Hired Guns native PC port adds lost Amiga CD32 and AGA features

Hired Guns is getting a new native PC version, and this one digs into material from its unfinished Amiga 1200 and CD32 edition. The new build brings over 256-colour graphics, experimental AGA lighting, smoother grid movement and footsteps which change depending on the floor beneath each character. Each feature can be switched off, so players can pick a presentation closer to the original release or run the newer additions together. This isn’t the old DOS game placed inside an emulator, either. It’s a native PC project using ideas originally created for a version of Hired Guns which never reached shops. For a game released in 1993, there’s quite a bit going on here.

A lost Amiga version supplies the new PC features

Hired Guns originally arrived on Amiga and MS-DOS, with DMA Design handling development and Psygnosis publishing it. Work later started on an Amiga 1200 and CD32 edition using Commodore’s AGA hardware. It never received a commercial release.

Some of its technical experiments survived, including a wider colour range and a lighting system capable of changing brightness across different sections of a level. The new PC version brings those ideas into a modern native build rather than trying to recreate the unfinished Amiga release machine by machine.

Lighting is probably the most obvious change once it’s active. Areas can have different brightness levels, and nearby light sources influence surrounding tiles. The original graphics remain recognisable, so this isn’t a high-resolution remake wearing Hired Guns artwork. It’s still Hired Guns. The presentation has simply gained a few tricks planned after its original release.

Movement gets similar treatment. Hired Guns uses a grid, much like many first-person dungeon games from its period. Characters move from tile to tile, which can produce sharp visual jumps during exploration. The new option smooths those transitions without changing the underlying map structure.

Footsteps now react to floor surfaces too. Different materials produce different sounds as characters move through an area. It’s a small addition, yet it fits a game where four separate characters can spend plenty of time moving through different parts of the same map.

You can switch the new features off

One useful part of the project is its modular approach. The 256-colour graphics, lighting, smoother movement and revised sound behaviour aren’t mandatory. Players can turn individual features on or off rather than accepting a single fixed presentation.

It makes comparisons much easier. Want the lighting without smoother movement? Fine. Prefer something closer to the original PC presentation? That’s possible too. For a project built around an older game, this approach keeps the focus on technical options rather than rewriting how Hired Guns plays.

Hired Guns was doing four-player first-person action in 1993

Hired Guns came from DMA Design years before the studio became closely associated with Grand Theft Auto. Its setup still stands apart from most first-person games of its period. Players choose four mercenaries from a larger roster and control them through a science-fiction campaign set in 2712. The group heads to a planet called Graveyard, where combat, exploration, switches, lifts, equipment and environmental hazards make up much of the action.

The unusual part sits right on the screen. Each mercenary gets an independent first-person viewport. One player can control the entire squad, or several players can take control of separate characters on the same computer. Squad members don’t need to occupy one shared position either. They can split up, explore separate routes and regroup later. For 1993 hardware, running four individual viewpoints at once was an ambitious setup.

Combat mixes shooting with character management and positioning. Inventory space matters. Equipment matters. Routes can split. A character standing somewhere useful can become far more valuable than simply keeping four mercenaries clustered together. It gives Hired Guns a structure somewhere between a dungeon crawler, squad game and first-person shooter.

The unfinished AGA edition went further

Programmer Scott Johnston later worked on a revised version aimed at AGA Amigas and the CD32. Plans included graphical changes, revised audio, interface work and the lighting system now appearing in the native PC project. Development stopped before release.

Its ideas remained separate from the Amiga and DOS editions sold in 1993, leaving the AGA build as an unfinished branch rather than a replacement for the original game. The new PC port takes parts of this abandoned branch and places them inside a version built for current PCs. The four-character display remains. The grid remains. The squad structure remains. What changes is how some of it appears and sounds. Three decades after Hired Guns first reached Amiga and DOS machines, pieces of its unfinished AGA edition are finally becoming playable in a native PC build.