Video Game Remakes Are Getting Out of Hand

Video Game Remakes seem to be released every other month, and we should discuss where all of this leads and why this Remake-mania is getting out of hand.

In the past few months, three amazing remakes and several equality great remasters have dominated the video game discussion. With more on the horizon and others rumored to be announced during the E3 season, I feel the need to reign in the enthusiasm a bit.

Video Game Remakes, when is enough enough

Today it feels like every big release is either a sequel or the remake/remaster of some beloved title of days past.

And don't get me wrong, Like a Dragon: Ishin deserved a remaster and the Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space Remakes are excellent. But the conversation now shifts towards what game should be remade next. And some of the ideas and potential leaks being thrown around left me uneasy.

Who asked for a remake of Silent Hill 2, for example? People who didn't play the original? Just because the game was released on ancient hardware, doesn't mean it needs a complete makeover. An available, accessible port would be more than enough.

What would you even improve with Silent Hill 2?

Re-record the voice acting? Or overhaul the controls and give it fancy graphics with all the ray tracing and photo-scanned textures?  By doing that, you'll only take away everything that made the original so unique, to begin with. Sure, by today's standards, the controls take a little to get used to, but they are far from inaccessible.

Remake-a-mania

Maybe this has more to do with many of those old titles being no longer easily accessible. Thanks to the doomsday device that are digital storefronts and ever-updating consoles, it's almost impossible to get hold of some of those titles. Thankfully, Xbox makes it at least possible to play their older title on modern platforms.

And then there's also the mind-goblin many modern gamers have, that games that don't have 8k textures and character models with millions of polygons aren't worth playing. But I promise you, all the Metal Gear Solid games still play fantastically!

The Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 are available on GoG by the by.

By trying to polish the past like this, we'll eventually forget why certain games worked in their place and time. Sure, there is something to be learned by revisiting old design trends, but often Remakes just end up taking stories and aesthetics and plugging them into modern game design.

This is not always the case, but it also strikes me as what modern audiences want. Give me what I liked ten years ago, but make it like everything else I like right now.

There is just a lot of value lost there, considering that today most games just play the same. Some years ago, looking at how developers had different approaches to game design differentiated those titles in the first place.

That's not to say that all Remakes are bad. The Resident Evil 4 Remake might be a little too faithful to its original in some regard, but it is its own thing. Then there's the Final Fantasy VII Remake, which deserves a thinkpiece of its own in the future.

No other Remake, besides Resident Evil (1) Remake had the luxury of being reimagined by much of the original staff. This makes Final Fantasy VII Remake stand out, it's not just a remake, it's a reimagining of its design philosophy and a reflection on the legacy of the original.

I'd rather see more remakes of that nature. Sadly most of the developers that made all your favorite games are no longer associated with those publishers and brands anymore. And believe it or not, people make games and not brands and publishers.

Instead, I ask you, our dear readers, to look deep inside yourself and think for a moment if that game from your childhood really needs that AAA treatment and a 70$ release. How about we advocate for new original releases or indies instead? Move the industry forward with innovation rather than renovation.

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