"Generally, remasters simply update the original game for more modern platforms, maybe making light tweaks to visuals or quality-of-life features. Remakes, on the other hand, more integrally change the experience, making drastic changes to gameplay or adding entirely new sections. Alongside just giving players an updated version of the game, remasters can play an integral role in video game preservation - saving key titles from being lost to the ravages of time."
"Few companies have been more influential in that space than Nightdive Studios, the team behind remasters for System Shock, Star Wars: Dark Forces, , and much more. Nightdive's work has helped the industry, in part, reckon with the importance of its past. "The question that came up to me, over and over, is 'Do you really think people want to play these old games?' Larry Kuperman, VP of business development at Nightdive tells Inverse, 'It's only taken us 20 years to definitively answer that question.'""
Remasters refresh original games for modern platforms through visual updates and quality-of-life improvements, while remakes rework gameplay and add new content. Remasters improve accessibility and protect titles from obsolescence by preserving playable versions for current systems. Nightdive Studios has led preservation efforts through remasters of classics such as System Shock and Star Wars: Dark Forces. Longstanding skepticism about demand for older games has diminished as player interest proved persistent. The trend of revisiting the past includes both remakes and remasters and underscores the growing emphasis on preserving video game history. Rebecca Heineman, creator of Bard's Tale 3, contributed significantly to preservation before her death in November 2025.
Read at Inverse
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