The Art of Video Game Remakes: A Call for Innovation Over Nostalgia

directors and Hollywood Studios have been remaking films for decades many of those remakes are considered among the

best movies of all time the thing heat Scarface A Fistful of Dollars The Departed the list goes on each one of

these examples re-examines and re-contextualizes the original story creating a recognizable but vitally

distinct final product a good remake retains The Core Essence but provides A New Perspective on the same events this

is a pathway that video game developers seem largely hesitant to follow and that threatens to have the industry stuck in

a creative rut Nostalgia continues to exert its iron grip on pop culture and it's asking us to pay full price for

games we've already played foreign [Music]

movie remakes are those that are overly beholden to the original work guspense 1998 shot for shot remake of psycho

comes to mind as does Disney's current campaign to pointlessly clone its animated bat catalog in live-action

format Sony's first party Studios have adhered to a similar approach over the last few years with remakes of Shadow of

the Colossus demon souls and last year's The Last of Us Part One while these remakes are undeniably fantastic games

that's almost entirely down to their Timeless original Concepts preserved almost entirely intact like Precious

Museum pieces rather than any new ideas developer blue point games brings astonishing and valuable visual craft to

its remakes of multi-generational games but its dedication to perfectly replicating the original experiences

means each is still trapped by the constraints of its former console shadow of the colossus's world feels Barren by

limitation rather than design while both horse riding and climbing remains as awkward as it was back on the pier S2

Demon Soul setting is split into video gamey zones that frustratingly hold on to the one checkpoint per level design

rather than embracing from softwares later and Superior approach to bonfire placement and immersive World layouts

these are two of the most lovingly created remakes of all time but ultimately it's money for new graphics

it's hard not to imagine how much more interesting these games could be if newer modern ideas were appropriately

added to them but at least blue point was working with games that genuinely did benefit from a huge visual upgrade

Naughty Dogs 2013 survival horror classic remains very strong in its visual Direction particularly its PS4

remaster and so it's difficult to see exactly what the creative point of The Last of Us Part 1 remake is at the very

least it was a chance to weave the Left Behind DLC into the main game for a seamless story but we didn't even get

that instead it's nearly identical to the game many of us have bought and played twice before I worry the upcoming

Resident Evil 4 will also fall into the same trap develop Capcom does have a phenomenal track record with Resident

Evil 2 which completely reimagined the PlayStation 1 classic with modern visuals and most importantly gameplay

but the rules of its over-the-shoulder horror template were established with the original Resident Evil 4. a game so

perfectly engineered that it not only still holds up well but defined the principles upon which almost every third

person action game follows today so what exactly is it about Resident Evil 4 that needs remaking why did Capcom not opt

for Code Veronica or the original Resident Evil both of which would hugely benefit from the same bold reinvention

treatment used for Resident Evil 2. I can't help but wonder if Resident Evil 4 remake will simply follow Sony's lead

and be a clone with a Fresh coat of paint in a similar spot is dead space the EA horror game so inspired by the

Capcom classic that it was referred to as Resident Evil 4 in space even among its developers like re4 the original

Dead Space holds up well today so much so that when I played several hours of the upcoming remake for December's IGN

first it was Graphics aside often hard to tell the difference thankfully EA motive has augmented this visually

upgraded version with several new ideas including mechanics from Dead Space 2 as well as new side quests redesigned

weapons updated level design and some small adjustments to the story so while the Remake is undeniably close to an

experience readily available on Game Pass so much so it feels something more akin to an extended edition that are

fresh experiences to be found I hope there's more of that in the hours I've yet to play but I also can't help but

wonder what Dead Space would look like with a back to concept stage approach perhaps a first person perspective or a

greater emphasis on Survival over shooting so why are so many video game remakes unlike the bold reimaginings

that movie remakes are the Clone light process is understandable when you take a closer look at industry Trends and

challenges we're demanding significantly more lavish production values and so projects cost much much more than they

used to in response entertainment culture as a whole has become increase increasingly nostalgic companies be it

film and television Studios or video game developers are seeking out pre-existing worlds and characters that

are proven successes and come with an almost assured popularity and massive sales a decade ago that was franchises

hence the explosion of things like the MCU and Call of Duty today Studios need even safer bets hence remakes video game

remakes not only come with an established and die-hard fan base but also a package of development benefits

there's a huge amount of groundwork already complete characters story locations mechanics the pre-production

Creative Vision it's all there and in many cases so are the tools since remakes are often developed in engines

that the team is already deeply familiar with a remake is not a cheap thing to make by any means but without the need

for that initial pre-production expenditure it can be much more cost effective than a whole new game and

crucially the money raised by a safe remake can then be invested in a much more expensive ambitious project in a

world where AAA development costs have skyrocketed it's understandable why remakes are becoming an increasingly

popular Direction but if developers want to provide perfect replicas of all games rather than bring new creativity there

is an option for that remesters it's a format that suffered a bad reputation thanks to the Dreadful quality control

in things like the old Silent Hill HD collection and more recently the Grand Theft Auto trilogy and Blade Runner

remasters and so it's unsurprising that some studios are looking towards full remakes as better guarantees of quality

but remasters don't have to be subpar last year's fantastic Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 reunion is the perfect

Showcase of how old games can be polished up without the need for a full remake updated textures character models

lighting UI and new Voice work has been for lack of a better phrase layered over the old game it's still the 15 year old

PSP game fans love but it looks damn close to something released in the last few years it's also been sold for 50

bucks 20 less than the biggest new games and presumably will still a profit if we're talking about giving old games the

update treatment and preserving the exact same experience I can think of no better blueprint and on the opposite

side of the Crisis Core coin is Final Fantasy VII remake a prime example of the sort of ambitious remake I want to

see more of it has its development safety net the characters events locations weapons and story beats that

older players are deeply nostalgic for but it reimagines all of that with a distinctly modern approach to gameplay

and narrative it's perhaps a bit too wild with its changes to be the Benchmark for all remakes but it's among

my favorite games of recent years because of how much of a New Perspective it brings to the jrpg classic that

brings us back to Resident Evil 2 then for the Remake Capcom kept the core ideas of the original game playthroughs

for both Leon and Claire the RPD police station and its backtracking formula the lab hidden beneath it and the puzzles

required to progress but all of that was reformulated to feel not like a dose of nostalgia but a hit of Modern Survival

horror the flow of exploration the relentless listeners of Mr X the desperate and gory combat even the

Rewritten dialogue and its story beats it's all distinctly fresh that's what makes it the gold standard for remakes

and I hope it's the inspiration that other Studios look to in the future with that in mind it's not hard to see some

games with tremendous remake potential while Sony Santa Monica Ponders what comes next for Kratos it would be

fantastic to see God of War's original PS2 Adventures remade using the engine and mechanics of the north Saga a third

person brawler take on those classic bosses and environments would be fantastic not to mention a more mature

narrative take on kratos's Angry era I'd also love to return to Rapture in a Bioshock remake that sharpens up its

combat offers more character build choices and replaces that infamously Dreadful final fight with something more

fitting perhaps Andrew Ryan could even stop you from swinging that Golf Club in the ultimate expression of bioshock's

themes of player control there's plenty of remakes on the horizon and it's exciting to think of what new

experiences they will provide what will an open world design lends to The Witcher 1. what will the evolution of

cinematic presentation bring to the original Max Payne games how will Silent Hill 2 catches off guard again hopefully

these remakes are being led by directors as Bolden inventive as John Carpenter Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma

rather than companies content to Simply make Ray traced replicas of gaming Classics we've already played and paid

for [Applause] [Music]

[Applause] [Music] [Music]

thank you