Creator of Hi-Fi RUSH & Resident Evil on What Makes a Good Remake

There have been many remakes of beloved video games recently, for instance, Silent Hill 2, Until Dawn, and Metal Gear Solid 3, and some of them get mixed reviews, with players criticizing the lack of new elements. Shinji Mikami, the renowned Game Designer, founder of Tango Gameworks, and Director of the Resident Evil franchise and many other titles, shared his opinion on what makes a good and successful video game remake.

Mikami has seen many successful reworks of his games, and in 2001, he even directed the remake of his Resident Evil. He shared (via IGN) that understanding the clue to the original game's success is the most important aspect: "I think the comprehensive and fundamental understanding of what it was that made the original work in the first place is probably the most important point of a good remake."

The developer pointed out that the recent Resident Evil 4 remake was "really well-made." He noted that it conveys such combat details as the timing between aiming and shooting well, capturing the balance between raising pressure and tension of the original.

Shinji also said that the remake creators developed the original scenario and filled it with a lot of detail: "They showed that they really understood the characters and their interactions. They showed a good understanding of the backbone of each character. And they took not just the scenario itself, but even the dialogue, and they improved all that stuff, so that was really great."

The remake of Resident Evil 4 became the fastest-selling title in the Resident Evil series, with 6.4 million units sold, and about two months later, reached 7 million units sold.

Don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.