Restoration Games kicks off revival mission with reimaginings of Dragonmaster, Top Race and Stop Thief

Restoration Games, the new publisher co-founded by Pandemic Legacy and SeaFall designer Rob Daviau, has announced the first three games of days gone by that it plans to revitalise and resurrect.

Daviau is working alongside attorney Justin Jacobson and graphic designer Jason Taylor to take forgotten titles from the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s and both restore and change them to fit with the demands of a modern audience.

This might even mean changing the core theme of a game, as is the case with one of the debut trio, Indulgence, which has switched the fantasy premise of 1981’s Dragonmaster for a new setting in the Italian Renaissance and features new art by Chelsea Harper.

Similarly, Daviau’s ‘pet project’ is Downforce, a new version of the card-driven Top Race racing games designed by Wolfgang Kramer in the 1980s. Stripping away many of the rules layered on top of the original Top Race, Downforce is described as being “the most fun version possible”.

Lastly, there’s Stop Thief, which retains the name of its 1979 muse created by Dr Robert Doyle. What is new, however, is the addition of a digital companion app on mobile, which replaces the original ‘electronic crime scanner’ – a brick-like electronic keypad that played sound effects out loud to offer clues to the detectives chasing an unseen suspect.

Indulgence, Downforce and Stop Thief are just the start for the company, which outlines its philosophy as “every game deserves another turn”.

Obviously, that belief means that the potential for Restoration’s work remains almost limitless given the sheer number of games released over the last 50-plus years.

In a blog post on the website, the team offers some hints as to the way it will narrow down its focus, discounting games that have already been reprinted or are still readily available, titles that remain difficult to acquire the rights to and games that simply “just don’t interest us much”.

Indulgence, Downforce and Stop Thief are all planned for release on August 17th 2017. Keep your eyes peeled for future news from Restoration – what forgotten game would you like to see make a comeback?