With Resident Evil 2 being one of the best games of 2019 and Final Fantasy VII Remake and the likes coming out this year it begs the question: are these remakes just a cash grab or do they actually have something worthwhile to offer?
Video game remakes make it able to showcase older games to newer audiences and provide more experienced gamers with a familiar, one-of-a-kind experience. With remakes of old games growing increasingly popular and gaining newfound importance in 2020, we can’t help but wonder whether developers are just cashing out on our nostalgia and love for these classic titles.
Here’s why game remakes are a good thing and we should welcome them with open arms and minds:
Convenience
The primary reason why old games are getting remade is: convenience. Whether it’s the original Half-Life or Destroy All Humans! there are old games that would still attract audiences today. The only off-putting factor is the lack of convenience. To find older consoles and games in mint condition and getting familiar with the older controls are a bit too tedious, and expensive, especially if the game you want to play goes back a few generations.
Remakes of older games let us enjoy and appreciate these titles even more, at the comfort and convenience of the current-gen systems that we already have.
Nostalgia
Beating your brother at Sled Storm (can we PLEASE have a remake already) sipping Pitch Black Mountain Dew listening to Green Day on a Saturday morning. “Ah, nostalgia!”
Whether you want to reminisce memories from a better time, or just feel young again, remakes are the closest things we have today to time machines. The joy of playing a remake of one of your favourite games years later and being pleasantly surprised again at all the parts close to your heart is a feeling that simply cannot be put into words.
Retelling An Older Tales With Modern Tools
Developers get a chance to reproduce their most beloved titles for new audiences without the limitations they faced in the past. This enables them to provide a seamless experience for both new players and old ones. They get a chance to right old wrongs by improving gameplay flaws and monotonous levels of the original, and transform something that’s already good into a masterpiece.
“I couldn’t believe that I was playing the same game. It felt completely different. The graphics were mind-blowing at that time, I remember that we thought that graphics couldn’t get more lifelike in ’99. Oh my, were we wrong. I’m happy that the new generation will get to play a game like this…”
says my dad, Philendra, forty-five, playing the Resident Evil 3 Demo.
A Missed Opportunity
Whether we didn’t have a console, or whether it was another console’s exclusive, there are games we missed out on in the past and have been avoiding spoilers since.
Whatever the reason may be, remakes give us an opportunity to strike these games of our list.
We learn why these games were so popular when they originally came out and experience the stories that blew minds years ago. (Now I can finally call up my friend from middle school and tell him how he was right about Kiryu being a total badass)
Reviving Not Only Old Games But Gamers As Well
It’s a no brainer that remakes revive old franchises, but they do also revive old gamers along with it. After taking a decade long break from gaming, many gamers of the past feel anxious about getting back in the game. Has too much changed for them?
“…Hearing about remakes of games that I played back in the ‘90s on the original PlayStation feels inviting. When I do start playing again, I appreciate that I’ve something familiar, to begin with, it’s rather encouraging.”
I can’t wait to play these games again, and guiltily admit that I might even be a bit more excited about them than the newer titles coming out in 2020. I’ve gotten fond of these remakes and hope to see developers and gamers give the same kind of love to revive more classics in the future.
What are your most anticipated remakes this year? What are some of your favourite games that you would like to see a remake of? Let us know in the comments.
