Resident Evil 4 Remake Shouldn't Change A Thing
Gaming doesn't really have a The Godfather. There is no shorthand for 'the best game ever' that everyone just agrees on. I wouldn't have The Godfather in my personal top ten, but I recognise that it just is, in the annals of folklore, the best movie of all time, just as The Beatles are the best band of all time. It doesn't really matter if you personally agree, what matters is it's a shared cultural understanding. Gaming lacks this - technology in our industry moves so fast, and in many ways we're still finding our feet in terms of storytelling and maturity. If you were to pick a game to stand as a representation of our industry's best though, someone would raise a shout for Resident Evil 4. So now that they're remaking it, why are they changing everything?
Our medium has a huge issue with video game preservation and respect for our own history. We're embarrassed, both of how janky games used to look, and of how thin our storytelling used to be. Then there's the fact games can be polished and resold on newer systems as if they're new releases, commanding high prices and bringing in high sales. I'm not opposed to Resident Evil 4 getting a visual tune-up, even if I think we should have more respect and appreciation for how the craft used to look, but it seems as though Resident Evil 4 is not just being made to look pretty, it's being airbrushed, with all of its perceived flaws being seamlessly lifted out, like cellulite or pimples. The game deserves so much more.
Related: Silent Hill 2 Doesn't Need A Remake
'Survival horror reimagined for 2023' is the headline on the Sony blog post that went up in the wake of this week’s State of Play. 'When it first came out, Resident Evil 4 revolutionized the Resident Evil franchise',
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