Square EnixIf there’s a single trend that’s dominated the last decade of media, it’s attempts to harness nostalgia. Disney has endlessly pursued live-action remakes and the glories of old Star Wars adventures, and TV shows like King of the Hill, Scrubs, and Malcolm in the Middle are all getting revivals. Video games are also no strangers to capitalizing on nostalgia, as this year alone has seen well over two dozen remakes or remasters. Earlier this year, my review of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater questioned why we remake games, and what purpose a remake is supposed to achieve. Inverse’s Remade series tried to answer that question by talking to the minds behind everything from Final Fantasy 7 Remake to System Shock, and a single thread I found running throughout all these conversations was the idea of “comfort,” for both players and creators. In particular, something Larry Kuperman, VP of business development at Nightdive Studios, said has really stuck with me. “There’s always been an emotional element to games, right? Games as art forms have always been capable of evoking emotions from us,” Kuperman says. “I think that, when you look at remasters [and remakes], in a period of uncertainty and change, there’s true comfort in playing something that is both familiar and new.”In leaving the original creator’s vision intact, Delta represents a distinct approach to remakes. | KonamiNostalgia has always been tough to describe, but I think that warm sense of comfort is an apt descriptor. And it’s easy to see why comfort would be in demand right now. Amid tough times, it’s hard for players to invest in unproven ideas and hardware. Even if you look past the state of the world or the cost of living, the video game industry is in a difficult position — thousands of layoffs, studio closures, cancelled projects. This has had a drastic effect on the industry’s landscape, and although they might not feel it directly, players see it. But that’s not the case with an established brand like Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid, which many people know they’re likely to enjoy. From a consumer standpoint, remakes and remasters are a guaranteed win. You have an attachment to the original game, so you know, at least to some degree, that you’ll enjoy something in it. From the more cynical business side, then, it makes sense that companies would invest heavily in remakes: there’s often less concepting and prototyping, and a more guaranteed return. We have plenty of examples of churned-out, cash-grab remasters, and we always will. But what most surprised me about conducting these interviews is how consistently and confidently developers felt like remaking games was creating innovation, or real food for thought on the future of these franchises. The question of why games are remade has a multi-faceted answer. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter was a chance for Falcom to rediscover the series’ simplicity. | GungHo OnlineFor Falcom, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter let newer developers experience the “roots” of Trails, while also serving as an investigation into what the series had left behind. In its grand storytelling ambitions, Trails has lost some of the more quaint, concise narrative touches that made the series feel contained and personal. The Trails in the Sky remake let Falcom rediscover that comforting feeling that made the series so popular, the “coziness” it became beloved for. For the team on Age of Mythology: Retold, the remake not only provided the chance to update a classic and make it play better than ever, but also deliver on exciting new ideas. Expansion like Pillars of Eternity and Heavenly Spear added new Chinese and Japanese pantheons, major gameplay changes, and new campaigns; Retold still has the original’s comforting feeling, but it’s bristling with new energy. For both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, developers emphasized that these remakes provided a chance to “delight” fans, while forging a new path for the future. And a big part of that is studios and developers seeing what they can do when older ideas encounter new technology. Final Fantasy 7 Remake feels unprecedented in its ambition to split the experience into three games. | Square Enix“In the 1990s, gaming hardware evolved very rapidly, which gave birth to countless masterpieces. Thirty years since then, technology has dramatically advanced, which allowed for an even greater range of what can be expressed,” Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi says. “I believe that using these advancements to reconstruct titles from that time creates new experiential value.”Even with Metal Gear Solid Delta, the remake that launched this entire interview series, hearing directly from producer Noriaka Okamura shifted how I viewed the title. The ethos of the project was to create “a remake that was too faithful,” that showed the utmost respect to the original and made few changes across the board. And while I might personally want something else out of a remake, I have to commend the team for having a vision and sticking to it. Even in this case, Okamura feels like a remake that changes little can be the right step towards creating something more innovative. Every single developer I talked to said something similar. Some, like Hamaguchi, are fans of the original game who used their talents and ideas to redefine it. And I think that’s where this idea of “comfort” returns.Remasters and remakes are both important for learning from the past. | Nightdive StudiosWith remasters and remakes, you already have a known quantity — you know a series’ strengths and the gist of each entry. That gives developers a solid foundation to layer new interpretations and elements onto. It’s only through this process that we could get things like Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s incredible combat system, or Nightdive getting to resurrect cut content from the original Shadow Man.Because video games are so iterative, it feels like remakes serve a much larger purpose than in other entertainment mediums. In an industry that’s still comparatively young, learning from the past and incorporating new technology is more important than ever. There’s a lot you can take away from these interviews, but first and foremost is that remakes and remasters aren’t going anywhere, and that’s a good thing. In an industry searching for solid ground, a blast of nostalgia can be life-giving, and maybe exactly what everyone needs to stay afloat and keep making hits.