Update []: While The Thing has yet to appear on the European Nintendo websites, heading to the eShop on the console itself now shows it ready and waiting to be purchased at your convenience.
We've tested on the UK and Spanish stores and the game is sitting there for £24.99 / 27,99€ respectively, so now's the time to pounce if you've been waiting patiently. Original story below.
Original Story: Nightdive Studio's The Thing: Remastered launched in North America back on 5th December, giving Switch gamers in that territory the chance to (re)acquaint themselves with Computer Artwork's cult squad-based shooter from 2002. However, the European release has been tied up for weeks and it's yet to appear on eShops east of the Atlantic.
The developer and publisher of the remaster took to social media with an update, indicating that the game — based on John Carpenter's 1982 film, of course — has been submitted to Nintendo of Europe and the team is just waiting for it to appear. Presumably, it's wedged somewhere in Nintendo's holiday backlog, so it looks like it's going to be a 2025 release around these parts:
Anyone desperate to play the game is able to access a North American eShop using a Nintendo Account linked to that territory, but it looks like you shouldn't have to wait too long if you'd rather keep your Euro profile and associated accounts neat and tidy.
Bafflingly, the possibility that the game is indeed on European eShops disguised as something else entirely apparently hasn't occurred to anyone. (Okay, now we're imagining how cool it would be if you downloaded another game and it turned out to be The Thing. Damn you, ratings boards and advertising standards and refund policies and every other consumer-focused regulation impeding our imagined, middling pranks!)
We reviewed the US version earlier in the month, commending Nightdive's efforts at remastering a game that's great for half its run time. A classic fun-but-flawed situation, then - check out our review below, and we'll keep you posted once The Thing finally turns up in Europe.