Forget FF7 Rebirth and Silent Hill 2, the best remake of 2024 is a ninja roguelike from 30 years ago
Nobody actually knows, with absolute, airtight certainty, what makes a remake ‘good.’ You don’t. I certainly don’t. And the people making them don’t, either. To a point, this may be for the best, since the lack of a fixed rubric leaves room for surprises. We all remember where we were when we realized what Final Fantasy 7 Remake was actually doing, and its foundational stance – that canon, as we understand it, is not sacred or immutable – is still probably the most radical to ever emerge from a remake of that scale and pedigree. Still, it’s hard to shake the feeling that modern remakes are predicated on the assumption that the history of game design has been one of linear improvement.Videogames, they tacitly suggest, are better now. Never mind that Final Fantasy 7’s overworld, packed end-to-end with baubles and checklists in Rebirth, once acted as a jarringly muted counterpoint to the industrial detritus of Midgar; never mind that Silent Hill 2’s ideas were conveyed through its ungainl...