Asterix & Obelix XXL: Romastered (2020)

*This article is about the remaster. For the original game see* Asterix & Obelix XXL.

## Asterix & Obelix XXL: Romastered

### Genre

Action-Adventure

Asterix & Obelix XXL: Romastered is a remaster of Asterix & Obelix XXL.

The changes from the original game are listed below.

## Changes/differences from the original

### Gameplay

* Implementation of toggleable auto-save system and 19 save slots instead of the original 5. All the Save Druids are still present and can be used to save manually. When auto-save is on, the game is saved automatically when the player approaches them.
* Addition of a timer for speedrunners: counting starts at the beginning of the intro cutscene and finishes at the end of the final Rome cutscene. Time spent on the Great Map and loading screens is not included.
* 4 difficulty modes: easy, normal, hard and extreme (unlocked by completing the game in normal or hard mode).
* Asterix and Obelix dash for longer distances.
* Additional crates and enemies have been added.
* Addition of 2 types of optional challenges: Course mode and Countdown mode. They are not available from the beginning and are unlocked by progressing. They have gold, silver and bronze tiers.
	+ In Course mode, the player needs to collect all the coins in the area before time runs out. The round coins can be picked up only in Master (remastered) mode, the hexagonal ones - in Retro mode, so the player must switch between the visuals to get them all. The coins which cannot be picked up due to the mode at the moment are untextured and have no VFX.
	+ In Countdown mode, the player needs to reach the finish line as fast as possible. They can briefly freeze time by defeating enemies and smashing crates with numbers.
* Pirates and Pirate Captains are now present in all locations.
* Movement speed on the slides has been lowered significantly, but the player can still speed up by jumping.
* The towers' bolts are now much more durable.
* Lions and Tall Legionaries now attack slower.
* The merchant has 2 new shops in Greece.
* It is no longer possible to light a fireplace while a Jetpack Roman is close.
* The possibility of jumping through the barricade in Gaul was patched.

### Collectibles

* Changes in collectibles' placement.
* 12 new laurels have been added. Gaul now has 7 laurels instead of the original 5, Greece - 18 instead of 12, Helvetia - 16 instead of 12.
* 2 of the original Greece laurels were moved somewhere nearby.
* Combo prices have been changed.
* New collectibles: round and hexagonal coins, as a part of Course challenges.

### 100% Game Completion

The following must be done for 100% completion:

* Collect 63 Laurels
* Purchase 12 Images in the Gallery
* Complete 17 Challenges with a gold rank

Just like every other XXL entry, except for XXL 3, there won't be any reward given for 100% completion.

### Visuals

* The launch cutscene is replaced with a pre-recorded video with new footage added in and the Atari and Etranges Libellules plates cut out.
* The Main menu is different: the animated background with Romans flying is replaced with a static image of the bright blue sky with the tops of the trees and the village's houses.
* The game's UI style is similar to that of Asterix & Obelix XXL 3.
	+ The UI in the merchant's menu is similar to that of Ekonomikrisis in XXL 3.
* When checking Combos in the merchant's shop, the key combinations and the original illustrations are shown there.
* The loading screens are replaced with screenshots of the locations without focusing on the Gaulish duo, similarly to XXL 3.
* 3D elements in the HUD are replaced with static images, for both Master and Retro modes, similarly to Asterix & Obelix XXL 2 remaster. However, they are more detailed, the helmet still has the signature spikes, the health bar is still represented with 5-part shields which are the same colours as before, and there are now bars under the magic potion and the torch icons showing how soon they will run out.
	+ The spy's portrait in his helmet counter is replaced with the helmet.
	+ The Combat Lock icon for assorted battles is replaced with a dust cloud, which looks the same in both Master and Retro modes.
		- Ironically, the lock model is still used, floating above guarded objects.
	+ The laurel counter has been moved to the top-right, on the left from the helmet counter.
* Snowfall is more dynamic, snowflakes are smaller and they deform in movement. Retro snowfall is somewhere between Master and original visuals.
* Master mode:
	+ Animated grass and trees.
	+ Water reflects light. In the Greek temples, water reflections are seen on the walls.
	+ More animals in the environment.
	+ All collectibles except shields have ring-shaped VFX.
	+ Enemies who are preparing to attack now display lightning icons above them.
	+ There is no indication for how soon bombs will explode.
	+ Ski Jumpers and Catapults' stones have no indication for where they will land.
* Retro mode:
	+ The VFX for collectibles, animated water/lava textures, fires and winds work differently from the original game, e.g. helmet VFX is a darker shade of blue and winds are much brighter.
	+ The vertex shading for enemies, collectibles and objects, which depends on the environment, is missing.
	+ The render distance is shorter than in the original game.

### Audio

* Master mode features new SFX and new versions of the original game's soundtracks. They can be changed back to the original without changing the visuals via Options.
* When new SFX are selected, they reverb in caves.
* The new music includes all-new ambient tracks for every location which replace the silence. Their style resembles XXL 3.
* The new music speeds up when magic potion is used.

### Extras

* The outfits and the gallery are now in the same menu - Collections.
* The outfits menu uses static images instead of 3D models.

## Production

### Information before release

The game’s title was first leaked by the Australian Classification website in June 2020. In July, Microids officially announced the game, as well as revealed its logo and box art. According to the announcement on the Microids website, the remaster would feature:

* «Updated graphics», with «an option to switch between the original game and the remastered visuals»
* «Two new game modes»
* «New gameplay»
* «New camera»
* Some «remade animations»

On August 7, OSome Studio revealed the main characters are remastered models on their Facebook.

On August 23, a few screenshots from the game were uploaded on the game's Amazon page.

On August 27, the 1st trailer for the game was leaked in Gamescom from German. It revealed that the game would have 4 new modes. 3 modes are additions to gameplay: Course, Countdown and Extreme. The 4th mode, called Retro, changes the game's visuals to be nearly identical to the original game, with the most notable difference being the 2D HUD which uses images of the original models.

On August 28, Microids uploaded the aforementioned trailer in French and English on YouTube.

On October 14, Microids uploaded the 2nd trailer, focusing on Retro mode, on YouTube. The trailer confirms that Retro mode supports 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios. The narrator also confirms new soundtrack by mentioning the ability to switch between the original and new music (not presented in the trailer).

### Post-release

On October 26, Microids uploaded the 3rd trailer, focusing on Countdown mode, on Youtube.

On November 16, Microids uploaded the last trailer, focusing on Extreme mode, on Facebook.

### Pre-release images

The first published image of Asterix and Obelix with new modelsGaul, showing new collectibles and a timerGaulNormandyNormandy, showing a new timer and crates with numbersGreeceHelvetiaEgyptNormandyNormandy (Retro)GreeceGreece (Retro)GreeceGreece (Retro)

## Trivia

* Since the first leaks to release, the players have noticed a great amount of issues in the game.

		- Lighting and shading:
			* Shading and lighting change abruptly between areas.
			* Standing in certain places and playing around with the camera can also cause lighting to change.
			* Confusing lighting overall, sometimes the enemies' armor is dark but clothes are bright, and vice versa.
			* Shadows which look like parallel diagonal lines (very noticeable on snowy textures).
			* Flickering shadows.
			* Standing on a stack of crates close to a wall and positioning the camera above the character may cause a skewed shadow to appear in the bottom of the screen.
			* Some strange dark spots can be seen in one of Normandy's passages.
			* In the pre-release versions Course challenge coins (or rather, their VFX textures) left square shadows.
		- Textures:
			* Some textures are low-res, such as those on the War Machines.
			* Some textures are drastically different from the original ones.
			* Some textures have very noticeable seams.
			* The texture for the Small War Machine's shockwave does not match the shockwave itself, potentially making the player jump over it and getting hit anyway.
			* Explosion VFX do not always display.
			* The explosion VFX for War Machines is very small.
			* Collectible VFX blinking.
			* Collectible VFX linger for about a second after the collectible has been picked up or despawned.
			* When too many collectibles are in the area, a lot of them do not glow.
			* The environment fires in Helvetia and Rome are invisible.
			* The background mountains of Helvetia use a grass texture.
			* When using the transporter catapults, the sky briefly disappears.
			* After Twister Combo is used, the sky may remain red, and the clouds may start spinning again as the player moves around.
			* In the pre-release versions water in Retro mode lacked colour, and both water and lava lacked animated textures.
		- Short render distance (especially in Retro), enemies and objects popping in instead of slowly appearing.
		- Due to broader camera and some new crate stacks, it is possible to see the environment from unintended angles.
		- Centurion's back clips through his cape while he is defending himself.
		- Some pushers may have invisible shields.
		- In the area of the Greece boss fight, lava bubbles are floating above the lava.
		- Various issues with character models.
		- The environment geometry is mostly the same as in the original game, clashing with the overall update idea.
		- The new telescopic bridge model does not have a rear side, making it possible to see through it.
		- The characters and objects often appear to be floating above the ground. The floating has always been there, but real-time shadows make it really easy to notice.
		- Sometimes when starting a new game, the helmet counter starts from an extremely high number and gradually drops to 0. This does not affect the task of bringing helmets to the spy.
		- Sometimes Combat Lock shows a number different from 0 when all the enemies have been defeated. When it disappears, the number starts going up.
		- Due to Combat Lock, Challenge counters and slide helmet counter sharing the same place in the HUD (unlike the original game), they can overlap.
		- Retro mode:
			* Lower quality visuals than the original game, e.g. some textures are not smoothed out.
			* The camera is inside a bush during some cutscenes after rescuing Getafix.
			* The last wind in the 1st windy cave of Normandy is yellow.
			* The Great Map cannot be viewed with Retro visuals no matter what.
			* Legionaries' pilums are black.
		- Players with AMD GPUs reported they do not have some visual effects, including important ones such as fires, winds and icons above enemies preparing to attack. Combined with the wind sound playing non-stop in caves, this hinders the ability to pass the windy caves in Normandy. A patch for this was released in 2021.

Greece Countdown stele clipping into the War MachineMessed up shadowOdd dark spots in a passage in NormandyYellow wind in the 1st windy cave in Normandy in Retro modeZooming in while on the frozen rivulet in Normandy causes lighting to glitchPushers with invisible shieldsVisible edge of the level in Helvetia's mountainsCenturion's back clipping through the cape in defending poseMissing fires in RomeVoid visible through a telescopic bridge's baseSkewed shadow when standing on a crate and placing camera above the characterGlitched particlesCamera inside a bush during Getafix rescue cutscene in Retro modeMultiple visual problems visible in this part of the frozen lake in NormandyInappropriate camera and the sky stuck with red colour after Twister ComboHelmet counter glitching when starting a new gameGlitched Combat Lock disappearing (the number increases)Combat Lock and Challenge (Countdown) timer overlappingCombat Lock and slide helmet counter overlapping (achieved with Passive Lock glitch)* + Audio:
		- New music does not loop or takes long silent pauses (partially fixed in December).
		- Some SFX may not always play.
		- Extremely loud reverbed audio in caves.
		- Clicking noise in caves.
		- Lions in Rome are silent.
		- If the player pauses and tabs out of the game while a character is speaking, then tabs back in, the phrase will continue playing in the Pause Menu.
	+ Gameplay:
		- Sometimes boars do not drop meat when hit.
		- The game may freeze for a moment when moving through certain places.
		- Bugs related to challenges. See the Trivia section of the Challenges page for more information.
		- When loading onto the Great Map, the player ends up on a checkpoint which is not the most recent.
		- When a lot of crates are hit at once, there is a chance of excessive particles which cause lag. This can happen even on a powerful device.
		- In older versions of the game, the Laurel at the frozen lake in Normandy would become inaccessible if the player smashed the iron crates without taking it and saved the game. A stack of wooden crates was added nearby in a patch, then removed again in a later one for unknown reasons.
		- There is a stack of crates after the 2nd slide in Normandy which is behind an invisible wall.
		- When entering the path of the War Machine in Greece, it is possible that Obelix will never jump down, so the machine will not move. The way out of this is to die and respawn to restart the boss fight.
		- While running from the War Machine in Greece, Obelix may get stuck behind and run through the closed gates.
		- In older versions, Twister Fusion Combo was only usable on Easy difficulty, while on higher difficulties Twister Combo used up the whole Combo Bar, leaving the player without a chance to do Twister Fusion Combo.
		- A decent part of glitches from the original game are still present, some of which allow skipping battles and other portions of the game.
			* No collision was added to some ceilings under which new stacks of crates were placed. This means the player can jump from a crate into the ceiling and walk on it. This glitch was already present in the original game but could only be done in one of Normandy's passages and was difficult to perform.
			* Since the remaster is based on the PS2 version of the game, it brings back the insta-kill fireplace in Egypt (first one after the boat ride) and the Rome infinite laurels glitch (use one of the 4 dispensers to get the laurel, save, reload, use the dispenser again to get a duplicate).
			* The PS4 version is the most broken version of the game with many errors as seen in the first trailer still existing.

* Unlike the original game, in the remaster's PC version there is no way to instantly jump between locations on the Great Map. The original game used the keys responsible for sending Dogmatix or Obelix to do so.
* The new cauldrons are black and bigger, the reason for this change is unknown.
* With new SFX Normans, their chiefs and Tamers sound like Romans.
* With new SFX Lions meow like kittens when defeated.
* With new SFX Dogmatix uses the barks from XXL 3 when ordered to attack.
* In Master mode, there are some red spots on the Machines of War. They are speculated to be blood since they are redder than rust, which contradicts the lack of blood anywhere else and the game's age ratings.
* The trailers for Course challenges, Countdown challenges and Extreme difficulty came out after the game's release, the latest being Extreme (November 16).
	+ In the Extreme difficulty trailer at 0:28 Asterix bumps into the pilums of a Roman formation but does not get any damage.
* All the voicelines are reused from the original. Roger Carel (original French voice actor of Asterix) died prior to the game's release on September 11, 2020.

## References

Australian Classification website's rating for the game: https://www.classification.gov.au/titles/asterix-obelix-xxl-romastered

Microids announcement: https://www.microids.com/microids-unveils-its-q4-2020-line-up/

The game's Amazon page: https://www.amazon.de/Astragon-Asterix-Obelix-XXL-Romastered/dp/B08G5J8PR1/ref=sr\_1\_3?\_\_mk\_de\_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=asterix+obelix+xxl+romastered&qid=1598202355&s=videogames&sr=1-3

First trailer (German, leaked): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbB29YZxz-8

Retro mode trailer (English): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az4Bl1QmoYk