In the month of February, Square Enix surprised everyone by stealth releasing Chrono Trigger on Steam. It’s the first official version of the SNES classic for PC, so naturally it was met with excitement. The hype quickly fizzled out when people realized that the PC version was less than stellar. In response to its lackluster reception, the publisher has outlined a plan to update the PC port for the better.
The Steam version is actually a port of the iOS and Android version. As you may expect, this was met with harsh criticism and disappointment. The user reviews currently stand at “mixed” but were “mostly negative” a few weeks ago. These negative reviews are entirely deserved and have sent Square Enix a strong message.
The Steam port suffers from numerous issues. The most striking is the graphics, which look washed out and poorly upscaled. Making the sprites HD isn’t enough; they need to be re-done properly. There are also instances of the tiles overlapping in areas they shouldn’t.
The graphics weren’t the only issues with this “updated” version. The interface is ripped straight from the mobile version. That makes no sense considering the interface is specific to mobile devices. It makes even less sense when you remember the original game already had the perfect interface. On top of that, you get to enjoy the ugly font used in most of Square Enix’s mobile ports.
After a moment of silence, Square Enix has made some promising announcements about the Steam port. In its Steam Community page, the publisher revealed that the team behind this port is working on this game over the next few months. The first major update is a toggle between new and original graphics, an excellent move that is sure to make some fans happy. This won’t be the only change but is the one we’ve been told about for now. Hopefully, they’re working on that interface as well.
It’s good to hear that Square Enix is taking the feedback into consideration. There’s no guarantee they will fix everything, but we know the developers are at least trying.
