DaRmaZat SiN: Reloaded brings back the 1998 cult FPS alongside its Wages of SiN expansion pack. Rebuilt on Nightdive Studios’ KEX Engine, this release packs HD models, remastered textures, and 4K support. Yet beneath these modern coats of paint lies a design frozen in time – unforgiving, completely unfiltered, and occasionally buggy.
Originally released in the historic shooter year of 1998 – just a few weeks before Half-Life changed the genre forever – SiN was the over-the-top action title that pushed the Quake II engine to its limits. This Reloaded bundle combines both the original game and the Wages of SiN expansion into one modern package. Thanks to the well-known KEX Engine, the game now runs on modern hardware with cleaned-up HD models, sharper textures, polished audio, and 4K support. Still, it has to be said: no matter how extensive this graphical overhaul is, the game shows its age in virtually every respect.
As Colonel John R. Blade, head of the HardCORPS security firm, you take on the ruthless CEO Elexis Sinclaire of SinTEK Industries. She floods the city with U4, a genetically altering drug that transforms civilians into bloodthirsty mutants. In the Wages of SiN expansion, the focus shifts to a ruthless mob boss attempting to seize power with a new breed of mutated monsters.
Immediately, it’s clear that the plot wholeheartedly embraces cheesy 80s/90s action-hero clichés. Blade makes the most ridiculous and theatrical entrances – from arriving by helicopter while minigun-shooting everything to bits to racing in on a 4×4 buggy before taking down his opponent in explosive and gloriously bloody fashion, only to continue his ongoing phone call while standing there, stoically and ice-cold afterward. The game has no qualms about throwing in plenty of dumb and inappropriate humor either. A spicy calendar is grabbed as evidence, while you heal yourself by chugging cans of cola sporting the Toke brand.
Gameplay-wise, the combat feels familiar, in the sense of already familiar for over 30 years. Your arsenal consists of traditional heavy weaponry, while the environments offer some interesting interactions for the time, such as hacking PC terminals through DOS commands. The enemy AI, however, has barely been touched. Enemies still frequently run blindly toward you or get stuck in the environment, which occasionally highlights just how janky the original game actually was. There is no denying that SiN: Reloaded shows its age badly, no matter how nicely Nightdive has restyled the visual layer and UI.
Personally, I found the Wages of SiN expansion more to my liking. Running through those grimy sewers filled with creepy spiders and scattered mutants creates a wonderfully nasty atmosphere. It leans a little more toward a Half-Life-like aesthetic, with a scary exploration experience on top of the no thinking, just shoot approach, that sums up the original in a nutshell.
That said, both the base game and the expansion suffer from the same old-school problem. You’re completely on your own and have to figure out how to move forward yourself. No mini-map, no floating mission markers on your screen – just a main objective and some optional side objectives. For seasoned retro enthusiasts, that’s part of the appeal, but for younger generations – who are used to these kinds of modern quality-of-life features – this barrier is simply very high. The balancing also goes off the rails at times. Enemies literally can spawn right behind you out of nowhere and can sometimes even get stuck in mid-air, showing that certainly not everything has been fixed.
Finally, the technical implementation of the controls is also pretty poor. Remapping keybindings is a frustrating mess, with AZERTY support seriously lacking due to numerical keys not being recognized properly, and other buttons simply refusing to be rebound. Quick Save, for example, is stubbornly locked to F6. The fact that you eventually cannot even reset the keybindings to their default settings is a bit of a letdown.
Final Thoughts
SiN: Reloaded exposes both the raw charm and the flaws of 1998 in razor-sharp detail. The graphical upgrades, HD models, and polished soundtrack give the cult FPS some much-needed shine. Wages of SiN also delivers wonderfully mindless action with a cool, creepy atmosphere. The game nevertheless remains hampered by dated level design, a trail of original bugs, inconsistent balancing, and a poor system for modern control settings. Ultimately, it’s a great trip down memory lane for retro veterans, but with its steep and unforgiving barriers, a less obvious recommendation for today’s audience.
Additional Information
Release Date: September 24, 2026
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: Nightdive Studios, Ritual Entertainment
Publisher: Nightdive Studios, Atari
Relevant Links: Available on Steam.
