Based on the 1998 rail shooter, the story focuses on James Taylor and Gary Stewart of AMS, who venture into a city overrun by zombies. The remake promises “modern graphics” and remastered music, though the original is still available. Co-op is available, and there are multiple endings to unlock. You can also take on the various bosses in a separate mode.

Unfortunately, the overall quality of the remake leaves something to be desired. On Steam, it’s currently rated “Mostly Negative” with only 39 percent of the 383 user reviews giving it a thumbs-up. Complaints range from choppy movement and frame rate issues to bugged-out bosses. Whether developer MegaPixel Studio addresses this in the console versions remains to be seen, so stay tuned.

Like its predecessor, players can take up arms solo or in co-op to battle hordes of the undead. This time, you’ll run through a city nearly two years after the first game’s events, seeking to understand the zombie outbreak. The campaign includes branching paths, and depending on your performance, you can unlock different endings.

The remake features modernized visuals and remastered music, though the original soundtrack remains available. You can also enter Boss Rush mode to take on the game’s biggest threats or Training Mode to polish up your skills in various scenarios.

Stay tuned for more details, and check out our interview with the developer here or read our review for The House of the Dead: Remake.

Going into further details, Ginter has also confirmed that the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game will be targetting resolutions closer to 4K in practice. For the base PS5 and Xbox Series S, developer MegaPixel is targeting a stable frame rate of 60 FPS. The PS5 Pro and the Xbox Series X, on the other hand, are targeting 120 FPS.

“Our base target resolution across all platforms is 1080p, though both standard versions of PS5 and Xbox Series consoles consistently push closer to native 4K in practice,” explained Ginter. “In terms of performance, we’re aiming for a stable 60 FPS on the base versions of each platform. For PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X, the game will support up to 120 FPS, offering an even smoother experience for players with compatible displays.”

Ginter also provided details about what the studio thinks about technologies like Sony’s PSSR. In the interview, she said that the developers appreciate any technology that can ultimately help in offering smoother gameplay. Ginter also spoke about how having access to technologies like PSSR allows a studio to have more flexibility.

“Any technology that helps us achieve smoother gameplay is clearly an advantage, and that’s especially true for a game like The House of the Dead 2: Remake, where frame pacing and responsiveness are critical,” said Ginter when asked about PSSR. “While we’ve already aimed for high frame rates even without relying on PSSR, having access to such upscaling techniques gives us additional flexibility. It allows us to maintain visual quality while optimizing performance, ensuring the experience remains fast and fluid across supported hardware.”

The House of the Dead 2: Remake was announced for release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch back in June. While a release date still hasn’t been confirmed yet, we do know that the game will feature modernised visuals and a remastered soundtrack. Players will also have the ability to go back to the visuals and remastered audio (with the original still selectable).

Following up on the events of The House of the Dead, The House of the Dead 2 puts players in the shoes of James and Gary who venture into a town that has been overrun by zombies. The duo – members of AMS – are tasked with fighting their way through zombie hordes and investigating what caused the dead to rise again.

Originally an arcade game that made use of light guns, The House of the Dead 2: Remake will make use of completely revamped controls to provide players with fun gameplay that doesn’t feel too overpowered on controllers. In the meantime, also check out our coverage of The House of the Dead: Remake.

How much of a market are you seeing for remakes of old light-gun shooters like House of the Dead?

The remakes of the original House of the Dead and Panzer Dragoon clearly showed us that there’s strong demand in the gaming market for retro remakes, including on-rail shooters. We’re seeing interest not only from longtime fans who remember the golden days of gaming with nostalgia, but also from a younger audience that appreciates retro gameplay in a modernized format.

How has the response to bringing back old games like this been with regards to fans of the original and a brand new audience?

This next entry in such a legendary series, essentially a reimagining of the original game, has sparked a broad and enthusiastic response from both long-time fans and new players discovering The House of the Dead for the first time. From the moment we announced the project, we’ve been receiving a steady stream of messages from people eagerly awaiting the release. That kind of support is deeply motivating for our team.

"From the moment we announced the project, we’ve been receiving a steady stream of messages from people eagerly awaiting the release."

How challenging has it been to translate old light-gun shooter mechanics from House of the Dead 2 into the remake?

The bulk of the technical groundwork was done during development of the first remake, which helped us refine the gameplay system and made the process smoother for the sequel. That said, we’re still continuously improving the control system, which is a critical element for any on-rail shooter, and exploring new ways to adapt it for both consoles and PC platforms.

Aside from the visual overhaul, will we see any new content in The House of the Dead 2: Remake in the form of new bonus missions or mini-games?

Absolutely. The House of the Dead 2: Remake builds on the groundwork established by the first remake, and we’re committed to expanding the experience beyond just a visual update. Players can expect a variety of new content, including additional weapons, a broad range of unlockable achievements, and an expanded in-game gallery. This gallery will showcase enemy types, weapons, collectibles, and other elements. While we’re staying true to the core on-rails gameplay, we’re also looking into new ways to offer extra challenges and layers of replayability that weren’t present in the original.

Has it been a challenge to keep some of the cheesiness of the original House of the Dead 2 with the remake?

The early House of the Dead titles carry a unique kind of nostalgia: an over-the-top, campy charm that defined that era. We’re doing our best to preserve that cheesy atmosphere in the remake, adapting it to fit the updated visuals. It’s definitely a challenge, especially given how iconic the original voice acting in The House of the Dead 2 has become.

What do you see as being the most challenging part of House of the Dead 2 to play, and how will this carry over into the remake?

The House of the Dead 2: Remake, like any on-rail shooter, is heavily dependent on rhythm and pacing. Maintaining a tempo that closely mirrors the original, while integrating it smoothly with music, cutscenes, and enemy encounters, is a critical challenge. It’s something that has to be executed precisely.

"The early House of the Dead titles carry a unique kind of nostalgia: an over-the-top, campy charm that defined that era."

As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?

The increased GPU power of the PS5 Pro has certainly been helpful, particularly when it comes to bringing the High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) version of the game to the console, something that was previously exclusive to PC.

What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?

Any technology that helps us achieve smoother gameplay is clearly an advantage, and that’s especially true for a game like The House of the Dead 2: Remake, where frame pacing and responsiveness are critical. While we’ve already aimed for high frame rates even without relying on PSSR, having access to such upscaling techniques gives us additional flexibility. It allows us to maintain visual quality while optimizing performance, ensuring the experience remains fast and fluid across supported hardware.

What resolution and frame rates will the game target on PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PS5 Pro?

Our base target resolution across all platforms is 1080p, though both standard versions of PS5 and Xbox Series consoles consistently push closer to native 4K in practice. In terms of performance, we’re aiming for a stable 60 FPS on the base versions of each platform. For PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X, the game will support up to 120 FPS, offering an even smoother experience for players with compatible displays.

According to Nintendo Life, only Modern Mode is available, making it easier to complete, and progress doesn’t transfer to the game. The latter includes Original Mode, which mirrors the original Wii U release in difficulty due to fewer hearts and a more restrictive inventory.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD launched last month, bringing the classic to Switch players for the first time. Alongside remastered visuals and JoyCon support, it features all the content and features from the Nintendo 3DS port. The latter introduced Modern Mode and added eight new levels in a brand new world.

For more details on the title, check out our review. We gave it a seven out of ten, praising the base game but criticizing the lackluster visuals and price.

All of this, plus the fact that it really was a great 2D platformer, made Returns a successful return to form for the franchise. However, the context of that original 2010 release, and for this 2025 release of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, couldn’t be more substantially different. In addition to everything listed previously, this is also now the third release for this game (it also got a 2013 re-release for the 3DS). It is the most expensive this game has ever been (the Wii version cost $50, the 3DS version cost $40. This Switch release is $60). While the Switch version consolidates and touches up content from the Wii and 3DS versions, it adds no new content or modes. And, perhaps most perplexingly, in many regards, the game feels technically worse than the original standard definition 480p Wii release, missing several graphical effects and flourishes that added panache to the game’s excellent stylistic presentation.

This makes Donkey Kong Country Returns HD a curiously conflicted release, because the core product is good. It’s held up well. It isn’t great, to be clear – at this point there are several other, better 2D platformers you can pick up on the Switch alone for a whole lot cheaper. That makes this a bit hard to recommend, because very honestly, who is this release for? What was the projected audience for this? To be sure, there are probably millions of new players who never played the original release or the 3DS version (which itself is over a decade old at this point), for whom having a version of this game readily accessible is a good thing. But assessing it on those merits, this is not a great release. It’s a poor remaster and overpriced considering the relative quality.

All of which makes it tempting to pretty much write the entire release off. But that’s where we come back to Donkey Kong Country Returns HD still being legitimately good. Retro Studios nailed the movement and game feel, two absolutely paramount qualities in any platformer, and they did it so well that Returns still stands out as one of the best playing platformers even today. Donkey Kong’s heavier controls can take a while to get used to, but once players get into the rhythm of using his momentum to chain jumps, rolls, and attacks together, the game enters an almost rhythm game style.

It’s intensely satisfying to complete the perfect run of a Returns level, or to manage to grab an out of the way collectible, especially because Returns is a hard game. While this release does maintain the 3DS version’s “Modern Mode”, which is supposed to sand off the rough edges as far as the difficulty goes, said Modern Mode isn’t great. It does give you more health and expands the items you can get for yourself at the in game shop to make things easier for yourself, but the game still expects full stage memorization and twitch response from the player. At most Modern Mode buys a bit of a buffer to make a few more mistakes than usual, but as far as optional easy modes in Nintendo platformers go, Modern Mode is surprisingly withholding. Tropical Freeze’s Switch re-release added an optional easy mode too (in the form of Funky Mode), which gave players not only more health but a whole lot more moves as well.

Of course, that’s assuming you need the easy mode to get through the game in the first place. If you’re an experienced player, then as mentioned, there are few things in platformers as satisfying as pulling off a level completion in Returns. And even beyond the Modern Mode, the game gives you options to scale the difficulty to your liking. You have Diddy Kong, who acts as a “power up” for Donkey Kong in single player mode and augments his move set with his own. You have the aforementioned in game shop, that still sells a bounty of power ups to use and stack and make the game comfortable to play for yourself, even in the Normal Mode. And in the absolute worst case, the game supports co-op too (with player 2 taking control of Diddy), which can help make things easier as well.

All of which is to say, while the difficulty is rougher compared to the options provided by other modern games in the genre, including, again, its own follow-up, it’s not really a dealbreaker, even for less experienced players. The game will definitely be a challenge, and adjusting difficulty is suboptimal compared to other points of reference, but it still gets the job done.

Aspects other than the gameplay are a mixed bag too. The original Returns was a stunner, but as mentioned, there are several graphical downgrades in this release that definitely blunt the impact of how it looks a fair bit.

So, we’re left with an extremely weird release. Returns HD is undoubtedly worth playing in that it’s a good game still; but it seems to be far too overpriced for what it is, and the game having very changes made since its last re-release over a decade ago means that it doesn’t have as many modern quality of life features that can help it appal to a more expanded audience. Simultaneously, it being the third release of the game, means that enthusiasts are unlikely to bite it, especially at that price and with those shortcomings.

But if you do end up falling within whatever demographic this release does end up being for, you’re in for a good time. Whether you’re returning to this game for a replay, or coming to it for the first time, Donkey Kong Country Returns is a very good platformer, and the Switch HD release is, on pure technicality if nothing else, the best way to play it. I guess that’s good enough for now.

This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch.

Handled by Forever Entertainment, you should expect Donkey Kong Country Returns HD to be a fairly conservative remaster. Its changes and additions will include a remade intro, minor visual enhancements, JoyCon support, QoL improvements and new content carried over from the platformer’s 3DS version, and the like. The original remains a modern platforming classic, however, so those wishing to experience it for the first time (or re-experience it) will want to keep an eye out. 

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD launches for the Nintendo Switch on January 16. Curiously, the remaster doesn’t credit the work of the original developer, Retro Studios. Read more on that through here.

In the credits for Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, the work of Forever Entertainment, which handled the remaster, has been credited. Rather than mentioning Retro Studios, however, the game says that it was “based on the work of the original development staff”.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD has been the second game to have omitted mentioning all the work done by Retro Studios. This follows 2023’s Metroid Prime Remastered, where no one from the original team was mentioned in the game’s credits. The original developers had taken issue with this, with the lead engineer Jack Matthews referring to the move as a “travesty”, and “shameful”. Matthews went on to mention others who worked on the original Metroid Prime, such as Mark HH and Steve McCrea.

Nintendo didn’t provide any comment on Retro Studios’ lack of credit. In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know about Donkey Kong Country Returns HD.

As the name denotes, this is a remake of the second title of the light gun rail shooter featuring two playable characters – James and Gary. As part of the AMS, they venture into a town overrun by zombies and must battle through to investigate the cause. You can either play solo or in co-op with another person.

Alongside modernized visuals and a remastered soundtrack (though you can always revert to the original), players can tackle the game’s bosses in Boss Mode or enter Training Mode. The Campaign also features branching paths and multiple endings. Stay tuned for more details and gameplay footage in the coming months. You can also read our review of the first game’s remake.

Origins

With Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze available for the Nintendo Switch, it makes sense to bring Donkey Kong Country Returns over and give it the HD treatment. However, the latter was significant for many other reasons at launch. It was the first Donkey Kong Country title after the SNES trilogy, launching 14 years later for the Nintendo Wii. Also, instead of Rare, which handled the previous entries, Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios is at the helm for the first time in the franchise.

Developed by Forever Entertainment

However, the Nintendo Switch version isn’t handled by Retro Studios but Forever Entertainment, as reported by Bankier. The studio (which published the remakes for Front Mission 1 and 2) also worked Tropical Freeze for the Switch and did a pretty good job, though we’ll get to the visual changes in Donkey Kong Country Returns HD shortly.

Gameplay

If you played the SNES titles, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD will feel familiar. As a side-scrolling platformer, players can control Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong (though only the former is playable solo). You can jump on and roll through enemies, pound on the ground to progress or reveal items, ride on mine carts, swing from vines, collect bananas and Puzzle Pieces to unlock gallery items. Animals like Rambi and Squawks also return to lend a hand.

New Mechanics to the Series

While characters in the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy could go down in one hit, Donkey Kong Country Returns features a health bar. The trade-off is you can’t switch to Diddy Kong when playing solo. However, he can jump on Donkey Kong’s back with his jetpack allowing you to make longer jumps. The other change is a new silhouette presentation for some levels, which not only looks sleek but also houses new challenges.

For example, if you line up certain background objects in Sunset Shore, it’ll rain bananas and coins. Some platforms in Foggy Fumes may also not be immediately visible, leading to some second-guessing. On top of all this, there’s a new vehicle, the Rocket Barrel, which offers its treacherous stages to navigate.

Local Play

One of the appeals of Donkey Kong Country is playing with a friend and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD supports this. A second player can control Diddy Kong, and yes, you can still hop on Donkey Kong’s back to enhance his jumps (and cut down on your own work). Once a character’s health is depleted, you can bring them back with DK Barrels scattered throughout the stages.

Super Kong

If things are too rough and you die multiple times in a level, Super Kong can be called in to save the day and complete a level (which also works with bosses). The downside is not receiving bananas, coins, balloons granting extra lives, and collectibles. You also won’t see the locations for the latter, making 100 percent completion (or even finishing the final stage) impossible. Nevertheless, for those who get stuck and want to get on with the story, it’s an option.

K-Stages

When you collect the KONG letters scattered in every level, you’ll unlock a K-Stage. These are challenging locations in each world, and completing them grants a Rare Orb. If you beat the game and have all eight Rare Orbs, you can unlock the final world and then Mirror Mode.

Extra Levels

This isn’t the first time Donkey Kong Country Returns has been ported to other platforms. Monster Games brought it to the Nintendo 3DS and added new features like New Mode and eight brand new levels, encompassed in the new Cloud world. Collecting all Rare Orbs is necessary to access the Cloud Gateway to enter this world and subsequently the last level.

Mirror Mode

After finishing the final level, there’s good news – you can do it all over again in Mirror Mode. Available only in solo play, it flips every level in the game, removes Diddy Kong, and only gives you one heart, which means one hit, and you’re dead. You also can’t use items, further increasing the difficulty.

Time Attack

If you’re the speed-running type, then Time Attack mode may be worth checking out. Available after completing a stage, your goal is to reach the end in the fastest time possible. There are Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals to earn, but you can also try for Shiny Golds, whose completion time is hidden. You don’t get anything for all the medals, making this mode completely optional, but it’s a great way to test your knowledge of the levels.

Original Mode and New Mode

Another new feature from the 3DS port, which carries over to the Nintendo Switch version, is New Mode. It’s effectively Easy mode, granting more hearts, increasing held items to nine, and offering other protective measures. You can survive two crashes from mine carts and rocket barrels with Crash Guard, while Green Balloon will save you once if you fall into the abyss. Original Mode is still available for those who want to experience the game with the original difficulty, so don’t worry.

Playtime

The main story will last 11.5 hours on average per HowLongToBeat. This jumps to 18 hours when factoring in side content, but completionists will require 31 hours on average to finish everything. However, this is for the Wii version and doesn’t account for the extra levels from the 3DS port. Regardless, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD promises a lengthy platforming experience if you’re dedicated enough.

Visually Enhanced (?)

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD sports a higher resolution than the Wii release, but there are some noticeable visual changes, which aren’t all completely positive. Certain items like Hearts and KONG letters don’t glow as brightly; the sunset in some levels is absent; and the colors in many instances aren’t the same. Your mileage may vary on how much all this matters, but if you’re a stickler for a 1:1 HD port in visuals, this isn’t it (though they still look pretty good).

JoyCon Features

Local play is entirely possible with a pair of JoyCons, with each player using one to control a character. And while the entire game is playable with buttons, the JoyCons can be shaken to smack the ground, thus unveiling hidden objectives. This carries over from the Wii version, and while unnecessary, it’s good to see it carry over to the Switch.

File Size on Nintendo Switch

While Tropical Freeze required 6.7 GB of installation space on the Switch, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is surprisingly bigger. You’ll need 8.3 GB of space instead – it’s not much, but still a noticeable leap.