Is Nostalgia getting in the way of Modern Gaming?

I’ve been a gamer for many years, and I’ve seen how it has evolved over the last few decades. I’m not quite old enough to have lived through the Atari and SEGA years, but I didn’t miss out on any of these gems thanks to having older siblings.

In my time, I’ve seen games go from the simple beauty of pixels and sprites, to the stunning photo-realism of modern graphics, as well as so many developments in terms of gameplay, game length and replayability. The days of levels locked behind passwords are gone – you now have save files, and the old method of 2D side scrolling has been, for the most part, taken over by 3D world spaces.

Sony’s Playstation. This brings back memories. (Image: Wikipedia)

Gaming has come a long way over the years, as well as massively popular, but there’s one thing I keep seeing getting thrown around – the “need” for a “remaster”. If you scour through any gaming social feeds, you will always see people crying for a remaster of an older title they’ve already previously enjoyed. Always!

Developers are actually pandering to this too. There’s a huge number of modern “remasters” where classics have been remade from the ground up on a more modern engine. Two of the most well known examples includes Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. These classic titles have had their 3 original games rebuilt for modern consoles and then bundled into one, so you can enjoy them again.

I got hold of them, and they are very fun, but there’s just one thing that bothers me – I’m enjoying them again. I’ve essentially already played them before. Did I really need to bother? Couldn’t we have had brand new Crash and Spyro adventures inspired by the old ones instead? Afterall, this done just fine with Doom and Wolfenstein.

Image: Sony

There are few titles that I feel could have gone without the “remaster” treatment though. For example – Skyrim was only 5 years old when it got “remastered”, and it wasn’t worth it in the end. Dark Souls didn’t really need a remaster, but at least I can now play it on my switch! Call of Duty 4 – a title vastly inferior to its later titles – that was clearly just living off happy memories and nothing else.

So, it might just be me, but having a game “remastered” is a bit of a lazy way out. If it’s built from the ground up again, then it’s worth the play through, I guess, but it’s still the same game at the end of the day. So, what do you think? Am I unreasonable, or do modern gamers really have nostalgia goggles glued to their face?