Remakes, Remasters and Repeats: A brief rundown of why you keep seeing the same thing over and over

One of the most fascinating things about the games industry is that no other form of media ages quite as poorly as games do. Something that was released in 1998 can be unplayable by 2005, and something that was released in 2005 can be nigh on unplayable by 2013.

Be it due to exclusivity to a single console, poor controls or just simply aging like milk in the sun graphically, this can cause many issues for newcomers or those revisiting. However, a trend we have seen over the years, but much more frequently in the past decade, are the three R’s: Remakes, Remasters and Repeats (releases).

So what even are they?

Repeats

Repeats are the simplest of the three: it’s simply getting a game from the past and shoving it onto new platforms, with some changes made to make it playable, like buttons changed to make it easier for players. Probably the most famous example of a repeat release is DOOM (1993), something that’s been rereleased for everything from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, to the PS1, to the Gameboy Advance to the Switch. I mean, it’s been rereleased so many times that loads of bored programmers just port it to things like smart fridges, calculators, even pregnancy tests.

Remasters

Remasters are a mix between Remakes and Rereleases, where they require a bit of reworking in order to be functional, with some quality-of-life changes made to make it easier on the player to play the game. Depending on the effort put into the remaster, audio quality is improved as well as visual quality, but generally, the core gameplay of the game is kept intact. A notable example of a remaster done well is the Bioshock collection from 2016, which was subtle about the changes and still kept the charm of the original BioShock from 2007.

However, not all remasters are created equal, with the majority of them being quick cash grabs with little effort put in at all. An older remaster which is a prime example of this is the Silent Hill HD Collection. Released by Konami in 2012 on the PlayStation 3 and XBOX 360, it had both Silent Hill 2 and 3, considered the best in the series, but had made changes in the worst ways possible. Part of the gimmick of Silent Hill as a franchise is that the spooky town, after which the game is names, is covered by fog all the time, so you can’t see the horrors in the town as you walk. However, the remaster removed large amounts of the fog, destroying some of the atmosphere, as well as missing textures and, to top it off, replacing fonts on signs with Comic Sans because why not?

Needless to say, make sure to be very careful with remasters and to AVOID PREORDERING!! You can’t get a refund on consoles so if you’re a console gamer it can be a costly mistake.

Remakes

Ah yes, the most exciting and most nerve-wracking for fans of the originals. With these, a games studio takes a game from yesteryear, and remakes it from the ground up for a more polished end result. It honestly depends on the direction of the developers if they decide to stay as close and as faithful as possible to the original game, or if it becomes a reimagining. It’s something that’s been going on for decades, which may surprise you considering most of the major games being talked about this year are remakes (E.G. Resident Evil 4 (2023), Dead Space (2023), Silent Hill 2 remake).

The best examples of video game remakes that come to mind are those in the Resident Evil series. We get to see both types of remake: ones that are as close to the original as possible, in addition to a reimagining of what once was, adapted for a new audience.

Resident Evil 1, as seen in the image on the right-hand side, was a ground-breaking release in terms of the survival horror genre, with it essentially creating it as we know it. Coming out in 1996 to the PlayStation 1, then the underdog of the games market, it showed mind boggling (at the time, I swear) graphics. However, the downside to 1990s 3d graphics is that, sadly, by the time the new generation of consoles came out post-Y2K, they had collectively aged like milk. So, after being given an exclusivity deal for the Nintendo GameCube, Capcom released a remake in 2002, which is the image seen on the left-hand side, with almost everything from the original remaining with some quality-of-life features granted by the new game engine. With this type of remake, it attempted to stay as close to the original as possible while polishing up details to look all new and shiny (but sadly it lost the cheesy dialogue that 90s writers thought was cool).

In terms of a complete revamp of what the original was, Resident Evil 4 (2005) versus its remake in 2023 are very striking examples. Not only are several core elements changed in order to suit the new energy, with the game focusing more on atmospheric horror compared to solely the action in the original, but also it removes aspects which have aged poorly, and updates the game graphically, of course.

So what should I buy?

The most important thing to do is to see what the general consensus is for the games, and use it as a general guide, but if you’re a PC gamer, check out the originals first, as they’re, for the most part, cheapest, while console gamers ought to check what’s where. Xbox and the Switch have a wide variety of older games to try out as well, with backwards compatibility letting you try them out directly. Regardless, choose what you feel is right for you, as there’s lots of enjoyment in older games; who knows, you might find your new favourite series from it!