Occasionally, developers try to revamp classic games and sometimes they mess it up. Here are our picks for the six worst video game remasters. This list will include video game remasters that either made players disappointed or downright mad.
Mafia II: Definitive Edition
2010’s Mafia II was one of the best crime games with a beautiful story. To be honest, it didn’t look bad and the game was richly detailed. Gameplay-wise, it was weak, in my opinion. The Mafia franchise is known for the story and the detailed world.
So apparently, the developers thought it was a good idea to take an already great game and… make it look better. And they messed it up. Big time.
Mafia II: Definitive Edition was absolutely abominable. It was riddled with game-breaking bugs and glitches and gamers were pissed off for good reason. The performance was bad and it’s overall a really, really bad remaster.
Crysis 3: Remastered
Crysis 3, the original one from 2013, looks absolutely breathtaking and few games were able to graphically match how great it looked. If you have played Crysis 3 before, you know exactly what I’m talking about. From how the environment reacted to explosions and gunfire, to the clean and crisp texture detailing on the weapons, the game looked great.
In my opinion, Crysis 3 really did not need a remaster. It was already perfect-looking. But here we are, with a remaster. It’s a remaster that’s basically the same game with minor improvements and a new price tag.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition
Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas are old games from the early 2000s. They have aged, obviously, and what they needed was not a remaster where they basically increased the saturation and a few other improvements (plus a multitude of bugs) and gave it a hefty price tag. They need remakes.
Gamers were justifiably furious. The gameplay was just the same old-aged systems that really don’t appeal to modern gamers who’ve played games like GTA V and RDR2. But yes. This “Definitive” edition saw the light of day.
Assassin’s Creed III: Remastered
Assassin’s Creed III: Remastered was another instance of taking an already great-looking and performing game, slightly improving the actual qualities of textures and shadows, and changing the color palette into one that looks artificial and ugly. The original was more than playable, and this remaster’s performance was very lackluster. Plus, there were new bugs too.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning
The original Kingdoms of Amalur was a decent fantasy RPG which was flawed, in some ways but it made for an interesting experience. While Re-Reckoning isn’t nearly as bad as some of the other entries on this list, it’s still a bad remaster. That’s because it introduced poor performance and some bugs.
The original game doesn’t really look bad. Gameplay-wise, it’s perfectly playable. It’s kind of a trend to remaster already good games just to make new players buy them, I guess.
Dark Souls: Remastered
This entry definitely will raise some eyebrows and I understand. I should first make it clear that Dark Souls Remastered is the way to play Dark Souls in 2022. The original is in no way as polished as the remaster. There were issues that made the original a frustrating experience; the remaster fixed many of them and added improved support for PC.
The main issue with this remaster is how it looks. It doesn’t look nearly as good as a good remaster should look. To be frank, the graphical improvements were really minor and From Software really should’ve made it better looking. It’s certainly not bad-looking but it doesn’t look good, either. It would’ve been such a perfect remaster if they enhanced how the game looks substantially.
