“The Thing” is a 2002 video game sequel to the 1982 John Carpenter film of the same name and has recently had a remastered version released on Dec. 5, 2024.
The game takes place shortly after the original film, with our main character, Captain Blake, being sent to search outpost 31 where the events of the original film took place. During this time, the player learns the main mechanics of the game, such as the trust system and team mechanics as well as weapons, game saving, items, etc.
Like the film, the game is about an unknown alien creature that infects/kills someone or something and then impersonates that someone or something, and the characters have to figure out whose human and who is a thing.
The game follows Captain Blake as he goes from outpost 31, the Norwegian base that originally found the thing, and eventually the base of Gen-Inc where they are attempting to use a form of the thing named “Cloud virus” for biological warfare, however the thing has infected all of the black ops at the facility and Colonel Whitley has injected himself with the B4 strain of the virus(which is resistant to fire, the thing’s main weakness) to cure his cancer and claims the virus can be controlled.
In my opinion, “The Thing” video game is an excellent sequel to what is arguably John Carpenter’s best film. It does the film better justice than the 2011 film prequel, with fun mechanics and references to the film and other media such as the 1138 reference which is common in the Star Wars franchise, and John Carpenter’s cameo as Dr. Sean Faraday.
However, I feel that the game does not have the same mystery and tension of who is the thing or not and can kind of feel like a more complicated “Doom.”
