Poll: How Often Do You Buy Games That Have Been 'Remade' Or 'Remastered'?

It really is a combination of companies being to lazy/having no creativity and companies having a poor backwards compatibility process.

I have bought loads to good to pass up on when on sale I bought mafia collection borderlands, bioshock, resident evil 2&3, batman Arkham, dead island all dirt cheap on sale and alan wake remaster aswell i loved

I'll generally pick up ones I like if they have meaningful extra content (e.g. Sonic X Shadow Generations), revives a multiplayer playerbase (e.g. if a Gears collection happened) or is released on a preferred system that doesn't have the original via backwards compatibility (e.g. Switch). Also remakes that are more like reimaginings such as if the FFVII Remake trilogy comes to Nintendo hardware natively, I'll get it day 1.

The kind of setup Sony's doing with like TLoU Part 1 being a PS5 remake of a PS4 remaster of a PS3 game where you can play the PS4 remaster on PS5 via backwards compatibility is nonsense though.

I’ve bought my fair share of remasters/remakes. Depends if I liked the original and if I felt it needed a remaster/remake. RE 2 & 3, Destroy All Humans 1 & 2, Project Zero/Fatal Frame 5 & 4, the latest was Tomb Raider Remastered 1 - 3. I love older games and I feel it’s worth it, I’ll get it. I know RE 4 remake was super popular. I did not buy that one as I didn’t want a remake for that game. So I buy a decent amount of them, but only if I feel it’s worthy of that treatment.

If a game is unavailable on modern platforms, or if it has major technical deficiencies (e.g., a 30fps cap), then I'm all for an enhanced port, or "remaster", if you will. It's a great way to get old games back into circulation, without requiring any would-be players to spend a fortune.

Remakes can be cool, too, if they polish up or reimagine an old favourite that hasn't aged well... but those old favourites are rarely the ones that get remade! More often, we seem to get modern shooters that already look and play fine: The Last of Us, CoD Modern Warfare, Dead Space, etc.

As long as I'm interested I usually buy remasters and remakes

I find myself struggling to buy a lot of remastered at full new game price. Most the time if i buy a remaster it's either a game I missed previously but didn't want to go so far back in industry progression to buy the original. Meaning ounce to play #3 playing #1 sucks because you have experience everything you can do in #3 and worse graphics. Now remakes are better in that instance. I would rather it be remake, at least if it's something I already own it's less of a double dipping if theres new stuff. Oh and it does make a difference weather it console or PC. If the game can be modded then remastered usually still does pass what the original modded is anyway, if it's console and no mods available remastered makes sense. Regardless it more likely I buy if it's not outrageously priced.

If I've already played the game, I don't buy/play the remaster unless it is significantly different or has extra content. If I haven't played it, I go with the remaster. Remakes are typically different in the sense that it isn't (typically) the "same" game and I will usually play both if I'm interested enough in whatever it is.

I'm a big fan of remasters of games that aren't available on modern platforms such as what Nightdive Studios has done with Star Wars, Exhumed and the Turok games for example plus the recent Tomb Raider trilogy.

Stuff like Sony re-releasing PS4 games on PS5 and charging for the upgrade, I'm not a fan of, especially when others do so for free such as Xbox and third parties like Capcom. Speaking of Capcom their Resident Evil Remakes have largely been tremendous

Depends on the age of the game and what it meant to me. Something like Last of Us? Nah, too recent.

Something like the re-release of Battlefront? Day 1.

are the old dead island games for series x considered remastered? cause i didn't care for them on 360 with the bad frames but love em on the series x.

the e3 trailer for re 2 remake was my last exciting e3 moment.

All. The. Time. I more often get excited about playing older games rather than newer ones. Dead Space, RE4, MGS master collection, Tomb Raider. Plan on getting the Star Wars Battlefront collection. Good stuff.

All the time… as well as re releases compilations like “cowabunga Collection”

I’m saying nothing 😂

I’m happy to buy a well made remaster of a classic game if I never played the original. If it’s a game I’ve previously beaten I’ll usually skip it or maybe check it out if it’s available on a subscription or deeply discounted.

I played and completed the original demon’s Souls at launch on ps3. My first souls game and arguably my favourite by virtue of being first, but I only played the remaster when it arrived on ps+ extra. This, despite being a fantastic game that had been completely remade with new assets and lighting in a new engine.

Practically never. Not a fan of remasters/remakes. Really tired of them. I prefer to give my money to new stuff.

Unless it is a game that is significantly different in terms of a remake that will be a different experience from the original I may give them a miss. With remasters it has to be something that isn't already available on the current or previous generations with little to no enhancements other than a resolution and texture increase. If the remaster is something that keeps the look of an old game but makes certain aspects about how it plays more modern like what Nightdive do then I will be much more interested.

I love remasters/remakes for games that need them. I'm not a fan of Playstation's recent approach where the games feel like they just came out but are getting remasters. I also don't like Nintendo's approach of calling them remasters but with little to no improvements just so they can sell a previous console's game on current gen.

Quake 1 and 2 should be the gold standard for remasters. New content, toggleable visual upgrades, accessibility features, crossplay, mod support, improved AI, etc. And it was all free if you already had the originals.

A lot of the time! I get that there's an argument to be made that it's a cash grab, and companies are just trying to make easy money off of nostalgia.
But I think it's healthy for the industry to support preservation. Also, even if the game has aged kind of poorly I think there's still a lot of merit to being able to replay older games from a narrative stand point (so many games today are sequels), or from a game development stand point (seeing how game design has evolved over the decades etc).

And finally, I think the used video game market is filled with over-inflated prices and scalpers. It's so hard to build a retro game collection and the ones who say it's easy either have a lot of money or are lying and started collecting when those consoles were not retro. Remasters and Remakes are an acceptable answer (to me) to the retro games problem. Just my opinion.

Like others, it depends on the game, and I don’t usually go for full price unless it really warrants it. The Mafia remake for example was a day one for me, the original was fantastic and the chance to play it again was very tempting, so I went for it and really enjoyed it. There was also a massive gap between the original and the remake.

As a huge fan of the last of us, I wouldn’t personally have bought the part one ps5 remaster (if I had a ps5), as I thought that the ps4 version was great and didn’t really need improvement. So it really depends.

This battlefront complication I am very keen to get, as I really enjoyed the original back in the day and would like the chance to play it again.

I guess I treat them like any other game. There are some il buy day one, some I wait for a sale, and many I won’t touch at any price.

Have a good fee. Even XIII(which isn't as bad now as when it first released, quite enjoyed it actually). Got Gears, Mafia 1+2, Borderlands. Couple of others that I can't remember atm.

A good remake or remaster is great to make accessible games you’d have no chance getting the hardware for. But the trend of the new version being worse than the original we’ve seen the last couple of years (Deadspace, RE4, tales of symphonia, chrono cross, etc.) really grinds my gears.

If given the Resident Evil or Dead space level treatment I'm all for it, if it is just a resolution bump or fps bump I won't buy the same game twice for that.

Love a good remake or remaster but there's limits such as tlou2 remaster which was ridiculously unneeded. I'm big into emulation at the minute and honestly with the settings turned up we don't need to be paying for remasters, although sometimes the controls are a welcome upgrade

For me it's all about the games really. Like with the Dark Forces remaster, it was very much needed IMO and greatly enhances the experience of trying to play that game. As with something like Brothers however, it's easy for me to skip as I don't really think it's that necessary nor do I consider the game the kind of classic I would want to play again with a remastering.

I buy alot of remakes (if done right) love it, esp for nostalgia sake.

Overall, of the many that have been released, I have bought/own very few and I doubt I spent anywhere near as much time playing them a '2nd' time.

Of course there maybe an exception, but overall if I played it and all its had is a visual/performance upgrade, I'm not going to bother finishing it knowing what's coming next and how it ends.

I certainly am not buying games that may have a higher res count or even higher. more consistent frame rates if the polygon count is still 'low' (Turok, Tomb Raider etc). I wouldn't mind these 'existing' for people that missed out on them first time round, but I do feel they are beginning to rely on something quick and relatively cheap/easy to release to make 'money' as their incessant need to find those long time Live Service game that only require 'minimal staffing' to keep supplying Cosmetics to purchase and get Maximum profit from minimal content.

To me, these 'ports' (hardly 'remakes' are minimal effort for maximum Profit games - no need to 'create' anything, design anything, write anything etc...

I buy a lot of them but I'm saddened that it seems like, when it comes to remakes at least, that we should be able to buy or get the original game bundled in as well. I would have loved copies of the OG Resident Evil 2 and 3 when I got the remakes of them. We need so many of those old games available again. I know no one in these corporations wants to do it but it's not hard to do and prints money. I don't see why not.

I only buy remasters when they are at least 75% off. I will buy remakes closer to 50% off if they are reviewed as really good remakes.

I don't understand why people buy remasters at full price. Often the remasters cost more than the original version of the game on day one. And all remasters are is people going and touching up the graphical assets of the game without improving gameplay or the story.

Remakes are a bit different. If done well I find them worth buying after they get to 50% off. I figure 50% of game development is creativity and figuring out how to make a game work well. So, I am waiting until that 50% is in the cost of the game.

It depends on what’s done and added. I bought TLOU Part 1 remake as that’s my fav video game of current times and to play it on PS5, the way they wanted to make it originally, is incredible. TLOU remastered, the campaign isn’t much different to the PS4 version. I played it on the pro an imo TLOU Part 2 is one of the best looking games of last gen. However the new game mode No Return is worth the £10 upgrade alone. Then there’s the guitar mode, the deleted scenes, a making of documentary an literally hundreds of unlockable skins, weapons and mods for the No Return game. Res Evil 2 and 4 i bought and Demon’s Souls back wen PS5 released but i never played it on PS3. Other remakes i’ll try wen they come to Game Pass or PS+.

Depends on the game obviously. If it’s a game I loved to play and don’t have access to anymore (and the price is right) I don’t mind picking up a remaster / remake. Turok 1 & 2 , Quake 1 & 2, SW Dark Force were instant buys for me.

(Ehm, looking at the list I guess I could’ve just said “if NightDive Studios made it I probably will 😅 )

@pip_muzz Maybe try playing a quality remake/remaster and experience how awesome they can be.
If I missed out on a great title from its original release, then of course I'm going to check out it's modern updated version.

Look at a game like The Dragon's Trap, the remake of one of the best 8 bit games, Wonder Boy 3. That's a true masterpiece of a remake, the exact original game but with gorgeous new visuals and an orchestral score. THAT is how you do it.

@VoidPunk That's a great point. It's ridiculous that some re-releases are effectively "demasters", which simply take an older game and make it worse. (See also: Silent Hill HD, etc.)

Even besides those really egregious cases, I've noticed that almost every remaster and remake in existence will omit, break, or change some small (or large!) element that people like: maybe the enhanced textures look less gritty, there's new censorship, the funny/charming dialogue was redone, a fun bug was patched out, or a graphical trick was lost in translation.

Even a really good remake can never replace the original, so the original should always remain available. And it goes without saying that remasters should strive to be faithful to the original- though ideally offering optional enhancements to try to deliver the "definitive" version.

I don't think often. Sure I have considered successors/reboots at times. But remakes no really many at all. Depends on the game, the IP, it's accessibility, how much I really care and how available of timing it is not just price or the DLC or anything like that.

Even getting Day One Editions later with an artbook/OST CD I'm just lucky to get them, I didn't buy them Day One. They just happen to be those versions of the game left on the shelves conveniently. XD

Like sure I got Spyro Reignited, my PS1 disks won't last forever and while I prefer the originals then certain changes of the remake I was curious (hate I have to keep it on my hard drive due to the download in the future going away or finding a none download copy of the game physical).

I don't Gears of War Ultimate I have all the 360 games I don't need it.

I could sell my 360 Rare games (Kameo, Nuts and Bolts, Perfect Dark) as have Rare Replay but I haven't. I see reason in keeping them. Some I owned way before Rare Replay, others probably closer but I got Rare Replay late. That and if I ever want a copy of them to play on 360 and not bring an Xbox One or Series X I could. I don't need Rare Replay and the digital versions of those 360 games.

Sure I got many PS3 Remasters of PS2 games as they were the most accessible way to get some. I did for God of War series (PS2, PSP entries on PS3 via two volumes, Ascension, and GOW3 on PS4 remaster), Ico/Shadow of the Colossus as it just made it easier to get them that way.

Another Code Recollection (annoyed it's both combined/rework to be more modern not both playable rework or not which I'd have preferred not, Nintendo market it better please I don't care if oh for casuals they wouldn't notice, I noticed, many others know they were 2 games prior).

I got Darksiders 2 Deatinitive/1 Warmastered on PS4 and have all 4 games on PS4 now, but even then most times I'm not that interested in most games Remastered or not.

Like I'm interested in the Famicom Detective Club remakes on Switch and others sure. But it's because of what they are and some of the access to them prior yeah it's a lot of work. No way I'm going out of my way to get a Famicom and Disk System and a working one and those games being accessible that way. The modern version is more worth it.

I'd consider reboots more exciting to see how different they are in some cases especially when they deboot back like DMC did or Ratchet 2016 (hated but still worth owning for however different it is) did.

I mean I own PS2, 3 and Vita copies of the Ratchet games.

Like I didn't get the DMC reboot PS4/Xbox One definitive edition I got the PS3 copy.

Do I have FF7 sure, I never played the originals. Family member is playing them I couldn't care less not my type of RPGs I play Tactics games I'm not into the worlds the others offer of NPC content and story as much. Gameplay focus matters to me even if iconic I don't care missing out I still hear about them without playing them.

But otherwise not really no. Even when Burnout Paradise Remaster came out. I already came across a copy of the original on 360, I put it in my Xbox One to mark it as a back compat title.

I didn't care for the DLC as part of the Remaster at all, the visual upgrades and I found the game at a close enough time or after the Remastered version came out and for cheaper then the Remaster would have been at the time let alone I'd have to wait if I did get the Remaster. Availability is a fine thing but also if it's close enough of access I don't care if it's way harder then yeah I'll support the more harder way game getting Remade for sure if I care enough about the game series of interest to play it for the first time.

But I'd also get the old ones via a Virtual Console/Back compat digital or physical too. I don't buy digital on Xbox so it's physical back compat every time.

If I see a remaster/remake it's nice but I mostly will get the original and less content if I see a copy. If it's available and Remade/Remastered I don't mind but it depends on the situation.

While Remasters can give companies an idea to supporting the series I mean if I saw a copy available in a retro game store....

Some games I do get because I want to support it but most times I don't care.

My vote option isn't there, so I chose not interested in them.

If it's a game I haven't played and there's a remake and I want to play it, I'd be interested in buying the remake. Remaster maybe, but if controls are outdated, then no.

If it's a game I played before and there's a newer version/remake/remaster then no. I wouldn't buy the same game twice. Maybe if there's a big sale tho or if it's cheap.

Totally depends on the game. For example I had zero interest in replaying tale of two sons yet Metroid prime remake was an insta buy of which I needed to know nothing about.

i tend not to like remasters because they change things and the games aesthetics dont look as good imo. I remember crash N sane trilogy bothering me because of how bright they made everything and the gears of war definitive edition looking too colorful and cartoony with the moody bleak aesthetic being gone.

I have dipped many times over the year but I draw the line with Resident Evil. I have bought every new, re-release or remaster for the Dreamcast, Gamecube, Wii and Xbox 360, Xone. At this point I believe Capcom owes me copies RE1,2,3 and 4

Day one purchase for a Code Veronica re-make or whatever will be the next version of the game.