a Yourlist ranking · the crowd decides the order
From ground-up rebuilds to lazy asset flips, remakes and remasters live and die on whether they honor or betray the original. Vote for the ones that actually deserved the second chance.
What counts: Best means how successfully the redo improved, modernized, or reimagined the source material relative to its price and ambition — not just a resolution bump. All years and prices are approximate; ratings reflect general critical and community consensus at launch.
Resident Evil 2 Remake
Capcom took a beloved 1998 tank-controls classic and rebuilt it in the RE Engine as a third-person survival horror masterpiece, with Mr. X stalking the police station becoming an instant genre-defining moment. It set the template every other remake on this list is measured agains
Original Release: 1998Remake/Remaster Release: 2019Launch Price: $60Critical/Fan Rating: 9.3/10
added by IJR
Resident Evil 4 Remake
Remaking a game many consider the best of all time was a huge risk, but Capcom trimmed the campy dialogue, reworked Ashley's escort sections, and kept the parry-heavy combat feeling fresh. It proved a remake can honor nostalgia while fixing three-decade-old friction points.
Original Release: 2005Remake/Remaster Release: 2023Launch Price: $60Critical/Fan Rating: 9.4/10
added by IJR
Demon's Souls
Bluepoint's PS5 launch showcase didn't just upres a cult PS3 game, it rebuilt every asset from scratch while preserving the punishing tower-of-souls structure that started the entire Soulsborne genre. It became the console's first true next-gen showpiece.
Original Release: 2009Remake/Remaster Release: 2020Launch Price: $70Critical/Fan Rating: 9/10
added by IJRin 3 rankings
Square Enix split one of the most beloved RPGs ever into a multi-part action-RPG epic, expanding Midgar into a full 30-hour game with real-time combat replacing turn-based menus. Divisive for its Whispers metaplot, but the Midgar highway chase and Aerith's theme still land as pur
Original Release: 1997Remake/Remaster Release: 2020Launch Price: $60Critical/Fan Rating: 8.8/10
added by IJRin 2 rankingsFinal Fantasy VII Remake
Shadow of the Colossus
Bluepoint's second miracle rebuilt Fumito Ueda's melancholic giant-slaying epic with photorealistic fur physics and lighting, turning an already-gorgeous PS2 art piece into a tech demo for grief and scale. The final colossus fight hits just as hard as it did in 2005.
Original Release: 2005Remake/Remaster Release: 2018Launch Price: $40Critical/Fan Rating: 9.1/10
added by IJRin 3 rankings
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Nintendo reimagined its Game Boy classic with a diorama-toy art style that made the tiny black-and-white dungeons feel like a physical model kit come to life. The chamber dungeon-maker bonus mode gave old fans a reason to stick around after the credits.
Original Release: 1993Remake/Remaster Release: 2019Launch Price: $60Critical/Fan Rating: 8.7/10
added by IJRin 2 rankings
Dead Space
Motive Studio resurrected a franchise EA had left for dead, rebuilding the USG Ishimura with seamless zero-gravity transitions and a fully voiced Isaac Clarke. It's the rare remake that made a already-great game feel genuinely necessary again rather than just prettier.
Original Release: 2008Remake/Remaster Release: 2023Launch Price: $70Critical/Fan Rating: 8.9/10
added by IJRin 3 rankings
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Vicarious Visions rebuilt three PS1 platformers from the ground up, and the result was so beloved it single-handedly revived the mascot-platformer genre and Crash's entire career. It also proved brutally, hilariously faithful to the original's punishing difficulty.
Original Release: 1996Remake/Remaster Release: 2017Launch Price: $40Critical/Fan Rating: 8.3/10
added by IJRCrash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Microsoft and Forgotten Empires took the RTS that basically invented the genre's golden age and gave it 4K assets, rebalanced civilizations, and full esports-ready netcode. It reignited a competitive scene that's still thriving today, decades after launch.
Original Release: 1999Remake/Remaster Release: 2019Launch Price: $20Critical/Fan Rating: 8.9/10
added by IJRAge of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Blizzard rebuilt the loot-goblin classic in a new engine while letting players toggle back to the original graphics with one keystroke, a masterstroke of preservation. Rune words and Baal runs feel exactly as addictive as they did on dial-up in 2000.
Original Release: 2000Remake/Remaster Release: 2021Launch Price: $40Critical/Fan Rating: 8/10
added by IJRDiablo II: Resurrected
Naughty Dog's PS5 rebuild upgraded facial animation and gunplay to Part II standards, but the $70 price tag for a seven-year-old game sparked a real industry debate about what a remake should cost. Gorgeous, but it's the poster child for remake fatigue.
Original Release: 2013Remake/Remaster Release: 2022Launch Price: $70Critical/Fan Rating: 7.8/10
added by IJRThe Last of Us Part I
Toys for Bob turned the purple dragon's flat PS1 levels into lush, storybook-colorful worlds without touching the tight, breezy platforming underneath. A genuine visual glow-up that made a 20-year-old game look like it belonged on a current shelf.
Original Release: 1998Remake/Remaster Release: 2018Launch Price: $40Critical/Fan Rating: 8.2/10
added by IJRSpyro Reignited Trilogy
Resident Evil (2002 GameCube Remake)
Before RE2make existed, this was THE remake benchmark: Capcom rebuilt the original Spencer Mansion horror with pre-rendered backgrounds, the terrifying Crimson Head zombies, and the Lisa Trevor subplot. Over 20 years later it's still cited as one of survival horror's finest hours
Original Release: 1996Remake/Remaster Release: 2002Launch Price: $50Critical/Fan Rating: 9/10
added by IJR
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
An ambitious bundle of four mainline Halo campaigns and their multiplayer maps in one package, undone at launch by years of broken matchmaking that took 343 Industries nearly half a decade to fully fix. Today it's the definitive way to play the series, but the road there was roug
Original Release: 2001Remake/Remaster Release: 2014Launch Price: $40Critical/Fan Rating: 7.5/10
added by IJRHalo: The Master Chief Collection
Nintendo took the original NES Metroid, still stiff and cryptic by modern standards, and rebuilt it on GBA with fluid movement, better map design, and a stealth-tinged final act after the credits roll. It's the rare remake still considered definitively better than everything that
Original Release: 1986Remake/Remaster Release: 2004Launch Price: $30Critical/Fan Rating: 8.8/10
added by IJRin 3 rankingsMetroid: Zero Mission
Hangar 13 fully remade Mafia's Prohibition-era crime story from scratch rather than just remastering it, expanding Tommy Angelo's tragic arc with new cutscenes and a rebuilt Lost Heaven. Solid but overshadowed at launch by bugs and a driving model some longtime fans never warmed
Original Release: 2002Remake/Remaster Release: 2020Launch Price: $40Critical/Fan Rating: 7.6/10
added by IJRMafia: Definitive Edition
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
Petroglyph, staffed by original C&C developers, remastered Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert with a slider to swap between 4K and pixel-perfect retro art on the fly. A genuine passion-project remaster that RTS fans consider a model for how to treat a legacy franchise with respect.
Original Release: 1995Remake/Remaster Release: 2020Launch Price: $20Critical/Fan Rating: 8.4/10
added by IJRCommand & Conquer Remastered Collection
GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition
Rockstar outsourced remasters of GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas and delivered a buggy, AI-upscaled mess with rain effects that obscured the screen and character models that looked worse than fan mods. A infamous cautionary tale about rushing beloved classics to market.
Original Release: 2001Remake/Remaster Release: 2021Launch Price: $60Critical/Fan Rating: 4.5/10
added by IJR
Blizzard promised a lovingly rebuilt cinematic RTS classic and instead shipped a buggy launch that stripped classic cutscenes, broke custom map compatibility, and even retroactively altered ownership of the original game. Widely cited as one of the biggest remaster disasters in g
Original Release: 2002Remake/Remaster Release: 2020Launch Price: $30Critical/Fan Rating: 3.5/10
added by IJRWarcraft III: Reforged
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