowed Mode, Vertical Synchronization Control, Gamma Correction, Integer Scaling, Anti-Aliasing, and others);
- Increased rendering resolution to 4K and increased color depth to 32-bit (exclusive to GOG); and
- All localizations of the game included (DC1: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese; DC2: English and Japanese).
A learning experience
When GOG approached Capcom to pitch for working on the PS1 Resident Evil trilogy for PC, GOG firmly wanted to put Dino Crisis on the table too, especially knowing the success Capcom had with its excellent remakes of Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4.
Kwietniewski explains: “Looking at what they’ve been doing, we thought [a remake] might be the case, and I wanted to somehow maybe help them with this decision, and just show them how many people really crave for Dino Crisis to be brought back.
“Thankfully, because the conversation went in the direction we really wanted it to, we immediately started talking about Dino Crisis.”
After the successful release of the RE trilogy, GOG began its process again. As with many old games, rights and material ownership can be unclear, so GOG had to verify what Capcom still owned and had access to. However, Capcom didn’t have the original files stored, so GOG had to go back to source.
“If the publisher has the source code, great. Most likely, for a game this old, they won’t have a source code, and they didn’t have a source code here either, right? So we go into phase two: we try to find the game either on CDs, DVDs — whatever was available back then for that game.”
With all its regional physical copies signed off by Capcom, GOG got to work. The process for PS1 game conversion typically takes two-to-three months, something all the more impressive given that both Dino Crisis and Resident Evil franchise ports had remarkably small teams — just one or two developers worked on the original Dino Crisis before handing it over to GOG’s quality and testing team; then, it was sent to Japan for a final thumbs-up.
Capcom was elated with the finished product. For GOG, it was a double win: not only was Dino Crisis a development success, but Kwietniewski says Capcom’s higher demands for quality assurance checks — much greater than your typical Western publisher — meant GOG had to alter its approach. In turn, it now feels able to use these cultural learnings to pitch to other Japanese developers whose titles never saw the light of day in NTSC and PAL markets.
“I hope this partnership with Capcom will help us get more classic games from other Japanese developers because a lot of the gaming history is there,” he said. “I would love these games to be more easily available on other platforms such as GOG, with our own twist on game preservation and implementing quality-of-life fixes into their games directly.”
Lamentations of emulation
Putting GOG’s take on the original Dino Crisis against the Sony PS5 port shows just how much effort has been put into the project, and it’s easy to see the passion, too. Everything just works. Still, for GOG, there’s a greater feeling of satisfaction by unlocking more potential for both Dino Crisis stalwarts and newcomers.
Kwietniewski understands why publishers choose the emulation route. “It’s simply easier. It’s just a matter of choosing the right emulator, having some license confirmed, and then you’re basically good to go.
“But here’s the thing. You boot up those games that are being emulated, and you can, maybe, get this nostalgia hit. But sometimes, the quality is no longer acceptable. The game requires a bit more work, a bit more tinkering, to get the original experience up to par with how you would like it to play.”
Kwietniewski believes the biggest impression is made when you first start the game, and it looks the way you remember it did 20 years ago, but given the differences in past and modern TVs, it’s just not that simple. “Sometimes with those emulators, at those crude resolutions, it’s like, it’s the opposite, right? That’s not how I remember it. I’m not sure I want to play it.”
It’s a fair point — on a personal note, the PS Mini had disappointing emulation, and made my long-awaited return to Ridge Racer Type 4 a really sad one. It’s ironic, really, that Sony has done it again with Dino Crisis, though Kwietniewski is a little more positive about the company’s intentions.
“Maybe PlayStation was experimenting with whether this is something that the people would be interested in,” he says. “I feel like if they did, they could take more time, maybe find a company that would be willing to work with them on proper parts of those titles?”
Is GOG’s Dino Crisis 1 and 2 worth buying?
Short answer: yes. Long answer: yes, but twice. Alongside the aforementioned upgrades, Dino Crisis comes with its Original, Arrange, and Operation Wipe Out modes, while Dino Crisis 2 gets an easy difficulty, plus the inclusion of the Dino Colosseum and Dino Duel modes. For $11 per game — or $19.35 for both — you get plenty of bang for your buck.
Of course, you’ll still have to deal with the tank controls — not ideal for people who want to customize their pad layout — but if Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered’s “modern controls” experiment taught us anything, it’s that the game can fundamentally fail to play (or even work) as intended, disrupting the balance of combat and exploration, especially given Dino Crisis’ semi-fixed camera approach.
While you’re there, pick up one or all of the Resident Evil games. RE2, in particular, is a real treat, though that’s maybe because I genuinely cheered when, for the first time in about 15 years, I said out loud — word for word, and in time with the game — Robert Kendo and Leon Kennedy’s full conversation in the gun shop.
What’s next for GOG?
Providing Capcom remains quiet on the Dino Crisis Remake front — for crying out loud, just do it — GOG continues to build its Game Preservation Program; unsurprisingly, both parts of Dino Crisis are included in this at launch, and they’re passionate to “keep taking care of it”.
However, GOG’s Dreamlist, which launched earlier today (January 29), has already gained traction. The site is keen to engage the community by allowing users to share stories about games they want to see brought back.
Both Resident Evil and Dino Crisis have proved they can do fantastic work to preserve old classics. Some future hopefuls might prove a bit trickier — god knows who has the rights to No One Lives Forever, which currently sits near the top of the charts — but it already appears to be digging up past memories from excellent outliers like Freelancer (which is, admittedly, one of GOG’s personal picks).
It seems like a long shot that my favorite racing game ever, R4, would even come close to a PC rebuild and re-release, especially with that sumptuous soundtrack. Then again, with GOG’s knowledge of developer-publishers after its successful work with Capcom, there’s no reason it can’t knock at the door of Bandai Namco any time soon.
