When I’d heard about The Last of Us being remade in 2022, only a few years after the “remastered” version of the game had launched, I was feeling somewhat fatigued. The Last of Us is one of my favorite games of all time, and as happy as I was to see it remain in the public consciousness, I kept asking myself, “Why do I need to pay over 60 dollars for this game for the third time?” Remakes were starting to feel like an umbrella term for a company to rerelease their game with fancier graphics and no real substance change, all while asking for full price on release. And while I enjoyed this remake (being a fan of the games after all), it made me worried about the future, and if we were going to enter an era of sloppy remasters billed as “remakes” to tug on millennial heartstrings. And while that has been the case to some degree, I’m relieved by the recent surge of remakes that have shown real promise, a true definition of the term “remake.”
Back in June when Star Fox released on the Nintendo Switch 2, I was cautiously optimistic. The graphics looked cool, the levels were exactly what I remembered, but the game now carried a clear narrative, dialogue, and cutscenes to flesh out the story. Actually getting my hands on it proved to be a joy. There was no question I was in an Arwing, and my muscle memory kicked in as I immediately sought out familiar shortcuts and easter eggs, all unchanged, but now under a beautifully redone landscape, with polished mechanics, and dialogue that actually provided context for why these shortcuts existed to begin with. The final encounter with Andross felt terrifying; he spoke with rage, he taunted Fox, he came off as a true nihilistic psycho genius. It was the same game, no question. But those additions of true character development, completely rebuilt mechanics, and settings that felt familiar but were clearly rebuilt and not painted over gave me a real sense of optimism for this new genre.
While some reviews for the recently released Assassin’s Creed Black Flag: Resynced have been divisive, I have felt the same level of excitement and optimism for the game as soon as I got my hands on it. They didn’t just slap a coat of fresh paint on the game. The cities and towns feel alive, the scenery is bright and vibrant, and you can have a cat as your copilot. With additional changes like adding new scenes and missions to the game, as well as improving the general mechanics around captaining a pirate ship, these changes feel meaningful and create a new experience, not a repeated one.
But what really defines what it means to be a “remake” is what Halo Studios has done with the just-released remake of the original Halo, dubbed Halo: Campaign Evolved. Rebuilt from the ground up, the levels themselves were completely remade, and they even brought back Steve Downes, the voice of Master Chief, and Jen Taylor, the voice of Cortana, to re-record their lines for a modern reinterpretation. New guns were added to the game that had previously been released in later titles, and to top it off, the remake includes several new levels that act as a prologue before launching into the familiar story we know and love.
This is how remakes are supposed to be. Not slapping a new coat of paint on a game and calling it done. A “remake” means just that. Breaking down the entire game, rebuilding with a strong foundation of bones, and reimagining the game with a fresh perspective. Designing the gameplay with a new sense of creativity, inspired by the games that have come since. All art is meant to build off each other, and this should include video games. The industry must feed off each other, and that can and should include how we build remakes. I think we’re a lot closer to that vision now than we had been in the past. And while there is still much wrong with a bloated industry that continues to put focus on profits over gamers, I have hope that the people making the games, especially the remakes, are able to parse through the madness to keep creating what we know works.
Later in 2026, we will be seeing the remake for one of my favorite games of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. At the time of this writing, we don’t know much about the game or its official release, but based on what I’ve seen in recent months, I have hope. If the recent showing from some of the biggest titles of the last decade is any indication, I think this beloved 1990s classic is shaping up to be one of the best nostalgia trips with a healthy dose of wonder and whimsy. And this cranky old millennial cannot wait.
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