10 Upcoming Video Game Remakes
Video game remakes aren’t always a sign of laziness on the part of the publisher, as the recent Dead Space remake aptly proves. The developers at Motive Studio have turned a good game into an even better game thanks to the improved control scheme, superior graphics, and newly-created side missions.
Demon’s Souls, Final Fantasy VII, and Resident Evil 2 are other titles that have benefited from a makeover, giving fans of these games the incentive to play them again, and gamers who have never tried these titles before the opportunity to play them on their modern consoles.
Admittedly, not every remake has been worth the wait. The remake of the role-playing game Risen was recently released to less than stellar reviews, largely because it still looks like the original 2009 game, but I suppose fans of the title might still want to replay it for nostalgia value.
A number of other video game remakes are coming our way over the next few years and we have listed our top picks below.
Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
Knights Of The Old Republic is widely considered to be one of the best Star Wars games ever made so here’s hoping the remake is worthy of Bioware’s 2003 release on the Xbox and PC. It has been in limbo for quite some time due to internal issues within Aspyr, the development studio responsible for the upgraded game, so this doesn’t bode well. There have also been rumours that the game has been delayed indefinitely. As such, the force clearly isn’t strong with this one!
Still, there has been no official confirmation of the game’s cancellation and there is some speculation online that it will still see the light of day. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to see it this year as sources suggest a 2024 or 2025 release date is probably more likely. But as long as the game still retains the epic role-playing experience of the original as well as an updated graphic engine that does away with the blocky character models of the original, we don’t mind waiting.
The remake of Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic will (hopefully) be released on PC and PlayStation 5 sometime in the future.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which was released on the PS2, Xbox, Gamecube and PC in 2003, was an attempt to reboot the age-old Prince of Persia franchise that originated in 1989. The new game had much better visuals, a more enticing story, and brand-new time-bending mechanics that allowed you to rewind time if you made a mistake during its fiendishly hard platforming sections.
The remake has been beset by a number of delays but despite rumours that it may have been cancelled, Ubisoft has confirmed that the game is still happening. Of course, they did say the same thing about Beyond Good & Evil 2 and that still hasn’t had a release, 15 years after it was first announced, but we are a little more optimistic about the Prince of Persia remake.
The remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will be released on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One (and maybe current-gen consoles too) sometime after 2023.
System Shock
System Shock was considered revolutionary at the time of its 1994 release due to its fully 3D environments, the immersive storyline (which was something rare in FPS games at the time), and its advanced physics engine. It’s dated now, of course, but the opportunity to play the game again, with updated visuals, a more streamlined control system, and new gameplay features, will give System Shock the new lease of life that it deserves.
Nightdive Studios are behind this remake which puts you in the shoes of a resourceful hacker who has to survive the terrors of a space station that is under the control of a rogue AI. The game is a mix of exploration, combat, and puzzle solving, and will be familiar to anyone who has played such games as Bioshock, Prey, and Dead Space that share some similarities.
The remake of System Shock will be released on PC, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S sometime in March 2023.
Resident Evil 4
The fourth instalment of the Resident Evil franchise was released to great acclaim back in 2005 so the fact that it is getting a re-release, complete with state-of-the-art graphics and improved gameplay will be something that is welcomed by both fans of the original and new players who enjoyed the recent Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 remakes.
Players will once again control U.S. agent Leon S. Kennedy as he embarks on a mission to find the President’s daughter who has been kidnapped by a cult. As you’ll already know if you played the original game, this takes him to a Spanish village where all manner of horrors await him, including chainsaw-wielding cult members and regenerating monsters.
The Resident Evil 4 remake will be released on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Xbox Series X|S on March 24, 2023.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
The second instalment of Final Fantasy VII will be with us this year. The game will pick up where the first remake left off and it will take us to new locations outside of the capital city of Midgar. Expect the same gorgeous graphics and real-time combat options that benefited the 2020 release, which were an improvement on the dated visual stylings and turn-based combat schemes of the original PS1 game.
In terms of story, the game will be faithful to the original title but the game’s producer has promised a few new elements. We don’t know much more than that but here’s hoping the changes aren’t too alienating to long-term fans of the series.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has only been announced for PS5 thus far and it has a Winter 2023 release window.
Like a Dragon: Ishin!
The original game was released on PS3 and PS4 in 2014 so the fact that it is being remade so soon might seem a little odd. However, Ishin was never given an international release outside of its native Japan so for many gamers, the remake will be their first opportunity to play the game.
The developers at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have remade Like a Dragon: Ishin using Unreal Engine 4, so this historical epic will have the graphical quality that we expect from newer game titles. The game is a historical epic set in Japan during the 1860s and it puts players in the shoes of Sakamoto Ryoma, a real-life Samurai warrior who carries out a mission of revenge after the death of his father.
The Like a Dragon: Ishin! remake will be released on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One on February 21, 2023.
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2 is one of the best horror games ever made but fans were disappointed by its re-release when it was given a makeover for the Silent Hill HD Collection. Will this remake be an improvement? As it has been developed by Bloober Team, the people behind The Medium and Layers of Fear, we are quietly confident that it will be.
Thanks to the possibilities of Unreal Engine 5, you can expect the foggy, sinister town of Silent Hill to be eerier and far more lifelike than what we have seen before. As you can read here, the lead designer of the game has promised a “harrowing and unforgettable experience for fans old and new” thanks to realistic environments, advanced lighting technology, and a “realistic and believable soundscape” that will be disturbingly immersive.
If this game is as scary as the original, you’re going to need an extra pair of pants!
The Silent Hill 2 remake is set to arrive on PC and PlayStation 5 sometime in 2023.
Advance Wars
The military strategy game Advance Wars was first released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance. The gameplay focused on two conflicting nations, with players controlling one or both of these (if playing in multiplayer) in turn-based battles to gain control of the game’s map. 3 games followed and for this upcoming remake for the Nintendo Switch, the first and second games will be packaged together in the form of a remake.
The game, which has been titled Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, has been delayed because of the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but a release date shouldn’t be too far away. The remake has been built from the ground up with a new art style, re-recorded soundtrack, 3D graphics, and the addition of online versus functionality. Provided the gameplay is as addictive as it used to be, we should be in for a treat when the game eventually lands in stores.
The Advance Wars remake is set to arrive on Nintendo Switch sometime soon.
Splinter Cell
Metal Gear Solid 2 was the stealth game everybody was clamouring for in 2001 but little did Konami, the game’s publisher know, that a contender for the stealth crown was waiting in the shadows. That game was Splinter Cell, and while it owed a lot to Solid Snake’s first two adventures, it still managed to stand out due to its light and dark mechanics.
The game is now being built from the ground up using Ubisoft’s Snowdrop Engine (which is also being used for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora), but it’s still very early in production. As such, you shouldn’t expect to see covert ops veteran Sam Fisher and his iconic trifocal night vision goggles this year, but there is hope that the game will emerge from hiding sometime in 2024.
The Splinter Cell remake is set to arrive on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox X/S sometime before the end of 2024.
Max Payne
The Matrix may have popularised bullet-time in the movies but in the gaming world, it was Max Payne who first used this mechanic. The ability to slow down time was pretty awesome back in 2001 as it allowed you to dive out of the way of the enemy’s bullets like a character from a Matrix or John Woo movie.
Alan Wake 2 developer Remedy Entertainment is remaking Max Payne and Max Payne 2 as a single title so if you have never filled the shoes of the titular hardboiled cop before, you will now have double the opportunity. The new game is being built using Remedy’s Northlight Engine, which was previously used for Control and Quantum Break, so the game will look and feel better than the previous games in the action series. There are no plans to remake Max Payne 3 at present but if the upcoming game sells well, we might see a new adaptation (or an original sequel) further down the line.
The Max Payne remake is set to arrive on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox X/S sometime in 2024.
Are you looking forward to these games? Or are there any other games that you think should be remade? Let us know in the comments below.