Replacing Games with Their Remasters/Remakes: Game Preservation and Availability

Silent Hill 1 Cover

Introduction

Over the last few years, there has been a noticeable trend in many classic gaming franchises. Pertaining to the horror genre, there is an oversight that remastering has caused. This more-so has to do with game preservation and availability. To put it simply, we cannot and should not rely on remastering/remaking a franchise for gamers to be able to enjoy them. Specifically, when that franchise or game is no longer available to the consumer.

With a new Resident Evil game just announced along with a new entry from it's iconic horror twin Silent Hill, it bring to light this issue we face. Even though both games are rather specific to their own genre, they share common similarities to other franchises that fall towards to argument of game preservation.

Overall, this is a discussion of game preservation and access to titles that we love without having to pay more for the same thing. (a re-release).

Resident Evil 4 Remake: Promotional Material

The Rise of Remasters

We've seen a steady rise in remasters over the last six years. The Resident Evil franchise saw to that and we are now seeing it in another iconic and similar franchise. Silent Hill 2 remake and now a confirmed Silent Hill 1 remake.

Even when it started with the Silent Hill 2 remake, people were already skeptical of numerous things. Briefly, people mentioned gameplay (camera angle), acting, engine, and even price. Starting with gameplay, like classic Resident Evil, Silent Hill 2 played with a fixed camera angle that was integral to gameplay. It caused a sense of disorientation bodes well for the themes of the game and its story. It also brought with it the introduction of tank controls that worked with the camera's lack of fluid movement. OF course, acting and the engine come into play. How will the acting change the tone and scenes of the story? How will the game technically hold up? It's well known that the Unreal Engine 5 that the Silent Hill 2 remake runs on causes problems not seen in the original game.

Now with a new announcement teasing a remake of the original, it's now important to call into question of preservation. For, if the game is to change so much from the original, shouldn't we be able to play just as readily as the remake?

Xbox Backward Compatible Games

The Impact on Game Preservation

In short, game preservation is the ability for game to have an infinite shelf life. Primarily though digital games, any game can continue to be bought and sold even after development has long since ceased. Price is also a factor to the preservation of a game for, it does not really matter if you can still buy the game if it's being charged the same price as it was released (especially now over a ten year period). That would be an infection of greed that would not be a good look for preservation going forward.

When a game has it's own standout release before it's turned out sequels, it should stand out amongst the crowd. So, when the time comes to make sequels, the player base has the beginnings of the story.

A remaster or remake can even hurt or destroy a game's legacy and preservation. Using Silent hill as a perfect example, that game has four remakes that are readily available on both console and PC systems. However, when it comes to Xbox and PC we simply cannot buy the originals. Sure, PlayStation has another subscription service (PlayStation Now) but subscription is not ownership. Digital purchases are already treading in deep water on the right of ownership for gamers.

Another important factor of preservation and general availability is the goodwill generated from preserving old games. For instance, the Resident Evil Remakes have been released for a while, starting with the second game at least. However, there were significant changes to some of them that alter the story and how a player experiences the game. Specifically, Resident Evil 3 cut out a large section of the many different aspects of the game. This included explorable areas, characters, sequences and even mechanics.

Should we be able to purchase the original Resident Evil 3, we would playthrough and entirely different experience compared to the remake. Some may consider this to be a great reason to buy it (giving these companies more money). It would be a win-win for everyone. (as long as it's not overpriced).

The Future of Franchises

Out of everything discussed for these specific franchises, we cannot stop there. This has the potential to be an industry problem. We are already in the next generation that allows us to remake games that are barely a console generation old. Games like Uncharted 4, The Last of Us, The Last of Us Part 2, Layers of Fear and others are already seeing remasters. What perpetuates this cycle is the price that they are continuing to be offered. Games like Uncharted 4 released for the PlayStation 4 console at a standard $60. Now, even though the remaster comes with two games in one, the technical presentation offered is not much different from the original.

Overall, it just puts into question the state of old games more than anything. Are companies more willing to sell us the same game over and over again? This current console generation certainly allows it. While, remakes such as Silent Hill 2 or even Resident Evil (RE2 remake, RE4 remake) offer something that could be considered more (not including the RE3 Remake) than the original game. We must not forget to take preservation seriously and not become complacent for the same game over and over again. There is a market for continuing and preserving every game these franchises have to offer.