When does a remake or remaster become a rip-off?

Remakes and remasters of old games are more popular than ever before. September 2024 alone saw the release of over a dozen titles that had been remade or remastered, including prominent games such as:

• Age of Mythology: Retold
• Ace Attorney Investigations Collection
• Sunsoft is Back: Retro Game Selection
• Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
• Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP
• Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged
• Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster
• Epic Mickey: Rebrushed
• Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition
• Night Slashers: Remake A glance at other months’ releases tells the same story. Just a few days ago, Sony announced Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered and Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1-2 Remastered, set to be released in October and December respectively.

The never-ending wave of remakes often sparks debate: which games represent meaningful new takes on old software and which are sheer rip-offs?

Modernisation improves accessibility

Not everything was better in the good old days – especially not in the world of gaming. Still, the young medium’s made huge leaps in the last few decades – both in the realms of technology and user-friendliness. While players used to complain about fiddly controls or convoluted user interfaces, today’s gamers benefit from the industry’s numerous attempts at improvement.

It’s these very optimisations that bring games such as Age of Mythology Retold into the present, and prove old classics (with a few modifications) still make the cut today. Upgrades like these are sorely needed nowadays. When Age of Mythology Retold was announced, the trailer alone garnered over a million views and a whole bunch of enthusiastic comments.

The developers have invested time in the user interface and balancing. Changes to unit costs, a priority menu for mining resources and a new era are just three examples of modifications that have brought the game into the present. You can read more on this in the review written by my colleague Samuel. When testing the game, he was able to indulge in nostalgia without having to worry about the original’s age-related weak points.

The remake of Resident Evil 2 brought the survival horror classic into the modern age with similar success in a different genre. Tank controls and fixed camera angles were replaced by contemporary, third-person controls with a free-roaming camera.

It’s especially satisfying when remakes enhance the original gaming experience. In the remake of MediEvil for PS4, you can collect new items in the form of lost souls in the familiar game environment. If you find them all and complete the game, you unlock the original PS1 game. That’s the kind of reward I like to see in remakes. It means you can even run the original on new hardware if you want to.

Remakes preserve old treasures

Unlike films and books, there’s still no standardised way of preserving video games for the future. A study conducted by the Video Game History Foundation in 2023 found that only 13 per cent of all video games ever released in the USA are freely available. A frighteningly low figure that remakes can help to remedy. Console games in particular are tied to specific hardware, so they benefit even more from being remastered.

If you wanted to play Paper Mario: The Legend of the Aeon Gate before May 2024, you could only do so on the Nintendo GameCube. Before the remake was released, however, the original GameCube title was selling for a whopping 200–300 francs. My wallet’s just as grateful as I am that Nintendo’s made the most popular Paper Mario available on its latest console for a comparatively fair price.

Sometimes, remakes breathe new life into tired franchises too. I’m convinced that the successful Trials of Mana remake and the Collection of Mana are the reason why we got Visions of Mana, a new spin-off of the formerly stale series in the first place. Even if the new release did suffer under the franchise’s legacy instead of bringing innovation. The zombie game Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is also likely to reveal how high the demand for a new edition is.

When money takes centre stage

Although plenty of remade titles are good for more than just nostalgia, there’s a shady side to remakes too. In a business worth billions and backed by profit-driven shareholders, gamers’ wishes aren’t always taken into account.

Almost three years ago, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition was released as a remaster of the three games Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Some of them looked uglier than the originals and were teeming with bugs. At the same time, developer Rockstar removed the original games from stores, upsetting the gaming community even more. It was only after being bombarded with complaints that Rockstar temporarily took the botched remaster off the market to smooth out the bugs. The standard version of the trilogy has since become available again. Bad reviews remain online as a testament to the debacle, which was motivated by greed.

Another example of how not to do a remake is the Silent Hill HD Collection. The studio relaunched the second and third instalments of the Silent Hill series around ten years after their original release. An undertaking that generated mixed reviews. The changes made to the game, such as the new cast of voice actors, didn’t go down well with everybody. The technology underpinning it was also worse than the originals, and often caused bugs.

Konami and Rockstar are by no means exceptions. Bad remasters are a dime a dozen. At the moment, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is attracting mixed reviews. While buyers can look forward to the familiar madness of the original, they’ll have to do without some of its atmospheric songs and get used to the outdated gameplay design.

At least Lollipop Chainsaw was released twelve years ago for PS3 and Xbox 360, making a port to modern platforms justified. However, it’s a different story when it comes to The Last of Us games. Brows were already furrowed over the question of why the remake The Last of Us Part I was necessary. As for The Last of Us Part II: Remastered, that was especially questionable. Just four years after the second instalment was released, Sony charged PS5 owners the same price for the remake (whose graphics were only slightly better) as for the original. My colleague Domagoj tested the remaster and thought it was worth it. Not because of the graphical upgrades, but because of the new roguelike mode. Though a useful change, it could just as easily have been released as DLC.

The recently announced Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered doesn’t appear to have any additional content whatsoever. It remains to be seen whether a few cosmetic touch-ups and re-recorded dialogues will justify it. The game’s only seven years old and can be played on the PS5 without any issues.

It’s easy to lose track in this saturated, low-innovation market

The September remakes I mentioned earlier are just the tip of the iceberg. Alongside regular game releases, the market’s becoming even more oversaturated. You’re then faced with the First World problem of having to choose from an ever-widening selection, the quality of which varies greatly depending on the title. What’s more, remasters rarely bring innovation to the table, especially at AAA studios. It’s the same story when an old game serves as a template. Their financial backers certainly aren’t prepared to take risks. As much as I’d like the quality of the Resident Evil remakes to serve as a blueprint for others, this simply isn’t possible at all studios for financial reasons.

Verdict: issues aside, remakes and remasters are a beautiful tradition

Lack of originality and profit being an obvious motivation give remakes and remasters a bad rep. However, I don’t think they’re fundamentally bad because of those factors. As a passionate proponent of video game entertainment, I think it’s wonderful when games are available to as wide an audience as possible.

Remakes also suit the unique medium of video games. With hardware that changes every few years, making its predecessors redundant, there are few legal alternatives allowing you to play old games. That’s why, despite my disappointment over Pac Man World Re Pac, I’m actually grateful for the game. To experience it, I didn’t have to go on an odyssey to find a reasonably priced PS1 game in good condition. Instead, I got myself comfortable, popped the remake into my Switch and immersed myself in a little piece of the past.

The main strength of remasters lies in their accessibility and nostalgia. As long as money isn’t the only motivation behind a project, something great often comes out of it. In an already oversaturated market, however, it’s essential to take a critical look at remakes and remasters before buying them. Header image: Warner Bros. Games