The history of video games is as much a history of remaking and remastering: bedroom coders pulling apart the pieces and putting them back together, developers recreating arcade games for home consoles, or using better tech and bigger budgets to move with the times. Remasters of beloved titles – and some not so – have trodded along in the decades since, often as vibrant a part of the gaming landscape as new titles.
But, over the last few years, AAA remakes have become an institution unto themselves. 2023 feels like a tipping point with remakes of Dead Space, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 4 and Super Mario RPG on hitting store shelves, to name but a few. With titles like these making up a quarter or more of some end of year lists, we have to ask: what's going on?
