Game of the Year 2024 – Best Remake or Remaster
by Stefan L · tsaIt’s that time of year again where we take a little break from endlessly looking forward to the Next Big Thing, and instead look in the rear view mirror at all of the Next Big Things that came out over the past twelve months. That’s right, it’s time for our Game of the Year 2024 awards to get started.
But we’re going to start things off once again by looking even further back into the past. Kind of. Best Remake or Remaster has become one of the most over-stuffed categories we have, with developers and publishers keen to make the most of what they already have. Some remasters are slavishly faithful on a technical level, some remakes are ambitious reimaginings, others are quick and breezy ports for newer systems.
What stood out most for us this year?
The Persona franchise is well known as a Japanese school life simulator with surprisingly dark undertones, and Persona 3 was quite possibly the darkest of the lot, with death, sacrifice and the cost of victory being front and centre. Even your attack in this turn-based RPG involves putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger.
Faced with mortal peril, your resolve to live and fight bursts forth as your Persona — your ‘other self’ that wields arcane power — to fight the baddies and save the day.
Persona 3 Reload takes this fan-favourite and improves almost every aspect of it, reviving and revamping it for modern consoles and modern players. The remastered music is incredible. The visuals (including the obligatory anime sections) are absolutely stunning, and the gameplay takes the lessons learned in the past few releases and applies them here as well.
Persona 3 Reload is a stunningly good game. It will make you laugh, it will make you choke up and it will stick in your head for years to come. If you’ve enjoyed other Atlus games, you will absolutely love this.
– Nic B
Silent Hill 2 – Runner Up
Bloober Team had some convincing to do with their remake of the classic Silent Hill 2, but any concerns proved to be unfounded once we got our hands on the finished game. Bloober took everything that made the original such a historic title and updated it for a contemporary audience, beefing up the combat, the exploration, and obviously taking full advantage of the technological developments since the original released.
The end result is a game that feels like Silent Hill 2 but the way that you remember it rather than through nostalgic rose-tinted glasses. Incredible graphics bring the town to brutal, foggy life whilst the voice acting is genuinely superb. All of this excellent presentation is topped off by some of the best audio design I’ve heard in years and another fantastic soundtrack by series stalwart Akira Yamaoka. The remake is so polished and brings out the best of a game that was already a genre classic, leaving us wondering only one thing – when will they remake the first Silent Hill?
– Steve C
Sonic X Shadow Generations – Runner Up
Sonic X Shadow Generations isn’t just a remaster, there’s also a whole new game bolted in alongside the 13 year old platformer, giving the dark and moody Shadow the Hedgehog the Generations treatment and taking a trip through his past as well.
Sonic Generations is still one of the best Sonic games in recent memory, but Shadow Generations adds an extra layer of refinement and polish that help to tip it over the edge, particularly with improvements to level design and with Shadow’s own abilities – slowing down time is always cool in games, even when you’re a broody hedgehog. Speaking of which, you can have Keanu Reeves voicing Shadow in it courtesy of a tie-in DLC with release of the latest Sonic movie.
Yes, really.
– Gamoc
Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order)
What was your personal favourite of the year? Let us know in the comments below, and make sure to stick with us through the rest of this month as we tick our categories off one by one.
Tags: Game of the Year 2024, Persona 3 Reload, Silent Hill 2, Sonic X Shadow Generations