The games industry has a problem. Well, okay, the industryhasmanyproblems, but the problem I’m thinking about has to do with the categorization of remakes versus remasters.With how often games are being remade, reimagined, and remastered, you’d think that the industry would have a solid understanding of what each one is and name their games appropriately. However, that couldn’t be further from reality.
The recently releasedOblivion Remasteredhas sparked the debate once more. I’ve been left wondering why this is a debate in the first place when, to me, it seems like the answer is pretty black and white until I remember that The Last of Us has been remastered and remade and then I start to understand the confusion.
It’s time to settle this once and for all: we need an official definition of remakes and remasters so we can all get to sleep at night.
An Attempted Definition
Let me posit my definition of a remake versus a remaster: A remake is when a game is built entirely from the ground up, trying to capture the same spirit and essence of a game that already exists. Games likeSilent Hill 2,Final Fantasy 7 Remake, andResident Evil 2are all remakes because they don’t use any assets found in the original versions of the games they’re based on. A remaster is a game that uses the majority of an older game as the basis for its design.Games like Oblivion Remastered, Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition, and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection are all running the original releases ‘under the hood’ while making a handful of graphical and mechanical changes.
While I think my definition is simple enough, it’s not widely agreed upon. For example, although Oblivion Remastered is using the original 2006 release of Oblivion as “the brain” while spicing up the visuals using Unreal Engine 5according to its developers, many feel like there have been enough changes to the game in the form of quality-of-life and system changes that constitutes calling it a remake despite what its title says.
Every Game Blurs The Line
There are some games that fully reject the naming convention that I’ve identified. The Demon’s Souls remake, for example, is called a remake in all of its marketing. Despite the PlayStation store’s claim that the game is “entirely rebuilt from the ground up,” BluePoint has spoken about howthe remake is running the original Demon’s Souls’ source codeas a basis for all of its mechanics. This is why glitches and exploits that were present in the original releases of games like Oblivion and Demon’s Souls are also present in their respective rereleases.
The definition gets even murkier when looking at a game like The Last of Us Part 1.There are three versions of the first Last of Us game: the original 2013 release, 2014’s The Last of Us Remastered, and 2022’s The Last of Us Part 1. The Last of Us Remastered takes the original source code from the game and uses it as a baseline for making graphical improvements to port the game to the PS4.The Last of Us Part 1didn’t use that same source code and, instead, opted to rebuild the game almost entirely from scratch. However, the remake’s adherence to the original game means that, although The Last of Us Part 1 is entirely new code, it plays exactly the same as the original; it just looks like a modern PS5 game. This is why some people get confused about its status as a remake despite the fact that, on a technical side, there is no question.
Finding Some Common Ground
The leading cause for the confusion is that studios just don’t seem to agree on what constitutes a remake and a remaster. Some games are very obviously one or the other,like the Silent Hill 2 remake, which is a clear reimagining of the original game, firmly putting it into the remake camp, but it’s not always so cut and dry.
Based on how much confusion there is, I think it would be worth the time of major publishers to have some sort of meeting to create a concrete definition to clear the air and announce how they’re going to be naming games as a result. This will likely never happen, but it would do a lot to help gaming fans temper their expectations when it comes time to judge a game for what it is.
For example, I have no idea ifthe upcoming Metal Gear Solid Deltais a remake or a remaster based on the information that’s available about it, but if Konami had a concrete definition of what a remake is, the studio could confirm one way or the other. That would certainly help me understand if it’s something I want to spend money on or not.
The current system does nothing but confuse people. Maybe that’s the point and publishers are playing a game of 4-D chess that’s far too advanced for me to understand, but from my perspective, no one’s playing chess;they’re just playing Calvinball.
