There’s a valuable lesson to be learned from the current popularity of remakes. They’re hardly a new phenomenon, as video games have long held a perpetual fascination for nostalgia and how consumers are consistently eager to consume experiences they’re already familiar with.

Embracing new things can be difficult, so to replay stories, catch up with characters, and remember mechanics we already think fondly of can be comforting. But such projects are far more exciting if they aim to take risks, either by subverting the original vision or building upon it with surprise revisions or a profound understanding of the legacy it seeks to pilfer. It is a risky endeavor, although the past few years have proven how ideas that worked decades ago are just as effective today.

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There’s also an element of creative bankruptcy to consider, and how beloved experiences are doomed to be remastered and remade again and again and again in lieu of new ideas. Is it true that potential new innovation is being cast aside in favour of guaranteed returns in the form of refreshed versions of games that, in the grand scheme of things, aren’t all that old in the first place? I think it’s more complicated than that, and many of the stronger remakes we have seen break cover in recent years aren’t just lazy cash grabs, but intentional exercises to reexamine where our medium stands and what exactly we value in its brightest sparks.

Resident Evil 4 Remake Leon and Ashley

Resident Evil 4 arrives later this week and has been lauded with near perfect reviews from critics. Many of them - ours included - come from a place of familiarity with the original, yet also a recognition of how much it has aged in the face of modern conventions. Our own Eric Switzer was quick to critique its uneven pacing, unfair difficulty spikes, and inconsistency in spite of how we still label it as a masterpiece. In 2005, it absolutely stakes a claim for that title, and remains one of the most influential games of all time. Yet we have grown enough as consumers and critics to acknowledge how the medium has evolved, and how games we once considered cutting edge are now doomed to stew in their own monotony. We can port and remaster them with flashier visuals all we like, but the decaying foundations always remain.

This is what makes Resident Evil 4 so different. Reviews didn’t praise it for how faithful it was to what came before, rather how it recognised that legacy and what balance it needed to strike in order to respect treasured history and adapt a classic adventure for new players and those who know it like the back of their hands. Each step it took was lined with purpose as it modernized mechanics and rewrote entire characters in order to respect contemporary sensibilities, while never once reinventing something for the sake of relevancy. Much like a fresh recording of classic music or a newly-restored film, it maintains the fundamentals while clearly understanding how much the medium has changed in such a short space of time. We are still in the infantile stages of video games, and we’re moving forward so quickly with little care for preservation that classics arguably need remade to remember where we came from. It isn't like corporations are interested in preserving the medium's past if it can't be to sold to us a second, third, or even fourth time.

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Dead Space is similar in how it takes a base experience that now shows its age, but has no intention of reinvention, merely adapting what we already know and love from a considered modern perspective. Praise from critics didn’t come from how it improved on tired origins we can’t bear to witness in 2023, but how it takes an already competent package and understands why and where it needs to change. Isaac Clarke is a more relatable and human protagonist, while those around him are afforded a more realistic sense of agency that seldom relies on clichés.

Resident Evil 4 does the same, maintaining its camp and cheesy charm by turning female characters into three-dimensional people, far more than just sex objects, and paying the Spanish locale it calls home further respect with additional lore and writing. It’s still silly, but in the context of how Capcom has come to reinvent this franchise in recent years, it works flawlessly. We are celebrating these remakes not because they repeat the past out of laziness, but necessity.

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Metroid Prime Remastered might be a more standard remake than the other two examples I touch on here, yet it shares a similar level of universal praise in spite of its age. Nintendo is in a position where it can bring Samus Aran back into mainstream relevance with remasters of all three games before a fourth bursts on the scene, all of which the majority of gamers in the space today have never experienced before. My own exposure to the series was limited, and to have them available widely in a modern context is more valuable than we realise.

Remakes hold a valuable spot in the zeitgeist so long as they serve a purpose. Introducing classic experiences to new audiences with the knowledge that they’re deserving of such revisions is important, not because of guaranteed popularity, but due to the evolution in which they can afford entire genres and franchises. We can’t point to high watermarks in this medium like we do so many others because how we play, watch, and appreciate video games as an art form has continually changed and will continue to do so. Remakes should be welcomed with open arms, especially when their presence will encourage further innovation for decades to come.

Next: Resident Evil 4’s Parry Makes A Perfect Combat System Even Better