I'm curious... I found the original quite fun but me being a masochist played it on hard and remember it being harder than a hard thing. In fact, I may have ended up switching to easy in the fight against the Mongoose (though I may have stuck it out too).
This is going back some years, when I played the original, though it would of been on the first Xbox. Count me interested too.
Interesting stuff, absolutely loved the original. Probably still got a disc lying about somewhere. The throwing knife was great fun!
Latterly I think the main reason would be how terribly incompatible it was, I remember trying to reinstall it circa Windows 8 and having problems of every type. Software compatibility, screen res/ratio issues, random crashes, control input issues. It was janked. Definitely needs a remake.
Apparently when the remake went on sale it was outsold by the original game! https://www.thegamer.com/xiii-2003-sold-better-than-remake/
The original is a fiver on Steam and GoG, so it's a shame that the remake is balls but not a disaster if it's getting the original some attention.
