Warcraft III. Remasters of classic games we badly need

The cartoonish visuals have aged rather nicely.

15 years after the original release and Warcraft III remains one of the best real-time strategies available on the market. Brilliant story campaigns, great atmosphere, perfectly balanced gameplay that makes elaborate use of RPG elements, and a multiplayer mode that’s alive and kicking up to this very day are what convinces any homegrown strategist that this may the game they’ve bought their PC for.

Unfortunately, the breathtaking success of World of Warcraft seems to have completely discouraged Blizzard from continuing the franchise in any strategic rendition. It would also be rather difficult, as the said MMORPG has introduced some rather drastic developments in the history of Azeroth; so much that ret-conning them all would be the only viable-ish solution to make any sense of it. There are, however, some chances for a remastered version of the game – the success of the recently announced StarCraft: Remastered may still convince Blizzard to pour some funds into similar reeditions of other classic positions in their portfolio – if so, Warcraft III appears to be one of the better candidates for such treatment.

Max Payne

The most famous video game grimace.

It's hard to believe that it's been twenty years since I first visited the corruption-soaked and snow-covered New York City that became the theater of tragedy for a cop with a weird version of a permanent jazz face. The first Max Payne had everything you'd expect from an action game – a great atmosphere, a compelling storyline taking you to the darkest corners of the Big Apple, great level design and a large arsenal of firearms to send hundreds of junkies, sectarians, criminals and mercenaries into the depths of hell.

It also had bullet time. The ability to slow down time in the middle of the biggest shootouts introduced a new quality to the video games, and allowed us to fulfill the fantasies that the first Matrix had inspired two years earlier. It was the game's greatest asset, which many other titles – including subsequent installments in the series – emulated and improved in the years that followed, making it slightly less impressive by modern standards. But all the rest of Max Payne's qualities remain timeless. Today, condensed, linear stories are getting neglected, and this makes the game fare even better against artificially inflated works.

A refurbished story of Max could own as badly as it did twenty years ago. Unfortunately, what stands in the way is that developers from Remedy Entertainment studio no longer own the rights to it – Rockstar does. And while no one can accuse the creators of GTA of lacking the skill to prepare such a remake, their record unfortunately clearly shows that they are more interested in creating new stories than recreating old ones.

Metal Gear Solid

In Metal Gear Solid 4, we briefly revisited the familiar Shadow Moses from the original and it was a wonderful, nostalgia-filled foretaste of what a full-fledged remake could be.

The history of the Metal Gear Solid series ended in 2015 with a high-profile fallout between Konami and Hideo Kojima, which resulted in the latter's dismissal and the release of the successful, but clearly unfinished in terms of storyline Phantom Pain. After this event, Konami withdrew from making high-budget games for years, limiting themselves to keeping the PES series alive and taking away fans' hopes for the return of any Snake (Oh, you finally woke up! What? Metal Gear Survive? What are you talking about?).

Six years later, however, it looks like the Japanese company is beginning to consider a return to the world of big games. The Internet is buzzing with rumors of a triumphant return of the company's iconic brands, including Metal Gear Solid. What's more, according to these reports, the studio responsible for their restoration would be Bluepoint Games, remake specialists who served up refreshed versions of Demon' s Souls and Shadow of The Colossus in recent years, and had already restored Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, and Peace Walker as part of an HD collection released in 2012. Who else would be better suited to re-tell the story of the incident at Shadow Moses?{ramkaniebieska}

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 + 2

There were no heroes in this story, only shades of darkness.

Between 1996 and 2003, the Legacy of Kain series fired the hearts and imaginations of fans of darkness and vampires, regularly taking them to the phenomenal universe of Nosgoth. Ambitious action adventure games depicted the fates of conflicted anti-heroes Raziel and Cain, addressing issues of free will, morality, and redemption. This epic culminated in 2003's Legacy of Kain: Defiance, in which the two protagonists were forced into a fragile alliance.

Then, black clouds gathered over the series. Crystal Dynamics focused on developing Tomb Raider, pushing Legacy of Kain aside, and the only potential chance to return to the vampire world was an online game called Nosgoth, but it was lost before it even got a full-fledged release. Today, vampires are somewhat more popular, but their image has also become much more tame. It would be nice to see them in more predatory form again – while also getting great games. The two installments of Legacy of Kain, considered the best in the series, would be most suitable to refresh first.

Unfortunately, the chances of Crystal Dynamics returning to Nosgoth are slim – the studio seems to be more preoccupied with developing the adventures of Lara Croft and saving the Avengers than resurrecting the increasingly forgotten series. There's hope, however, lying in smaller teams – the Legacy of Kainbrand has been part of the Square Enix Collective initiative for several years, under which the publisher allows indie teams to create new installments of the classic, as long as the ideas presented appeal to the Japanese.

Black & White

Today, playing either the first or the second installment of Black & White legally is very difficult – both games are hard to find in official digital stores.

Peter Molyneux can be accused of a lot, especially in recent years – after his Godus, to put it mildly, failed to live up to promises. But you can't deny him ideas that, while ultimately being blown out of proportions, were transformed into exceptional games. One such title is Black & White, which once again allowed you to take on the role of a god influencing the fate of his followers.

From other similar projects, the game was distinguished by the presence of a Creatures – raised by us, with their character and appearance shaped by our decisions. We could have made them beasts sowing fear wherever they appeared, or gentle protectors of the weakest. It's the development of your pet that remains the most distinctive element of this production to this day.

Unfortunately, the game hasn't been available for purchase on any official digital store in years, suggesting that the rights to the brand are stuck somewhere in limbo between original publisher Electronic Arts and Microsoft, which bought out studio Lionhead (and shut it down in 2016). This severely impacts the chances of this title returning.

Diablo II

The 2D visuals could sure use some additional details.

While Diablo III was hardly a flop, it certainly wasn’t the success its predecessor was, the latter having become THE best hack’n’slash ever for many gamers. What was Diablo II’s secret? Not much, in fact – don’t fix what ain’t broken, just polish the mechanics until you can see your face in them and make razing hordes of monsters as pleasant as it can get.

Just like with Warcraft III, which I’ll mention later on, the success of the remastered edition of StarCraft may convince the powers that be at Blizzard to keep up the momentum and invest in other refurbished classics. That would make Diablo II the perfect candidate for such a treatment – I mean, kick the resolution up a notch, make it compatible with modern OS and the game’s as good to go as it’ll ever be.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Skyward Sword has done what it could with the Wii console, but some technological limitations were simply too much.

The gigantic artistic success of Breath of the Wild has brought the Legend of Zelda franchise onto everyone’s lips, and millions of players have bought the latest Nintendo console just to play this single title. For many of them, especially in Eastern Europe, where Nintendo hasn’t established a strong position, it was the first contact with this distinguished franchise.

There’s an appetite to satisfy here, and one of the best options to learn more about Link’s exploits seems to be the direct predecessor of the latest installment – Skyward Sword. Not to mention the obvious fact that the game isn’t that technologically outdated yet, it’s also the first, chronologically speaking, installment in the entire franchise, one in which Zelda is yet to become a princess and Link’s not yet a knight.

The only problem that remains is the availability – we can play it only on Wii or Wii U, which may be an irresolvable issue for many gamers. A reedition dedicated to a new console might just be the thing Nintendo needs – especially as it wouldn’t be the first HD remaster in the history of the franchise.

Just imagine if Nintendo remade all the older installments, making them look just like Breath of the Wild...