Do you deal with dilemmas when it comes to differentiating remasters, remakes, reboots, and ports? If yes, this blog will help you understand everything, like the types, specific engines for execution, and examples, along with the pros and cons of video game remastering, remaking, rebooting, and porting. It’ll help you bring your old game in alignment with the current requirements to boost ROI and profitability.
In today’s fast-paced tech environment, generational changes in PC components and consoles are occurring more than ever before. Now, even a 3-year-old game is considered an old game. This is because older games aren’t compatible with newer consoles, and that’s where remasters, remakes, reboots, and ports come into play.
These are the different ways to update video games to improve the original game and make it better and more accessible for new users. While the remaster, remake, and reboot are done to improve functionality and performance, porting a game is different, which is done to run a game on a different platform.
Although remastering, remaking, rebooting, and porting aim to improve the performance and accessibility of a game, they aren’t equal. Yes, there are differences among them, as they have different purposes. This blog describes how these approaches vary from each other so that you can just hire game developer and update your old game.
A video game remaster is a cosmetic update to an already existing game to give it a modern look and feel. Of all sorts of game modifications, the remaster is the most delicate one that requires minimal updates, such as applying new textures for models.
The model modification may involve a slight alteration with the color correction, the complete replacement of the textures, or even a partial rework of the models to expand the level of detail. The code, model, engine, and the plot of a game remain unchanged.
A remaster is applied typically to recent games that are not yet obsolete and can work with modern consoles. Remastering a game focuses on bringing the graphics in alignment with the modern level along with improving the sound and performance, if needed.
The duration of remastering a game depends on the number of graphic contents and the features of the game engine.
See the table below, which showcases the changes in remastering a game!
| Remaster | Changes to the Graphics | Changes to the Gameplay | Changes to the Storyline | Changes to the Game Design |
| Updating textures and adding model details. | No change to the interaction between the game and the gamer. | No change to the main plot lines, characters, quests, cutscenes, and the like. | No change to the UI UX design and the construction of locations. |
Following are examples of remastered games:
| Games | Original | Remastered |
| The Last of Us | 2013 | 2014 |
| Final Fantasy VII | 1997 | 2015 |
| Crysis | 2007 | 2021 |
| Life Is Strange | 2015 | 2022 |
| Alan Wake | 2010 | 2021 |
When it comes to remastering, choosing the right game engine is of utmost significance to ensure the remaster achieves modern visuals, enhanced performance, and an excellent user experience while maintaining the original essence of the game. Mentioned below are the top-notch engines to remaster a game:
| Pros | Cons |
| Enhanced graphics and visuals. | Less likely to address all game issues. |
| New content and features. | Limited changes to the gameplay mechanics. |
| Improved performance and stability. | Likely to feel outdated compared to new ones. |
A game remake is a reimagining of an existing video game in which the main story and the key gameplay elements remain the same. It’s a more radical intervention to an existing game. It’s a new game that takes the key elements of existing games and is recreated using modern mechanics for modern hardware.
The remake is an excellent way to leverage the gamer’s interest in an older game and offer them their favorite title in a new wrapper. Through this approach, businesses can attract old as well as new gamers not familiar with the previous and original versions of the game.
The key intent of the remake is to develop a modern version of a game that’s too outdated to be remastered. Unlikely to remaster, the remake isn’t a frame-by-frame copy of the original game but a modernized interpretation of that. A new engine, new graphics, and new game design elements are combined with the existing title, lore, and key story elements.
Note: In the remake, the gameplay and story may be changed and adapted as per real-time standards, however, the main plot still remains the same.
Glance at the table below, showcasing a clear picture of the changes in Remaking a Game!
| Remake | Changes to the Graphics | Changes to the Gameplay | Changes to the Storyline | Changes to the Game Design |
| Crafting new graphics that remain in line with the original. | In some cases, the interaction between the game and the gamer can also be changed. | The main plot lines, characters, quests, and cutscenes may be changed as required. | Changes made to the UI UX design and the construction of locations. |
Look at the table below showcasing the list of video game remakes!
| Games | Original | Remake |
| Resident Evil 2 | 1998 | 2019 |
| Demon’s Souls | 2009 | 2020 |
| Medievil | 1998 | 2019 |
| Shadow of the Colossus | 2005 | 2018 |
| The Legend of Zelda | 1993 | 2019 |
| Pros | Cons |
| Complete overhaul of gameplay and visuals. | Likelihood of losing the charm of the original game. |
| Revives classic games for new audiences. | Challenges in maintaining the essence of the real game. |
| Modernized controls and mechanics. | Higher production costs. |
A game reboot is the development of a new game that’s aligned with the original game universe. Reboot allows developers to change old ideas and concepts, implement new characters, remove old ones, add new locations and stories, etc. The key purpose of a reboot is to revive the game series, intending to attract new customers and boost revenue.
When a popular game becomes obsolete and lags behind modern reality, rebooting becomes the way to revive that. It is safe from an investment point of view as the original game with its famous characters owns a huge customer base.
Have a look at the table below, showcasing a clear picture of the changes in video game reboots!
| Reboot | Changes to the Graphics | Changes to the Gameplay | Changes to the Storyline | Changes to the Game Design |
| Crafting entirely new graphics and visual effects. | Changes to the interaction between the game and the player. | Making changes to the main plot lines, characters, quests, cutscenes, and the like. | Changes to the UI UX design and the construction of locations. |
Following are the top examples of game reboot!
| Games | Original | Reboot |
| Resident Evil | 1996 | 2019 (Resident Evil 2 Remake) |
| Battlefield | 2002 | 2016 (Battlefield 1) |
| Wolfenstein | 1981 | 2014 (Wolfenstein: The New Order) |
| Hitman | 2000 | 2016 |
| Need for Speed | 1994 | 2016 |
| Pros | Cons |
| Fresh look and feel of an established game. | Changes in the original storyline may disappoint the gamers. |
| Attracts new players to a familiar game. | Challenges in balancing between creativity and retaining core elements. |
| Freedom of creativity to explore new ideas. |
A video game port involves transferring a game from its original platform to a new one. It may need redoing the textures and models, reworking the code and mechanics, and many more. Porting a game is not all about improving the visuals and updating the gaming experience but about getting a game to perform on a new platform.
It needs a partial or complete change in code. What is required to port a game completely depends on the characteristics of the target platform. For example, you need to redo almost everything to port a game from PC to mobile. When it comes to porting from a PC to a console, you need to pay careful attention to the console features and other needs of the console.
Have a look at the table below, showcasing a clear picture of the changes in video game ports!
| Reboot | Changes to the Graphics | Changes to the Gameplay | Changes to the Storyline | Changes to the Game Design |
| Creating new graphics as per the original. | Changes may be made to the interaction between the game and the player. | No change to the main plot lines, characters, quests, cutscenes, etc. | There may be changes to the UI UX design and the construction of locations as per the requirement. |
Following are excellent examples of ported games!
| Games | Original | Ported |
| Final Fantasy VII | 1997 | 2015 |
| Fortnite | 2017 | 2018 |
| PUBG | 2017 | 2018 |
| God of War | 2005 | 2009 |
| Horizon Zero Down | 2017 | 2020 |
JavaScript and HTML5: These are to publish a web version of a game.
| Pros | Cons |
| Leverages the advantages of the features of a new platform | Porting a game needs a significant amount of development effort. |
| Expands reach to a wider audience. | Porting a game may involve some technical challenges. |
| Accelerates revenue generation. | It might be an expensive affair to port a video game to a new platform. |
Be it changes in graphics, game design, or storyline, there are many differences when it comes to differentiating Remaster, Ramke, Reboot, and Port. See the table below for a quick glance at the facts, setting these four apart from each other!
| Sr. No. | Remaster | Remake | Reboot | Port |
| 1. | Remastering a video game aims to improve the visuals with no intervention to another aspect. | Remaking involves the redesign of a game with its significant characters and elements. | A Reboot is a new game with a fresh storyline using a few elements of an existing game. | Porting a game includes transferring and optimizing a game so that it runs on a new platform. |
| 2. | No significant changes to the gameplay. | Significant changes to the game’s story, mechanics, and visuals. | Completely new creative direction and changes in continuity. | Content remains the same with minor adjustments. |
| 3. | Focuses on the visuals and auditory improvements. | Completely modernized for current standards. | Aims to attract new audiences. | Tailors a game for a new targeted platform. |
Refer to the table below for an end-to-end comparison of the changes done to Remaster, Remake, Reboot, and Port a game!
When a game grows old, you can choose one from remastering, remaking, rebooting, and porting to bring that game in line with the current trends. At 300Mind, we’re a team of skilled game developers, engineering games like Bal Hanuman, ROFL, and many more, delivering an enhanced gaming experience.
Bal Hanuman, as its name suggests, has been designed on the concept of “chase the evils & destroy them with the Gada” having the potential to entertain gamers.
ROFL (Roll Fall Land) is a game that involves rolling out the dice from one platform to another. You can land on a platform that doesn’t kill you, keep the dice rolling, and survive as long as you can.
Both of these games, along with many others built by our team, are meeting the expectations of Players taking their gaming experience to the next level.
Whether you have a game to remaster, remake, reboot, or port, or you wish to design a new one, hire game designers and developers from us to unleash the true potential of your game development idea!
With slightly changed graphics and sound effects, a remastered game is a polished version of an existing game. When remastered, a game no longer remains the same as previously. Hence, a remastered version of a game is undoubtedly better than the original one, as it’s an improved version of the previous one.
A soft reboot game tends to share some continuity with the original game but alters the style, tone, and intent of that. It provides increased creative freedom while keeping the setting as the original one.
Porting a game needs remodification in the game design, game mechanics, and so on. Hence, analyze compatibility, plan the porting, optimize performance, adapt the user experience, perform detailed testing, and frequently do so to keep the game updated post-launch.
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