DURING the PlayStation Play event a couple of weeks ago, Sony unveiled a remake to the critically acclaimed and beloved Star Wars game ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ (known as KoToR to the faithful).
The response was almost uniformly positive, despite all that was shown was a CGI teaser trailer that will not be representative of the final gameplay, and a release date was unavailable. As is often the case, it will likely take a few years before it comes out.
Released in late 2003, KoToR has been built up by fans as being one of the best Star Wars stories, regardless of medium. Developed by Bioware (whose name was once synonymous with great role-playing games), it was a big hit and is still widely available to play on PC.
Of course, due to its age, it has very much aged in terms of both its looks and gameplay design. Many fans have no qualms with how it plays, especially when compared to modern RPGs made by Bioware and other companies that have simplified the genre into something more action-based.
A remake of such a beloved game is sure to be controversial for diehard fans, but with Star Wars being a perennially popular franchise – and something that has name recognition beyond the hardcore nerd fanbase – it seems a no-brainer for Lucasfilm Games to do.
This announcement is just the latest in a trend that has been an increasing part of the gaming landscape for the past few years. As the original generations of gamers age, they develop a nostalgia for the games they played when they were younger.
Video game publishers have also realised they have a backlog of titles that they can resell to the older generation, as well as sell to younger gamers who have not personally experienced them.
These can be, broadly speaking, broken down into remakes and remasters. Remakes are full technical rebuilds of classic games from the ground up, while remasters are more about improving games so they can take advantage of modern technology, such as high definition (or 4K) screens. The latter is more superficial, but they take a lot less time.
Probably the most notable remake to come out recently was the Final Fantasy VII Remake, which was released on the Playstation 4 in April of 2020. First announced in the summer of 2015, the game was a long time coming, with the original a classic Playstation title from way back in 1997.
With such a large time gap between original and remake, a few simple touch-ups would not be enough to appeal to a modern gaming audience. Instead, it was rebuilt completely, but in a way that threaded the needle in terms of keeping the elements that fans loved (such as the story, the characters, the music) while improving the visuals and modernising the gameplay.
However, despite this level of polish, a glaring issue is that while the original was a big game that came out in three CD-ROMs (remember those), the remake isn’t even the whole game. It only features the first part of the game (despite a whopping 100GB file size), with the details and release dates of the other parts still up in the air.
Yes, it still offers dozens of hours of gameplay, but to get the complete experience, a fan will have to buy at least two other parts over the next few years for full price each.
Ultimately, despite the bloat in content, the Final Fantasy VII Remake is the best-case scenario when it comes to revisiting classics.
Similarly, the recent run of Resident Evil remakes from Capcom has also been well received, with the reworking of Resident Evil 2 (another Playstation classic from 1997) receiving near-universal acclaim.
With a new graphics engine, modernised gameplay, but with the same sense of dread and terror, this was another success on a number of levels.
However, the remake of Resident Evil 3 (released in 2020) was not equally well received. In fact, in many ways, it too accurately reenacted the experience of the original, and at some points is cut down in comparison.
This shows the tricky balancing act that remakes have to follow, they can’t change too much about what made the first game special, but they can’t just repeat their predecessor with a fresh coat of paint.
That being said, for some, when the original game is held in such high regard, improved visuals are enough. That’s true for the upcoming Diablo 2: Resurrected, a remastering of the classic 2000 game.
While the game looks the best it has ever looked, and the cinematics have added flair, the rest plays out the same as it did two decades ago. It’s still a clickathon that will surely give you carpal tunnel syndrome and all the tricks learned by veterans over the years will still apply.
Given publisher Activision-Blizzard’s current embattled situation, and drawing increasing ire from fans for a number of controversies over the last few years, they need a win. And giving fans what they want is the likeliest way for them to at least stave off intense criticism for a while.
In the end, just like how the movie industry is dominated by remakes and sequels, so too has the major studio space in the videogame industry. It’s just too expensive to build a unique experience with an all-new franchise. But with the public’s appetite for revisiting the past, this trend likely continues into the future. – The Vibes, September 21, 2021
