It’s official—The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is coming out Jan. 19, 2024. The public reaction has been mixed at best, questioning the necessity of remastering a three-year-old game. Let’s take that thought further—which PlayStation games should have been remastered before The Last of Us Part 2?
Bloodborne
Bloodborne was the first game on most people’s lips when The Last of Us Remastered was announced. It’s true that demands for a Bloodborne remaster are heavily tied to the association with a PC port, but a console-exclusive rework would suffice, if only to deliver an official 60fps version that doesn’t require modding.
FromSoftware games feel infinitely better to play at a higher frame rate. Combine this with a visual upgrade with similar quality to that of Demon’s Souls Remake, and a Bloodborne remaster would make fans drool, PC port or not.
Red Dead Redemption
It’s slightly ironic that I want Rockstar to treat Red Dead Redemption the same way Naughty Dog treated The Last of Us, but I’m not going to lie, the thought of playing the original RDR within Red Dead Redemption 2’s engine makes my knees shake. A Red Dead Redemption remaster was supposedly on Rockstar’s mind before the definitive GTA trilogy’s abysmal reception put an end to that plan. It’s a real shame, because RDR 2’s immense popularity has somewhat overshadowed how great its predecessor is, and a modern version of the 2010 game could go a long way to reminding us of that greatness.
God of War
Remember when Kratos was more like a raging teenager than a caring dad? Pepperidge Farm remembers, and so do I. The original God of War games have so many epic fights that would make our brains explode with today’s graphics, and I demand an explanation as to why they haven’t been remastered yet.
Unfortunately, there is an explanation which could keep such a project delayed for a long time. The God of War reboot is pulling in the numbers for Sony. Suddenly dropping a remaster of the original games, which have a very different gameplay loop, a very different Kratos, and a very different setting, could mess with the Norse saga’s success. It’s unlikely we see God of War Remastered any time soon, but one can never stop hoping.
Infamous
Can we have some Infamous, please? A sequel, a reboot, a remake, a remaster—I’d take anything at this point. It’s a crime against gaming that we haven’t gotten a new entry to the Infamous series in nearly a decade, but a remaster of the first game would be a welcomed start toward revival.
It’s almost silly how few quality superhero games there are to this day, and the fact Infamous pulls it all off so seamlessly without the backing of an existing IP makes that game even more special. Safe to say the world needs Infamous Remastered more than The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered or Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered.
Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid
I’ve rammed these two legendary series together because they are in the same boat in every way. They are both Konami properties that have been mistreated by the company for far too long. They are also, in a shocking twist of events, the closest to actually being remastered for modern consoles. I’d never in a million years expect modern-day Konami to lead by example, but I’m going to take this rare Konami W if and when it actually happens.
Remakes for both Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater have been confirmed to be in development, though without official release dates, which is always a worrying sign. Assuming these projects do reach the market eventually, there’s no reason for the other entries in the Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid series to not receive similar treatment.
Remakes or remasters, whatever publishers want to call them, I don’t care. I just want to see these fantastic games given a shiny new coat of paint so we can all experience that old-school greatness in beautiful 4K resolution. We could already do that with The Last of Us Part 2 without the need of a remaster, so if developers and publishers can get to the remasters the gaming community really needs, that would be great.
