Friday Debate – Which game deserves the Final Fantasy VII Remake treatment?

There’s a hot take to be had from this generation of gaming, and that’s that the industry finally nailed what a remaster of a video game should be like: Shinier and stuffed to the gills with all of the DLC that we couldn’t be arsed enough to buy back when said game first came out. We’ve seen a heck of a lot of remasters over the last couple of years, some done well some done horribly (Just look at the Devil May Cry trilogy collection for an example here) and there’s no end in sight to them.

And that’s okay! There’s a certain joy in revisiting certain games, when you’re older and slightly wiser, savouring details that your lack of life experience may have made you miss the first tie you played them. Then there’s the video game remake, a project that requires an absurd amount of passion and resources to even contemplate, let alone tackle.

Final Fantasy VII Remake stands tall as the best of the lot, thanks to it getting so much right. It looks stunning, it plays brilliantly and while it might have too much padding for my tastes, the expanded storyline makes for gripping entertainment. So which game would you like to see given that remake treatment? What classic from yesteryear, do you think would draw in a whole new audience if it switched gameplay gears and attempted something new?

You have to wonder, just how much of a tonal shift you’d be willing to accept when it comes to a childhood classic. You’d need to also accept that the storyline of your most treasured game would most likely also be altered in certain areas, because it’s not 1995 anymore and the world has grown up a bit since then. On the plus side, seeing the video game that made you fall in love with the medium, running at full speed in a new visual engine and with character models that look better than the action figures you have of them on your desk.

Can you imagine a game given that treatment? Brad reckons Chrono Trigger deserves it, Capcom fans are clamouring for a Dino Crisis remake in the same vein as the recent Resident Evil 3 games and holy crap I’d sell all three of my testicles to see Final Fantasy 8 Remastered. Especially if it changes the story to make the Rinoa is Edea theory a canon part of the saga.

What about you? Which game deserves the remake treatment? And no, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance can’t be on that list because it’s impossible to remake something that’s already perfect. Sound off below, on what your dream revival would look like. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go pester Remedy Entertainment to make Alan Wake Reawakening Edition.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: May 15, 2020