For ease or for (the excuse of) making the young generations discover great classics, video games have been falling in love for several years. Redo. This art of making something new out of the old, but more beautiful and more modern, tends to reproduce itself with great speed.
Some hide behind other names (HD for example) so as not to be taxed with “remake” (remade version) or “remastered” (prettier version), but the result is usually the same: same scenario (with the addition of extensions sometimes released over time), the same gameplay with some modern touches and the same decoration. The developers then invoke nostalgia for older gamers, parents who “dream” of reliving their childhood games with their children. Very often, it is also an easy solution to capitalize on a previously acquired success.
Nostalgia worth it
Thus, we saw the appearance in 2022 of the remakes of Call of Duty Modern Warfare II (whose remastered version dates from 2020), The Last of Us Part I (released in 2013 and already remastered in 2014), Resident Evil 2 and 3 expecting the arrival of 4 in 2023Pac-Man World: Re-Pac (released in 1999) and soon Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion (launched in 2007), after the Final Fantasy VII Remakethe latest in a long line of Square Enix episodes that have almost all been remade since 2000.
And sometimes everything also comes back in build like sonic origins which does 3-in-1 by updating the first three episodes of Sonic the Hedgehog (1991, 1992, 1994). or before him crash bandicoot whose first three games had been compiled in Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (2017), but with the merit of redoing the animation, the graphics and a clear improvement in the audio.
Far from simple ports to other platforms in the GTA V, are often a reason to settle on the next generation of consoles. If it brings new players, making remakes also has the merit of keeping the memory of a game “intact” in people’s minds. Very beautiful on PS2, Xbox 360 or another GameCube, it would have taken a bad hit from yesteryear to arrive in a simply remastered version on a next-gen console. Updating it keeps alive the idea we kept of these little pearls when they came out, as long as the gameplay and story haven’t aged like the remake games. Mafia and Mafia II.
But there are also those who failed as silent hill hd (episodes 2 and 3, not the 1 whose code was lost…), Super Mario 64 (passed from the N64 to the Nintendo DS without changing the controls) or even secret of mana, failed 3D PS4 remake of a Game Boy title. Games that had put stars in the eyes of players, but years later were considered disastrous remakes with stark and outdated gameplay, modernized graphics that barely saved everything. Only the cash register had perhaps given satisfaction to the publishers…
Dead Space, terrifying as in memories…
Soon to be announced Dead space. The terrifying survival space opera, released in 2008, arrives on PC and next-generation consoles on January 27. We were able to take a look at it and pick it up 15 years later. First observation: the possible feelings of terror are the same, this same fear of being attacked at every corner of the USS Ishimura.
On paper and seen the first images, as usually happens, the idea is good. Visually, the game designed by Visceral Games and now by Motive Studio, has taken a giant leap. We’re still in the same oppressive atmosphere Alienstrolling around a sinking spaceship and beset by strange creatures that stalk you.
It is more beautiful while it is more scary. Now that download times, an asset of the PS5 and Xbox series, have been removed, there are no more moments of respite and therefore the trouilometer is potentially continuous at maximum. In addition, the sound has also been redesigned to be even more present, more strident. Even the noises have been redone and others have been added to create this sticky borderline atmosphere at times. You were jumping 15 years ago, you will do the same again. It’s not exactly the same game though.
To keep up with the times, the hero, Isaac Clarke, is more talkative. Those who knew the original character may claim heresy, but in 2023, it passes quietly. It is also perhaps our memory that plays a trick on us by having stored in a corner of our mind the memory of a game where the screams of the monsters and the creaking of the ship’s pipes gave the EA title its sonorous color. Sounds that were full-fledged players in the experience and are even more present, as if to better reinforce the atrocity of a more terrifying and heartbreaking scenario.
Even its effects have been improved, distance has been added, to make the game more immersive and play more with the nerves. We’re still scared, but our eyes aren’t affected by outdated graphics and the game remains so fresh in our minds now exposed to 2023 visual codes.
“Do not distort the original game”
The game is faithful to him. dead space original from which it takes its name. They always happily kill the undead who want our skin. The remake offers us much more realistic pieces of meat and spurts of blood. we reconnect with dead space like one meets an old friend who one would have the impression of having left the day before and who has not changed.
“We didn’t want to distort the original game. We had a creative vision from the beginning. But we wanted to have an uninterrupted experience”, explains Eric Baptizat to Tech&Co. By the same admission of the director of the new dead spaceHowever, the teams allowed themselves a few sprains. “Now we have a long sequential shot from start to finish, because we get rid of the loading zones, the cuts due to the cinematics.” To accomplish this, the new team rearranged the ship so that traversing it made sense. “We moved certain parts, certain pieces, we added connections. But now, you can really walk in all areas”, enthuses Eric Baptizat. “It is to encourage the player to explore, visit or revisit. There is always something going on in a room, even when you return to it.”
And the gameplay has also been modernized, without betraying itself. “There are some elements that we take from dead space 2 Where 3 and we put that in, because we wanted to give more possibilities, especially with the power of the hero, ”he admits. “And that won’t necessarily come as a surprise to those insiders of the franchise, because those are iconic elements that have moved the franchise forward, but they’re already there.” The zero gravity zones of the first dead space, which consisted of bouncing the player from wall to wall with magnetic boots, have been replaced by the flotation that appeared in Dead space 2. This gives a more contemporary effect to the game mechanics, such as changes to the puzzles in some rooms that have also been modernized, with some quests added.
“There are new elements that give the impression that it is the same game. The same story, but in an identical setting and revised at the same time,” concludes Eric Baptizat. A modernized nostalgia that will (re)make you want to scream in space.
Dead Space will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X⎜S, and PC on January 27, 2023.
Source: BFM TV
