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Why are there so many video game remakes these days? We think we know the answer. New ideas are hard to come by, and big games are harder, more expensive, and take longer to make than ever before. Even a new sequel in an already-popular franchise is a huge, risky undertaking. But game companies need reliable products to put on the shelves quicker than they can make new ones. Remakes answer that need, as well as keeping back catalogs relevant for an industry whose relentless technological advances swiftly render classics obsolete.
That’s all accurate. But what if the game developers working on remakes had reasons of their own for revisiting the classics — reasons that weren’t just learning their way around Unreal Engine 5, plugging a gap between new releases, or answering market forces? We got an emphatic answer this week, in the form of not one but two remarkable new versions of two of the greatest and most influential games ever made. Those two games, released on consecutive days, are The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and World of Warcraft: Forever.
A few months ago, I said that we need to decide what we want from remakes. This is what we want.
These games have some similarities in their approach to remaking a classic, and some differences. Both games make smart modernizations while working hard to retain the spirit of the original. Ocarina of Time is a faithful recreation of a masterpiece that takes few liberties with its content and design, but makes a forceful departure in its lavish and technically dazzling art style.
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