The first-person shooter You Are Empty, originally released in 2006, has been restored and re-released on Steam. Titled You Are Empty: Absolute Edition, the new version features several visual improvements and quality-of-life features missing from the original game. More importantly, Steam users seem to love the enhanced edition, as it has received over 90% positive ratings at the time of writing.
You Are Empty launched in North America in 2007, the same year several FPS masterpieces hit the market. It had to compete with big names such as Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which put the game from a small Ukrainian team at a disadvantage. It also suffered from performance issues, which led critics to give it mostly negative reviews. According to Metacritic, the original You Are Empty earned an average score of 34 out of 100, placing it in the “Generally Unfavorable” category.
You Are Empty on Steam Is a Story of Redemption
On October 27, You Are Empty was re-released on Steam and quickly attracted fans of retro first-person shooters. Unlike the 2006 edition, the enhanced version has received overwhelmingly positive user reviews, making its return a well-deserved redemption story. Of course, You Are Empty had remained a cult-favorite FPS over the years, but it was difficult to run on modern devices, an issue the new release has resolved.
New Features in You Are Empty: Absolute Edition
Digital Spray Studios, the original creators of You Are Empty, has been inactive for years. Instead, the restoration project is led by ZOOM Platform Media, a company that specializes in bringing forgotten games to modern PCs and consoles. What’s impressive about You Are Empty: Absolute Edition is that the restoration team had to reverse-engineer the game without access to its source code. In an interview with YouTuber GunCanny, one of the project’s developers said, “We had to reverse-engineer the binaries for the actual code and executables, you know, and then we figured out how the scripts work.”
For those interested in the game’s lore and gameplay, You Are Empty takes place in an alternate-history version of Soviet Kyiv. The player wakes up in a hospital and finds themselves in an abandoned country overrun by bizarre monsters and zombie-like people. The gameplay follows a linear structure, with players exploring spooky, Russia-inspired locations and shooting down monsters along the way.
Fans of classic first-person shooters can currently purchase You Are Empty: Absolute Edition for $7.99, but a Complete Edition is also available for $9.99 and includes the game’s original soundtrack. Alternatively, players can purchase the game directly from ZOOM Platform Media if they don’t want to play it on Steam. The bad news for console users is that the developer currently has no plans to bring You Are Empty to PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch.
