10 old games that need a remake Any of them will make modern AAA titles

Very soon, the first part of the Witcher series will receive a full-fledged remake – the developers promise a new engine with a lot of gameplay improvements, modern graphics with support for all advanced technologies, and an untouched canonical plot. And, of course, there are plenty of projects that deserve the same second life on the market – some have long been forgotten and are on the margins of history, while others are actively discussed by fans and enthusiasts. I decided to collect the top ten projects, which would also be nice to update with remakes according to the same plan as The Witcher – all those who disagree can safely publish their list in the comments.

Before moving on to the list of video games, I would like to explain one important technical point, as gamers often get confused between the terms “remake” and “remaster”. In fact, everything is extremely simple – a remaster is a project in which developers improve an existing game. For example, they refine textures, lighting and shadows, improve support for modern resolutions and stuff like that. A remake means that the game is technically created from scratch – on a new engine, with updated graphics and gameplay, but in a setting familiar to the audience, with an intact plot and numerous upgrades.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – 2003

While GTA 5 is certainly a phenomenal game, San Andreas is considered by many fans to be the best in the entire franchise. It’s all about a much deeper study – the character changed outwardly depending on the diet and sports, cars could be tuned almost at the level of Need For Speed, and the map of San Andreas is several orders of magnitude larger than what the developers showed in GTA 5. There is even the opinion that the fifth numbered part is the successor to San Andreas, only stripped down and with new graphics. So if all this was transferred to a fresh engine with a modern picture, shadows and GTA Online-level multiplayer, then gamers would not have to wait for the release of GTA 6.

Need for Speed: Underground – 2003

Over the past ten years, the Need for Speed ​​franchise has gone from the best racing sim to some donut-filled arcade game, which is certainly not a very happy audience. You can return the love and honor of gamers very simply – just take the cult Underground with night races in megacities, cool car tuning and chic music, slightly update the fleet and transfer all this beauty to the Frostbite engine. You don’t need any donation, a plot with real actors and other useless things – just give a modern version of Underground so that gamers drive through the night streets and enjoy the neon illumination.

The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind – 2002

If you ask an RPG fan about the best games in this genre, he will most likely name Skyrim as the benchmark of role-playing projects in history, but in fact Morrowind from the same The Elder Scrolls series boasts an even greater set of advantages. Here, too, there was a chic role-playing system, a plot thought out to the smallest detail, but the virtual world in the distant 2002 was literally filled to the brim with points of interest, unusual locations and biomes, many huge interesting opponents, equipment and weapons for every taste and color. It is enough to transfer Morrowind to a modern engine for the game to beat modern competitors without unnecessary difficulties.

Max Payne – 2001

Twenty years ago, developers could well have created a cool action movie with a full-fledged plot, the development of which was interesting to watch. It was for this that Max Payne won the audience at one time – the gamers and critics will like the project so much with the presentation of the storyline that the video game was even awarded the BAFTA award. A cool detective who kills enemies in slow motion caused a storm of emotions in the audience, who really liked to jump around the corner and shoot bullets in the forehead of opponents. And yes, the second and third parts of the franchise turned out to be noticeably worse than the first, so it would be extremely nice to see Max under ray tracing and not only.

Splinter Cell – 2002

It’s hard to believe, but Ubisoft used to make really cool video games – the first part of Splinter Cell, released twenty years ago, completely changed the attitude of gamers to stealth gameplay. The developers skillfully juggled complex and interesting tasks, open firefights and silent shooting with a silencer, increasing the level of danger with unusual levels and a night vision function. The result was one of the best games in the series by then-Ubi Soft, making Sam Firesh a cult character even outside of the book franchise. And although there are rumors that Ubisoft is creating a new AAA project for Splinter Cell, it would be better if they released a remake of the original.

Gothic – 2001

Most gamers are delighted with The Witcher, Skyrim or Risen, but for some reason many forget about the cult Gothic with no less deep study of the virtual world. Hundreds of different enemies, magic, melee weapons and potions, a huge open world with many secrets and traps, exciting quests and an extremely worthy storyline clearly deserved attention both then, in 2001, and now, when there are almost no good role-playing games. But gamers are still willing to spend hundreds of hours exploring every pixel of the virtual world in search of the next adventure, battle with a dangerous predator or valuable loot.

Warcraft III – 2002

The third “Warcraft” can be safely recorded in the golden collection of video games of all times and peoples – the developers from Blizzard managed to come up with a chic plot and lore of a fictional world on which Dota 2 is still built to this day. Actually, if not for Warcraft III and its numerous mods, probably , the modern MOBA market would look very different. Unique characters, maps worked out to the smallest detail, various buildings and interaction with resources – all this brought gamers so much fun that to this day there are multiplayer battles between players from all over the world in Discord. And it would be very cool to update Warcraft III – then the project would sparkle with new colors.

Command and Conquer Generals – 2003

In the vast majority of the strategies of the beginning of this century, gamers had to fight with huge armies and entire detachments of units, but EA reworked the concept by introducing Generals. Here, each unit had a special weight, and it was possible to win with the help of three or four tanks and a cunning strategy, so the era of huge hordes of vehicles and infantry faded into the background. At the same time, each “character” on the battlefield had its own advantages, branded chips and disadvantages, using which the gamer could gain an advantage and defeat the enemy due to logic, knowledge of mechanics and landscape. Now nothing like this is being released, which is a pity – all you need to do is tighten up the graphics and resolve the issue with the network game.

Heroes of Might and Magic III – 1999

The Heroes of Might and Magic franchise has been greatly transformed for the sake of modern graphics, having lost what it was so loved in its time. Gamers don’t need 3D characters, 3D graphics and other modern frills – just take what already worked well, tighten up network capabilities, expand the base of characters and factions, and slightly balance the economy. Everything – the best turn-based strategy is ready. And although the developers have recently tried to revive the legendary third part, the remaster turned out, to put it mildly, not very successful. We can only hope that the publisher will try at least once more.

Harry Potter – 2001 to 2004

The first three parts of the Harry Potter video game franchise are literally saturated with magic, the taste of childhood, comfort and, it seems to me, the New Year. It makes you want to take a couple of kilograms of tangerines and go to collect magic beans mixed with chocolate frogs, along the way attending spell lessons and more. Then the series became too adult (like the plot of the book series, of course), went towards RPG and became somehow less comfortable. It would be just perfect to wander around a familiar castle again in a pleasant atmosphere, fight enemies and defeat everyone in a dueling club – perhaps Hogwarts Legacy will be able to quench the thirst of the audience, but it’s still not quite right.