PlayStation Vita exclusive finds newfound freedom with remaster on current platforms

The PlayStation Vita exclusive Freedom Wars is receiving a remastered version due out on current platforms early next year.

Originally developed by Dimps and published by Sony in 2014, Bandai Namco will now publish a remastered port of the action game for Switch, PS5, PS5, and PC (Steam).

It’s set to release on 10th January 2025. Below is a teaser trailer.

Freedom Wars is set in a distant dystopian future where the planet has been ravaged by pollution and humanity resides in city-sized prisons called Panopticons. In this anime world, just being alive is considered a sin.

Players explore the world and fight enemies using weapons called Thorns, allowing for fluid movement as well as subduing enemies. The game also features local and online multiplayer for both co-operative and competitive modes for up to eight players.

The remaster will feature several enhancements, including 4K resolution, upgraded textures, 60fps performance (on PlayStation and PC), an overhauled weapon crafting system, added difficulty settings and more.

Though previously released globally, Freedom Wars proved most popular in Japan where it achieved the second highest all-time opening sales for a Vita game.

The game received a mixed response, and Eurogamer’s Freedom Wars review was critical. “All it would take to save Freedom Wars is for it to get even one big thing right,” it reads. “As it stands, combat is the brightest highlight, though it’s still dulled by clumsy controls. Beyond that, the environments are so monotonous as to kill any passion for the thing. The plot has some strong ideas that never really pan out, so I can’t recommend it for that either. In between those two bits of mediocrity lies hours of wandering around the same grey-brown hallways, grinding to cut your sentence down.”

It’s perhaps a bizarre choice for a remaster, then, some 11 years after its original release, but at least more people can give it a try.