In January 2022, preservationist publisher Ziggurat finalized a deal to bring 80+ games from the Rainbow Arts catalog under its umbrella. With the launch this week of X-Out: Resurfaced, an expanded remake of the 1989 undersea shmup, Ziggurat's plans for the collection are coming into focus: retain the spirit of the original for those who grew up on the Amiga and Commodore 64 while providing modern amenities and enhancements for a current audience. The question remains: do games like X-Out require only a simple glow-up or do they demand a complete overhaul? 

For those who missed X-Out (pronounced cross-out) when it launched in 1989/1990, here's a quick primer. It's a horizontally-scrolling shoot-'em-up in the European tradition, with two big twists: first, it's set underwater, instead of in deep space; second, it relies on an inventive shopping system, where you purchase ships and upgrades between stages.

The game's unique setting goes a long way. While it still feels like you're in space on a mechanical level, the visual flourishes, backdrops, and enemy designs all benefit from the underwater theme. You'll fight submersibles and strange undersea lifeforms, weave through watery caves and icy outcroppings, and witness bubbly explosions. At one point you'll come face-to-face with an octopus armed with a flamethrower. It's all very atmospheric.

The only downside is that the game doubles down on the same aesthetic in paired levels. You'll see similar backgrounds and enemy types in stages 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, and 7 & 8. In other words, there are eight levels but only four themes.

As for narrative, there's not much to report. The game begins enticingly with a cut-scene of a steely pilot in a cockpit bathed in red and purple light, followed by a wider shot showing his submersible exiting its airlock. But then we get nothing until a single Doom-esque splash screen following the defeat of the final boss. Well, not exactly nothing. The game does a fairly good job at environmental storytelling. You'll start in a ruined, relatively well-lit area where you can still see the surface of the water. Then you'll transition to a cave system with jellyfish and sea anemones, before moving to a colder, darker space where you'll pass by spaceships suspended in ice, before finally entering an undersea volcanic area, which suggests you're on the ocean floor. There's a palpable feeling of descending to more inhospitable, alien places.

The other major novelty of X-Out — the shop system — isn't quite as triumphant as the undersea setting. In fact, it's paradoxically the best and worst part of the game. Here's how it works: at the start of the campaign you have 12,000 credits to spend on ships and parts, each of which comes with a price tag. You'll pick a vessel and then outfit it with lasers, missiles, drones, and other contraptions. Then it's off into the breach. Throughout the subsequent level you'll earn additional credits by defeating enemies. If you survive, you'll reenter the shop to remove/add attachments and create an even stronger build. 

The good news about this setup is twofold. First, it creates an interesting risk versus reward dynamic, since you're actually using your current high score to buy additional armaments and superior ships. Do you decide to use all your accumulated points to invest in a juggernaut, or cut corners here and there, hoping to eek by with a higher score? Second, the options available to you are significant. You can pick from four different ships, and several types of cannons, projectiles, upgrades, and satellites. There are dozens of combinations, which allow for a great deal of experimentation.

One caveat, though: not every weapon add-on is equally effective. It's much better to invest in cannons and satellites that fire continuously rather than spend hard-earned credits on primary weapons that must be charged — thus interrupting your continuous fire and opening you up to enemy projectiles — or secondary weapons, most of which are single-use.

The bad news is that the game is woefully unbalanced as a result of all these permutations. You either enter a stage with a pea-shooter & a couple of ineffective gadgets and die immediately, or you arrive maxed out in every category and cut through the opposition with hardly any push-back. When I first started playing, I died several times in a row at the end of stage one and in the beginning of stage two. After I figured out what combination of armaments worked, however, I stopped dying altogether. I plowed through all eight levels with barely a scratch, and notched the high score in the process. The action became boring, which is the last thing you want in a shoot-'em-up.

To be fair, other parts of the game will keep you somewhat engaged. At certain junctures, X-Out throws challenging, unusual enemies at the player, including mobile factories that leave behind destructible obstacles, giant viperfish that charge at you from right to left, and, my least favorite, red eels that attach themselves to the front of your ship and refuse to let go. There are also several narrow passageways to navigate and more than a few deadly stalactites to avoid. Finally, each stage hosts a mid-boss and final boss, although they can be dispatched rather quickly with the right loadout.

One thing that won't keep you engaged is the scoring system, which, by genre standards, is rudimentary. Basically, you'll earn points by taking down enemies and collect a bonus for completing each stage. There aren't any modifiers, multipliers, medals, or gimmicks to speak of. Again, the idea of spending your score to upgrade your ship is quite intriguing, but the process of accumulating that score is, regrettably, very basic.

While the Resurfaced remake unfortunately doesn't address the difficulty balancing and scoring issues embedded in the original game, it significantly enhances everything surrounding them. In fact, thanks to developer KRITZELKRATZ 3000, this is the best X-Out has looked and played, due to several additions and quality-of-life fixes. The most obvious, perhaps, is the brand new coat of paint. The artists at KRITZELKRATZ have introduced a refined HUD, new high-definition sprites, improved particle and lighting effects, and more detailed backgrounds, bringing this 1989 oddity into the present. The bloom effect is used a little too aggressively here and it's sometimes challenging to distinguish your own bullets from the enemy's, but in general the visuals represent an upgrade over the original.

The game's soundscape has received a similar refresh. In a major coup, the studio secured composer Chris Huelsbeck to remaster his original synth soundtrack, which was already outstanding. Players can now choose between three soundtracks: C64, Amiga, and modern. Not only that, but KRITZELKRATZ worked to fill in the audio gaps, writing several original songs for this release, including brand new themes for stages 3, 4, and 7.

The developer also enhanced the shop, which now offers three pre-configured loadouts, item descriptions, and improved usability, removing all of the guess work of the original. You can't register and copy your favorite loadout, which is too bad, but overall this remade version is far more user-friendly. Finally, the studio added optional cheat codes and two brand new modes: multiplayer, which supports simultaneous local two-player co-op; and Mirror Mode, which offers reversed scrolling levels for an extra challenge. These additions enhance the replay value considerably, which is useful considering the campaign could be finished in a single sitting.

Really, KRITZELKRATZ did an extraordinary job with this remake. If the studio made an error, it was by being too respectful of the source material — understandable, given its obvious reverence for Rainbow Arts.

That respectful attitude is ultimately what holds X-Out: Resurfaced back, however. While the remake introduces many worthwhile additions — remade sprites, remastered music, helpful quality-of-life upgrades, and a brand new co-op offering — it doesn't do anything to remedy the original's balance issues or elevate its rudimentary scoring system. As a result, X-Out remains a middle-of-the-road shoot-'em-up, despite the impressive glow-up. If you're interested in exploring an obscure Amiga shooter with a unique undersea setting and several unusual ideas, this is the absolute best way to do so. Just keep in mind there are other, better shmups on Switch.