1999's Kingpin: Life of Crime was more of a lead pipe simulator (FLPS) - that due to its for-the-time overtly graphic depiction of violence, saw it get pulled from stores across the globe. Smash cut to today's hellscape of desensitised content consumers called gamers, Kingpin looks rather tame. Which makes this new 4K remaster from 3D Realms something of a novelty.

In that sure Kingpin was and is violent, it's also very much a game. One of the reasons it drew a lot of attention was the simply fact that hitting an enemy or character with your trusty lead-pipe would make the corresponding face or body texture change to a more roughed up version. A technical breakthrough that again - for the time - was seen as very graphic. But still, a game.

A sentiment shared by 3D Realms' Frederik Schreiber, “Kingpin doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, due to unfortunately releasing in an era when games were blamed for societal problems. We have the privilege of giving it a second chance for people who never heard of it, and sprucing it up for diehard fans yearning to go back to a life of (simulated!) crime.”

The trailer for Kingpin: Reloaded depicts one of the early cut-scenes - and in the process reminds us the game was also a fun overly sweary riff on stuff like Pulp Fiction.



As per our retrospective of Kingpin from a few years back (which you can read here) one of the most interesting aspects of the game as an FPS from the late-90s was that there were NPCs that you could interact with.

You know that part about bludgeoning someone with a lead pipe? Well, it’s entirely optional. Actually that’s wrong, it’s kind of encouraged. But, the fact that you can interact and talk with most of the characters you come across speaks volumes to how the genre was changing at the time. Not everyone you come across is an enemy in Kingpin, in fact most of them can be friendly, and will even help you out if you complete a little task for them. Choose to smash them with a lead pipe and you can steal their money, and then use that to buy new weapons and upgrades.

Kingpin: Reloaded is set to make its debut on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC later this year.