Assassin's Creed, Star Fox, Resident Evil: Why are there so many video game remakes?

You would be forgiven for cerebration the lean of upcoming picture games reads the likes of déjà vu.

Amid spic-and-span titles and highly anticipated sequels like Grand Theft Auto VI, a glut of remakes of older classic games are on the way, like Tomb Raider, Halo, Resident Evil: Code Veronica and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Sailing into the storm this week is Ubisoft's pirate-themed Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, a remake of 2013's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. It might seem an odd choice for a full-on remake, as the original still looks reasonably impressive and you can play it for cheap on most modern platforms.

But Ubisoft says its Singapore studio rebuilt the series fan favourite from the ground up, bringing it up to the standards of its more recent titles like last year's Assassin's Creed Shadows.

And in a volatile market where entirely new games sink as often as they swim, highly polished remakes of classics have been some of the surest bets for developers in recent years. Still, it's sparked debate about whether gaming is stuck in the past, rather than charting new digital paths.

Old video games can age in ways that other media like music, TV or film don't. Early 3D games from the late 1990s to early 2000s are particularly clunky affairs and often controlled poorly, as designers struggled to figure out how to best lead players around a three-dimensional space.

As technology advanced and design sensibilities became codified, a remake of an awkward game from 20 years ago can refine mechanics and controls to make it easier for newer players to enjoy.

That's to say nothing of the advances in graphical fidelity. While 2D pixels and blocky, early 3D visuals still have their charm, a modern treatment can make them look remarkably realistic and detailed.

Remakes also let newer players experience what might be a cult classic, without having to track down an old copy of the original release and retro gaming hardware.

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It can also help bulk up a company's release schedule, filling in the gaps when a completely new big-budget release can take upwards of five years to complete.

"You might be expanding on this game, you might be making different gameplay decisions, but on some fundamental level, the game is there," reporter Patrick Klepek told gaming outlet Remap.

And sometimes, a remake is also a chance to do far more than simply retelling an old story.

Final Fantasy VII, the classic 1997 role-playing game, has been expanded into a full trilogy of remakes that actively rewrites the original's plot in a dizzying multiverse, metafictional retelling.

The first chapter, released in 2020, sold 8.7 million copies as of 2025, though publisher Square-Enix didn't release sales numbers for the second one, saying it fell below expectations. The third, Final Fantasy VII Revelation, is due out early next year.

Camille Salazar Hadaway, a Toronto-based gaming and esports host, says mining millennial-aged gamers' nostalgia with remakes is one of the safer bets in the increasingly risk-averse games industry.

"There's been so many new IPs that have been kind of boasted as going to be the next The Last of Us, or the next big thing. And it just doesn't hit," she said, referring to the PlayStation hit that was later adapted into an award-winning TV series.

She cited as an example Concord, a live-service multiplayer game by Sony that was shut down within three weeks after launch in 2024 thanks to a cool response from players.

It can be a smart business decision in other ways, too. The latest Star Fox game for the Nintendo Switch 2 is a mostly faithful recreation of 1996's Star Fox 64, down to the characters, plot and level layouts. 

Salazar-Hadaway says it builds on the reintroduction of series protagonist Fox McCloud in a cameo in the recent Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It topped the sales charts in Japan, according to Famistu, making it the fastest-selling game in the series.

Salazar Hadaway says the upcoming Zelda remake could be even more successful, considering its reputation as one of the best adventure games of all time.

"Ocarina of Time was the game that made me fall in love with storytelling in video games. So it's a very important game that's near and dear to my heart. And I want to experience that again."

Patrick Boivin, a Vancouver-based video game streamer, is more conflicted about the trend.

"The video game remake culture, to me anyway, feels overwhelmingly like a failure of nerve and being afraid of non-sure bets," he said.

And yet, Boivin still holds the remakes of the Resident Evil games in high regard.

Developer Capcom's second take at Resident Evil 2, released in 2019, tells roughly the same story as the 1998 original: Rookie cop Leon and civilian Claire try to escape a zombie outbreak in Raccoon City.

While Boivin

But the remake "changes nearly every fundamental gameplay decision," he said.

"They're absolutely stellar games and ... The strength of that is that both versions retain their value."

That remake was a roaring success for Capcom, becoming its third-best-selling game of all time with more than 18 million units sold, and it paved the way for subsequent remakes of in a similar style.

It's too early to say if taking the remake route will pay off as well for Ubisoft, but early reviews for Black Flag Resynced have so far been mostly positive. But some noted the awkward result of changing a beloved classic to meet the ever-changing standards of gaming.

Boivin, an aficionado of horror in games and film alike, admits he's likely more interested in a completely new Resident Evil than a remake, even if he's a fan of both. But the recently announced Resident Evil Veronica — a remake of 2000's Code Veronica — has his interest piqued, as it's considered a less successful entry in the series.

"It's fundamentally flawed…. The story is a mess. The acting was bad even by Resident Evil standards," he said.

"I think the idea of remaking a game better now that wasn't very good in the first place way more interesting than taking the all-time classic greats of the past and remaking them into really great games now."

Journalist

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