Zen Studios has announced a November 30 release date for their horror-themed pinball game Pinball M, which will arrive on the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. With the previously-announced licensed tables coming next year, Pinball M will launch with a table based on John Carpenter‘s 1982 classic The Thing.
“The Thing Pinball is an authentic homage to the 1982 film, and features original clips from the film itself,” said Zen Studios COO Mel Kirk. “It gives long-time horror fans a go-to table in Pinball M, and completes our extraordinary line-up for launch.”
As these themed tables go, your objective with The Thing Pinball is to use your (digital) pinball skills and battle against the shape-shifting alien through the arctic chill of U.S. Outpost #31. The table covers quite a bit of ground from the film, including the initial dog kennel attack, Bennings’ discovery as The Thing and more. You’ll also be collecting blood samples and shooting “reagent cartridges” to reveal who’s human and who isn’t. The table culminates in rigging your dynamite to blow up the Outpost with The Thing in a “wild Wizard Mode”.
Obviously, it’s not going to be the same as what we got in the original video game adaptation, but hey, points for creativity! That also includes the table itself, which looks pretty darn cool (no pun intended).
Other themed tables announced for Pinball M include “Chucky’s Killer Pinball” which is inspired by Child’s Play, a table inspired by Behaviour Interactive’s Dead by Daylight, and in a nice throwback to Wildfire Studios’ 1997 PC game Balls of Steel, a Duke Nukem-inspired table with “Duke Nukem’s Big Shot Pinball”.
