The remakes and remastering of games have become a trend within the sector, and the truth is that this has generated conflicting sensations. For some they are a success, for others not so much, and there is also a sector that is totally against it because it thinks that they are a “sacacuartos”, and that it is better to innovate instead of launching the same game from years ago with a facelift.
The truth is that I fully understand these three opinions, and they seem respectable to mebut the truth is that the video game world has been in a certain state of stagnation for years, and that developers have become so stiff around the classic sandbox concept with role-playing touches that often gives me the impression of always playing the same thing, despite having “different” games on hand.
I am not going to go into that controversy because it is not the main topic of this opinion piece, but I do want to point out that sometimes a remake allows improvements and innovations to be introduced that make the experience much better, and much more fun, than the original game. Diablo II Resurrected is a good example, and Resident Evil 2 Remake is a benchmark of the value that a remake can bring.
Personally, I have a pretty clear opinion. I like remakes and remasters of classic video games, but only when you’re meet a number of conditions very important:
- They are faithful to the essence of the original. They do not have to be identical, but they do need to maintain that “something” that made them unique.
- They are well made both at a technical and optimization level, and they do not present any type of serious error that affects the gameplay.
- They are not overpricedand therefore offers reasonable value in this regard.
When a game does not meet all these conditions, it is likely that we will find ourselves before an unnecessary remake, something that has recently happened with The Last of Us Part I, a remake of the PS3 original, which has already been remastered for PS4, and which hits the market at a price of 80 euros. Do we need a remake of a game that came out in June 2013 and was remastered in 2014 for the previous generation of consoles? Is it fair that this remake looks like a PS4 game and costs 80 euros? Some may tell me yes, personally I am very clear that no.
Now it’s your turn, are you for or against remakes and remasters? We read in the comments.
