Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered launches in November to take on GTA 6

Atari is releasing Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered on November 3, making it one of the only games brave enough to launch anywhere near GTA 6's November 19 date. While most publishers have crammed their releases into September and October to avoid Rockstar's shadow, Atari is going a different direction entirely.

Pipeworks Studios — the original developer, who recently worked as a support studio on Marathon — rebuilt the game in Unreal Engine 5. The visual overhaul trades the rubbery toy-like charm of the 2002 original for a glossier modern look, though it still feels like smashing action figures on a city playset. Levels have been expanded beyond the original square arenas, online multiplayer is in, and Mechagodzilla received a Showa-era redesign after fan requests. Polygon went hands-on at Summer Game Fest and found it immediately intuitive on a modern gamepad — pick-up-and-play, big dumb fun, like an over-the-top wrestling game where you benchpress Godzilla and throw him into a skyscraper.

The original Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee launched as a GameCube exclusive in 2002 to middling reviews but built a cult following over the years. The remaster is banking on that nostalgia, and Atari's counter-programming logic is sound — this game targets a completely different itch than GTA 6's photorealistic open world, so the two aren't really competing for the same player at the same moment.

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee Remastered is already up on Steam ahead of its November 3 launch.