Hogs of War, the PS1 cult classic, is getting a crowd-funded remaster for PS4 and PS5 – WGB, Home of AWESOME Reviews

We live in an age where it seems any old game has at least some chance of being dragged out of the cupboard, dusted off and released onto modern hardware for fans to enjoy. I still wasn’t expecting the PlayStation 1 game Hogs of War to get that kind of treatment, though, and yet here we are: Hogs of War is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

A company by the name of Urbanscan is handling the new release and they’ve enlisted the help of Ian Steward, the CEO of Hogs of War’s original developer Gremline Software which became Infogrames Sheffield House when Infogrames acquired them. Speaking to Metro in July of this year, Owen Mason-Burns told the paper that the remaster has been in the works since 2018/2019 and actually began life as a master’s thesis.

The Kickstarter will go live on 17th October 2023 and run through to 16th November. The team is looking to secure £150,000 to finish the game, with stretch goals including a PC release and proper online play. The video explains that the £150,000 is essentially the lowest cost to get the game finished to a basic level.

But what if the goal isn’t achieved? Well, in the Metro interview from earlier this year, Owen said, “The one thing we can confirm is that, regardless of what happens with the Kickstarter, Hogs Of War Lardcore will be released one way or another.”

Published by Infogrames and developed by Infogrames Sheffield House, Hogs of War was a turn-based game released in 2000 where teams of pigs would blast each other to pieces with bazookas, guns, grenades and more. It was like Worms 3D, except it came out 3 years before.  Ian Stewart came up with the idea, stating that he was inspired by a mixture of the film Babe, the Command & Conquer series and the Worms games.

Initial reviews for the game were fairly mixed but over the years it has slowly become regarded as something of a hidden gem. I played the absolute shit out of Hogs of War back in the day and loved its mix of somewhat clunky action and weird humour. In particular, the narration by the late, great Rik Mayall was hilarious, and I can still hear the oinking and grunting of the pigs. And yes, the original narration will still be in the game.

If you fancy seeing a group of pigs wearing military uniforms blowing the shit out of each other with grenades, then you can keep an eye on the official website for the latest news. As for me, this might actually be the first Kickstarter I’ve ever seriously considered backing. I do love me some Hogs of Wars.