All the games I have on Steam that are Remastered versions of older games, ranked entirely by how good the changes are.
As always, this is not any statement on how good the games themselves are. Just the changes from the original version, and even then only the ones I can recall off the top of my head.
Somehow Worse?
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut
Note that this is 2009's Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars - Director's Cut and not 2024's Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged. This one has the colon and then the hyphen.
So, most obvious change to this game is that they've added whole new sections of the game where you play as Nico. Nothing wrong there, Broken Sword 1 was the only game where you couldn't in the first place. Two problems here; one being that the new Nico sections aren't really connected to the rest of the story all that much. It's not Nico's side of things for the original game, like her sneaking into the museum, so much as it's some whole new lore that's never important. Second problem, there's a Nico scene at the very start of the game, so it doesn't open on George's iconic "Paris in the Fall" speech.
Third problem, unrelated to Nico, is they took out a lot of the player's options. Most notably the death scenes, but you also can't go around showing everyone your greasy rag. Unacceptable.
Broken Sword 1: Subtitle Abuse is no longer available on Steam. Reforged is here. I don't have this one because it's £25 and that's a lot to pay for a game I already own twice.
Consortium Remastered
Virtually identical to the first Consortium. Honestly, no obvious graphical updates or anything, it's the same game in a new engine. They do change the ending so that it's an actual ending and not a cliff-hanger tease for their next game which is, let's face it, probably never actually coming out. So why is this worse? Two reasons: one, they expanded the VR escort mission minigame without improving the NPCs, making it exponentially more annoying. Second is the use of generative AI, but that's a more complex issue.
Available here, though you also got it for free if you owned the original version before it was taken off the Steam store, which is nice I guess.
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
Cutting to the chase here, I don't like the new art style. The old pixelated one had way more charm; the new one is oddly rubbery, and it makes all the animations really jerky. On the other hand, I like (most of) the new voice acting, with the cast from the third and fourth games returning, minus Escape's American Elaine. And yet, for some insane reason, you can't have both the classic art and the new voice acting at the same time. If you like or don't mind the new artwork then you can get it here.
Slightly Better
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
You can have the classic art and the new voice acting at the same time. Buy it here.
Noctropolis
Does this count? I'm not sure, honestly. It might be a re-release more than a remaster. The only real difference is that they removed some of the (unintentional) soft-locking issues from the original game. I've no problem with death being an option in adventure games (see Broken Sword above) but having the game be made outright unwinnable always feels like poor design to me, especially if it's one of those issues where there's no logical way to figure out what you did wrong. Buy it here.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition
Updated graphical engine, so better textures, lighting, and all that. New content like Survival Mode, a short Shivering Isles inspired quest line, and a fishing minigame. It's not very in-depth, but you can fish for a variety of new fish to display in your house, plus some nifty new rings and trinkets that are good if you like to collect stuff. 4/5.
No trains though. 0/5
I'm not linking the store page for Skyrim. You can buy it anywhere.
Truly Remastered
Double Fine's LucasArts Remasters
Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle. They're the same games, more or less, with updated versions of the original artwork (that you can turn off). Unlike the Monkey Island remasters, they made the new graphics match the old art style virtually identically so it's much less jarring to switch between the two. They also added a verb wheel control system for Day of the Tentacle, including a low res version so you can have modern controls with classic graphics. Nice touch.
And, better yet, you can play Grim Fandango without the tank controls that no one liked.
A Whole New Game
Black Mesa
This is a fan remake of the original Half-Life, with so many changes I'm honestly struggling to call it a Remaster over... well, like the title heading says.. Mostly in the infamously bland Xen regions, Black Mesa adds a living, thriving environment to the world instead of some small floating rocks. However, since I am never truly happy, I do also think the Xen section goes on a little too long at times, and having a full ecosystem takes away from the cosmic borderland feel that Xen is supposed to have. Ah well, still fun.
Except for carrying that damn pizza box. You can buy it here (the game, not the pizza box). It's for sale for actually money despite being a fan-made game, but apparently that's OK.
Oblivion Remastered
Did I make this entire list to hop on the Oblivion Remastered bandwagon? Yes. Do I actually own Oblivion Remastered? No. It's £50, and that's a lot of money for a game I already own twice. But what I do know about the game is that they fixed my two biggest issues with the first Oblivion: the levelling system being utter pants, and the Fortify Alchemy enchantment doing sod all.
Buy me Oblivion Remastered here.
