Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy gets new level, HDR support & faster loading in free update

Here we are just a year later, and Crash is back again! All of us at Vicarious Visions are so excited for the release of our brand-new Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped level, Future Tense, which will be available at no additional charge for PS4 players who own Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.

We can’t wait to see your reactions to the new level and watch as you all try (and try, and try) to fully conquer the level, including the bonus area, death route, and of course the platinum relic. But before we talk more about Future Tense, let’s talk about what else PS4 players have to look forward to!

Stormy Ascent

For those of you who bought the game last year, you may or may not have picked up our first DLC level, Stormy Ascent. Stormy Ascent is now also available at no additional charge for all PS4 players; just head to the PlayStation Store and download it!

If you’re just now picking up the N. Sane Trilogy for the first time, Stormy Ascent is a notoriously difficult level that was cut during Naughty Dog’s original development of Crash Bandicoot. Last year, we rebuilt it and released it along with a brand-new bonus area for the level. If you’re a fan of hardcore challenges, you won’t want to miss it!

New game updates

Additionally, fans will notice some new updates to the game starting today. These include improved loading times, as PS4 fans will get to experience our exciting new Nitro loading technology! With this new loading behaviour, the game will start loading level content into memory predictively while you play, in addition to dynamically keeping the most frequently used asset in memory.

The result of these optimisations is that you should typically experience loading times nearly as fast as Crash can say “Woah!” I’m also happy to say that we are bringing HDR support to PS4 and PS4 Pro! If both your TV and console support it, HDR will automatically enable when you start the game.

Future Tense

And finally, most exciting of all we have Future Tense, the first ever brand-new level designed for the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy! We’ve built a difficult, dangerous level full of hidden areas to discover. If you haven’t unlocked all of Crash’s abilities in Warped, don’t worry – you’ll still be able to complete the level. But for the completionists and speed runners, you’re going to want to tackle this level with every ability you’ve got.

Future Tense combines the old with the new. While the focus was to design a brand-new level, we still wanted to give the hardcore Crash Bandicoot fans that are versed in development lore something they could recognize, so we paid homage to the Crash Bandicoot cut Waterfall level in a few ways.

The Waterfall level was based on ascending a giant waterfall in a dense jungle, using logs to launch you higher as you go. Future Tense has you ascending a giant skyscraper in an urban jungle, using elevators to take you to the next floor.

We’ve also added the iconic “Waterwheel” hazard from the cut level, and keen-eyed players may spot an area or two of the level that matches silhouettes from the Waterfall level.

With today’s release of Future Tense, Stormy Ascent becoming available at no additional charge, and the PS4 updates, there are more reasons than ever to jump into the world of Crash Bandicoot! We look forward to seeing you there!