Nearly three decades after MediEvil first arrived on the original PlayStation, Sir Daniel Fortesque has been brought back from the dead yet again! This time, though, it’s thanks to BlackLabelHQ, a team of developers who have used static recompilation to bring the original 1998 game natively to modern PCs. Their project, MediEvilRecomp, includes widescreen support, improved controls, higher frame rates, modding tools and plenty of other improvements, all while preserving the original game’s character and unique charm.
Something I found really interesting in this one is the team’s firm position on AI-generated code. As they proudly state, “This Recomp was made by human hands, no AI is involved in writing this code!” They even have a policy rejecting AI-generated contributions. I’ve written an article looking at the history of MediEvil, the technical work behind its latest resurrection, and why projects like this are becoming such an important part of video game preservation.
I’m a devops engineer amongst many other hats, and I’ve been up to my gills for months now in CVEs where AI has repeatedly exposed vulnerabilities in years (sometimes decades) worth of human written code, written by humans who “know how to actually code.”
I see where you’re trying to come from, but it still just sounds like thinly veiled elitism and gatekeeping.