But do they really want to remaster Horizon: Zero Dawn which came out the day before yesterday?

A remastered edition of Horizon: Zero Dawn, really? What purpose could it possibly have, monetization aside, given that it’s a game released the day before yesterday, perfectly playable on modern consoles and PCs, where it still looks great from a technical point of view? Incidentally, on PS5 it is possible to play it in 4K at 60fps, even in backwards compatibility.

The rumours that the project is on the way are becoming more and more insistent, so much so that some people take its existence for granted, but I struggle to find a meaning to itso much so that we hope that it’s all false and that we’re actually talking about something else.

I am not a priori against remastered editions or remakes, which in some cases are welcome. I am thinking for example of the portfolio of Nightdive Studios, which often has updated old titles, also adding value to works with extra content. Let’s take DOOM + DOOM 2, Quake 2, System Shock or Star Wars: Dark Force Remaster, to give some concrete examples.

Sometimes remasters and remakes are also ways to to introduce modern audiences to titles from the past that have now been forgottenlike Tombi! or The Thing. Finally, there are also cases of real historical recovery that are definitely worthy of praise, like Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord or Rogue, or even The Making of Karateka. In short, attacking remasters and remakes out of prejudice is wrong, also because the videogame medium is now over 50 years old and has a cultural background that deserves to be preserved and used.

Sony Recycling

Then there are the incomprehensible remasters and remakes like Horizon: Zero Dawn. We live in fantastic times where a triple-A industry in crisis continually tries to recycle itself to try to stay afloatin a quagmire created by the lack of new ideas and ever-increasing production costs, which has become systemic.

Sony has been a master of recycling this generation, launching many remastered editions and remakes of games that often didn’t need it at all, but that it must be said were purchased en masse by the public. Let’s name a few:

• Death Stranding Director’s Cut
• Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut
• Demon’s Souls Remake
• The remake of The Last of Us Part 1
• Until Dawn Remake (Coming Soon)
• The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered
• Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
• Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
• The (potential) remastered edition of Horizon: Zero Dawn

Now, each game deserves a separate discussion, I’m aware of that. For example Demon’s Souls can be included in the virtuous cases of recovery and modernization of a historic title, but in years in which new products struggle to come out, Sony’s appears to be a real scheme, which has not escaped even gamers, for which the Japanese multinational is making a great effort to Reselling the best of the PS4 generation to PS5 userseven in cases where there is no need for it.

Which wouldn’t even be a big deal if the generation was particularly explosive. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. between a seemingly endless transition from PS4 and which at this point risks dragging on for years to come, with new intellectual properties lacking and completely wrong launches like that of Concord.

The picture is actually better than it seems, given that there has been no shortage of high-quality releases for all the hardware currently on the market and there have been years like 2023 that will surely be remembered in the future.

What is strange is that what is weak is the proposal of what is the best in class for its latest generation consolewhere with the PS4 generation it had made its games one of the machine’s major strengths. Surely something new will be announced in the short term, especially from PlayStation Studios which have remained silent for many years. In the meantime, however, all this recycling gives the image of a stale generationwhich appears increasingly weak and frayed in the collective perception. In short, perhaps it would be a good idea to avoid remastering games released the day before yesterday, that people are still playing, and focus on other projects. It won’t happen because they make a lot of money, but there’s no cost in hoping.