We all agree that it is great for your favorite games to get some updates or to be rebuilt through a Remake or Remaster to be resurrected from the dead and back to life again to look like a completely new game.
But sometimes things get mixed up and become more confusing for some players, especially newcomers to this huge fantasy world, and it is difficult for them to understand the difference between Remake, Remaster, and Reboot games, and the complex terminology and unclear names in the game names and updates.
Therefore, we show you a comparison that shows you the difference between the Remake, the Remaster, and the Reboot, which one is better, and what each of them offers to games.
The difference between Remake and Remaster games
For example, terms like Remake and Remaster have become very popular in recent years. At first glance you would think that they both mean the exact same thing.
You start to wonder here and there about the difference between the original game and the Remake or Remaster version of it, and is it the exact same game, or is there a difference in the gameplay, stages, levels, or characters, or is it limited to an update to the graphics and visual experience, and many questions that begin to confuse your mind.
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Rest assured, since you have come to us at the Review Plus site, we understand your feeling and fully understand the reason for your confusion in understanding such terms, and we will help you make the right decision before purchasing any game.
In fact, terms like Remake and Remaster have become an integral part of the gaming world, and over the past few years we have started to see some game titles being relaunched with the word Remake or Remaster at the end of their name.
What is the difference between each of them, and what is the difference between these versions and the original versions? This is the question that we will answer in detail, starting from the following lines.
■ What does it mean for a game to be a Reboot?
The word Port is one of the very important words in the world of video games, which means transferring the game from one platform to another.
For example, there are many games that Sony released as exclusive versions on its own device, and then later started to make a Reboot for them to work on PCs.
Perhaps a game such as The Last Of Us and God Of War is one of the most prominent examples that explain the word Reboot, which means that Sony asked developers to provide a special version of the game to work on the PC platform that supports the keyboard and mouse and takes advantage of the higher resolution of the screens (if possible). ).
Sometimes the reboot is very good, as we saw on the game God Of War, but other times it is very bad, as we saw on the game The Last Of Us. The matter depends on many reasons and we do not want to go into them so as not to deviate from the framework of our main topic.
But of course, Sony has an impressive set of modern Reboot technologies, and perhaps the Director Cut version that we saw on Ghost Of Tsushima was a great example of the new updates that affected the original game.
Through the release of the Director Cut of the game, there is more new content, the ability to run the game in a more dynamic 4K resolution, cinematic movement of the lips of the heroes and characters within the game, haptic feedback, higher speeds in game load times, and many additions that were able to take advantage of the capabilities of the PlayStation 5.
As for the term Definitive Edition or Game Of The Year, which is often known as GOTY, both of which mean adding more new content to the original game version.
However, these new additions often come with higher prices because they have received more effort from the developers and publishers of the game.
It's not much different for Microsoft. For example, the company develops exclusive games for the main home gaming platform, XBOX, and then reboots them to run on the PC platform, for example, games such as Forza Horizon and Gears Of War.
These are just a few common examples, as there are dozens of games that are developed first on home gaming platforms and then ported to be released on the PC platform.
■ What does the term remaster mean in games?
In a nutshell, Remaster means improving the visual experience and graphics of a game. Unfortunately, there are no specific standards that are adhered to by game developers and publishers when adding some visual improvements to an old title.
Some remastered games get many visual improvements, from the appearance of characters, routes, game worlds, and different environments to costumes, styles, weapons, and all items and objects inside the game world.
In the remaster games, the gameplay or the main story is not affected, and no new content is added to the main content.
It's just an improved visual experience in terms of look and feel so that an old game can take advantage of new graphical technologies such as ray tracing and shadow effects that become more realistic. The difference between the original game and the remaster game is very subtle differences, but it is easy to distinguish them from the old version of the game.
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For example, Microsoft recently introduced Halo: Master Chief Collection, which is actually a bundle of two games that have been improved graphically, but the gameplay and gameplay have not changed, and the story of the game has not been touched at all. Everything remains the same except for the improved graphics and visual experience.
In fact, some players believe that there is no real difference between the original game and the remaster version of it, and I personally agree with them unless you have purchased a new gaming device or a new screen and want to enjoy the game with the improved graphical experience.
Even the Halo: Master Chief Collection game makes you able to switch between the old version of the game and the remaster version of it by activating or disabling one option in the game settings menu.
This option makes you play the game as it is originally or play it with the latest graphics.
But a game like Nintendo Metroid Prime Remastered was a great example to follow in the world of remaster game development because it not only put its focus on improving the visual experience of all elements of the game, but also tried to improve the controls so that the game feels like a fighting game from the perspective of a first person shooter (first person perspective).
However, the graphics of the characters have not been touched, and this reflects the importance of the fact that we mentioned a short while ago, which is that there are no specific criteria that developers are supposed to adhere to in order to release an old version of the game titled Remaster.
But when you find out that there's a new version of your 10- or 20-year-old game you've always loved, the upgrade is really due.
As for the games that were newly launched a few years ago and then they are released again in the form of a remaster, the player often does not feel any tangible difference because the graphic appearance alone is not enough to make the game look completely new.
■ What does the term Remake mean in games?
If Remaster games focus on the graphical experience, Remake games restructure the entire game over again. In Remake games, game development is started from scratch, with visual changes being one element among many others.
With Remake games, combat moves, game modes, story plot, lighting improvements, animations, and many other things are redeveloped.
For example, in a game like Dead Space Remake, not only did the developers make the USG Ishimura spaceship a single vehicle, but even the game's hero, Isaac Clark, spoke and was no longer silent as he was in the original version of the game.
And since the USG Ishimura has become one world, it's easy to navigate without the need for additional loading times.
In Remake games, developers not only target the original fans of the game, but also target new generations in order to create a new fan base of players who were unable to experience the original game experience at the time.
Another game like Demon's Souls, which got radical changes in its core and many subtle modifications that contributed to reshaping the look of the game again.
For example, the game developers stated that the new version of the game contains tangible additions that are different from the original version, such as enemy fall rates, and thus the player is more prepared to better confront enemies and bosses.
This is in addition to the improvements that have made their way to all the game's animations, from player movement to enemy movement to the way blood splatters to the way equipment and weapons are picked up from the ground and many more fundamental changes.
However, Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Remake is one of the best remake games ever released because it not only reworks the original gameplay and style, but also gets brand new content in front of the game that exceeds almost 5 hours.
In this game you can enjoy new combat style and improved visual experience but the core of the story itself is not changed.
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But the idea in developing Remake games does not revolve around changing the story, but rather the essence of the story is for the developer to be able to rebuild the game from the ground up without the original players feeling that there is a split between the original version and the new version of the game.
Conclusion
Certainly, there are many game titles that have been released recently under the names of Remake and Remaster, but each of these terms serves different functions from the other. Remaster refers to the ability to replay the exact same game but enjoy an enhanced visual experience and newer graphics to take advantage of the capabilities of modern gaming hardware and new screens.
In other words, now that you can play a 20-year-old game in 4K, that's more than enough reason to bring a game back to life.
But the term Remake refers to re-creating the game from scratch and accessing the original code of the game to make many radical changes to the game, whether in terms of gameplay, fighting style, or storytelling method, as well as adding some new content, as we saw in Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
