Remakes, Remasters, and the ethics of preservation (Gaming)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Thursday, December 10, 2020, 00:42 (1234 days ago)
edited by Cody Miller, Thursday, December 10, 2020, 00:45

I can't help but feel that more and more developers are unaware of what it means to remaster vs remake. More and more are simply being careless and negligent.

A remake is when you basically create something new with the original as a base. Anything goes. You can change whatever you want.

A remaster is when you update the original to be in line with modern standards, while preserving it as closely as possible, or in some cases restoring the original creative intent.

Easy right?

And yet here I am, playing the Sam & Max save the World "remaster", only to find that jokes have been cut, and a voice actor has been recast. The voice actor was recast to match the race of the character, and the jokes were cut because they were "uncomfortable in a game in 2020".

But see, you are not presenting a game made in 2020. You are presenting a game made in 2006. We do not change or censor films because they have problematic elements in this time, so why is this acceptable for a game? You need to preserve art, warts and all, so you can learn from the past. Pretending they were something they weren't is not only dishonest, but contrary to progress. It can be a useful tool to start a discussion about historical context.

When you remaster a game, it's your duty to preserve everything as closely as possible. This means no cutting or content changes. Anything else is inexcusable. If this makes you uncomfortable, then do a remake.

I have been saying for a long time that 343's "Remaster" of Halo was hugely damaging. This stuff matters. I see so little care with so many remasters these days. But at the same time, I see so many wonderful remakes. FF7 Remake, Doom 2016, Resident Evil Remake, etc. I wish developers would recognize that if they aren't going to preserve with a remaster, then they should go wild with a remake. 343 could have made their Twin Snakes version of Halo if they wanted to mess with the graphics, audio, and presentation so much. These halfsies remasters with graphical overhauls but identical or similar mechanics and design are kind of bullshit.

I wish the folks making these would take it seriously. You would never do any of that stuff to say, a 4K remaster of a classic film. You scan it in 4K or 8K, clean up the dust and scratches on the negative, and make a new digital master. You don't fucking start cutting content or start redoing all the stop motion with CGI. You leave it how it was, but present it as the best version of itself for modern audiences.

Games are art too. So start remastering them like they are.