There are many reasons to remake or remaster a game. It might be to modernise a classic by making it more accessible, both in terms of playability and go-into-a-shop-and-buy-it-ability. It might be to reinvigorate interest in a series ahead of a potential relaunch. It might be to continue to recoup development costs by double dipping on the profit for a much smaller outlay. It might be to make a lot of money (really, it’s always this one). But whatever the reason stated is, the truest reason at the heart of the matter is because people like these games.
Maybe they should remakebad games that had good ideas and deserve a second chance, but they don’t.
It’s selling our own nostalgia back to us, erasing the past and often trampling on bold artistic choices of the era with a generic modern coat of paint. But while I feel that way from an intellectual point of view, I would still tell you thatCrash Bandicoot: The N. Sane Trilogy,Resident Evil 4 Remake, andPokemon HeartGoldare the definitive ways to play those games. However, I’d advise caution withMass Effect Legendary Edition(no multiplayer, odd animations, aforementioned generic modernisation),Final Fantasy 7 Remake(the name is a misnomer; the game is a retelling/sequel), andRatchet & Clank(meh). There are so many remakes that you’re able to’t fit them all under one descriptive umbrella. But that’s really the point: there areso manyremakes.
Just some of 2024’s remakes and remasters
Look, some can be great. I’m thoroughly looking forward toPaper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, theTomb Raider Remastered Trilogy, andLollipop Chainsaw: RePop, all of which will test the efficacy of my rose-tinted goggles in different ways. I’m not against any remake in particular, though I thinkNaughty Dog’s recent trend of chasing perfectionvia remakes isthe polar opposite of the studio’s rich history of innovation. It’s just that the sheer number these days, plus the way we make video games in general, make it hard to see exactly where we go from here.
In about 15 years time, we’ll be sitting down in cinemas (hands still stuck in the Dune popcorn bucket) to watch them rebootIron Man. M3GAN will get a legasequel when someone discovers the carcass of a robot doll. An old and withered Keanu Reeves will emerge from the shadows of a new action franchise to say “The name’s Wick.John Wick,” and we’ll lose our minds. This isn’t a future that points to an apex of cultural appreciation, but it will happen nonetheless. It always has. It’s happening right now, with Ghostbusters: Frozen Kingdom, Scream 6, and Harrison Ford’s living nightmare that is reliving Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Blade Runner on repeat.
But while movies rely on remakes, reboots, and sequels, there are always fresh ideas alongside them for future remakes, reboots, and sequels to draw from. Even when it builds off a foundation, it’s very rare we get an N.Sane Trilogy orThe Last of Usshoeshine. Cinematic remasters happen, but they’re lowkey releases and much less common than video games. Movies at least take characters or ideas and do something new with them. These flicks share the boldness of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, we just don’t think of it as ‘bold’ because unlike in gaming, retelling an old story in a different way is nothing special in film.
This leaves gaming with a problem for the future. WhileNaughty Doghas pushed this conventional wisdom to its limit, you can only remake and remaster things for so long. And the new games we have don’t seem all that suited to being remade. If the goal is to make a lot of money - again, it is - then it makes sense from a board member or executive’s point of view. If your studio has the ability and workforce to make games that are 100 hours long, it can polish games that are only a third of that in a quicker turnaround time. The foundation is there and the runtime is shorter with older games, meaning they can be made faster and for less money without compromising on retail price.
This is an oversimplification that generalises, but it’s the most basic reason gaming remakes are financially viable.
With our current landscape so full of bloated experiences, what do we do in the future? What can feasibly be added toBaldur’s Gate 3orElden Ringin ten years time? Maybe people thought that in the ’90s when they saw Crash Bandicoot run into the third dimension. Maybe cavemen felt this way when they saw fire - nothing could possibly get better. But the gap between generations is getting smaller as we hit a ceiling, and games are getting longer and more expensive.
I don’t think today’s best games can be remade, and I think our reliance on constantly remaking things that exist in a shot for shot fashion (Uncharted is rumoured to be next) can stifle creativity at studios. We’re often told the main team is working on something new and exciting, while the inexperienced staff earn their stripes polishing the previous generation’s masterpieces, but new blood brings new ideas. Squandering that untapped potential by training rookies to copy what came before is far more worrying than the remakes themselves taking up space in the calendar.
We’re never going to escape the clutches of remakes. We’re always going to line up to have our own childhood sold back to us and I should know, I’m in three queues at once. But as the field of games that could be remade thins, and our current method of development dissuades new ideas in favour of safety and profitability, I’m not so much worried about a future full of remakes as I am a future with nothing left to be remade.
