Post Script
When is a remake not a remake?
Preservation is a hot topic in videogames at the moment. It’s even become a point of difference in the current-gen console wars. Consider, for example, that Microsoft quickly responded to Sony’s confirmation that the digital stores for PS3, PSP and Vita will be permanently closing in July and August by announcing it would be ramping up its own backwards-compatibility programme. “As time goes on, it becomes more important than ever that we ensure gaming icons and classics are preserved for new and old players alike,” the format holder tweeted.
Microsoft’s move is worthy of note in an industry that has an uneasy relationship with its past. Remakes are a particular case in point. The justification for their existence is a side-effect of technological progress. The limited lifespan of console hardware means many players never get to experience games in their original form on the format for which they were released, and so a remake on a currently available device (though given present stock shortages, that would preclude PS5) is considered the best way to introduce old favourites to a much wider audience.
At least, that’s the idea. Yet remakes are rarely faithful to the originals. Many boast visual and mechanical refinements, made to bring them in line with modern games.
Significant changes have been made to the stories of some. But preservation is not really their purpose: they’re not intended to recreate, but to supersede, made with current design trends in mind rather than careful reconstruction of the original play experience. Even backwards compatibility can’t quite recapture the feeling of playing a classic on the original hardware. Remasters offer something closer to preservation, though the motivation behind those is less about a game’s cultural resonance than its commercial prospects.
As its full title suggests, Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139… is a little different. Yes, it’s a commercial product made to celebrate an anniversary. But it’s neither quite a remaster nor a remake. It changes less than you might hope for from the latter approach, and more than you’d expect from the former. Keiichi Okabe’s gorgeous soundtrack is resplendent in its rerecorded form, with several new tracks added. Meanwhile, the previous performers – including Laura Bailey as Kainé and Liam O’Brien as Grimoire Weiss – all reprise their roles, with two new actors cast as the younger and older versions of the protagonist. As we’ve mentioned elsewhere, its visuals and combat have been refined, too.
But, significantly, many of the elements that earned it a mixed reception a decade ago have been left intact. It can still be slow in places, tedious in others, and even outright exasperating on occasion. Yet that unwieldy title is honest about what it is – this isn’t trying to pretend it’s a substantive remake. Rather, it’s a refinement that retains the spirit of the original, rough edges and all. That in itself makes it a significant release.
Yes, you could argue that it’s a wasted opportunity. Think about remakes in other media, where creators are given the chance to reenvisage existing stories, perhaps stamping more of their own personalities upon them. For a maverick such as Taro, surely the most fitting approach would be a remake that’s nothing like the original, or that radically changes the story. Or, perhaps, one that’s even more mischievously enervating.
Yet taken on its own merits, perhaps this represents an alternative way of preserving games. There is something heartwarming about the way its more abrasive elements have been retained, rather than smoothed over as many other publishers would have insisted on. It’s not quite the game as we remember it, but that’s no bad thing – it’s close enough in all the ways that count to qualify as an act of preservation. Though if you’re listening, Square Enix, let’s have a drunken Yoko Taro director’s commentary next time, hmm?