The gaming industry has been producing re-releases and remakes for a long time, but there are projects that have not yet received a more modern version – although they fully deserve it. PC Gamer Portal speak about games that need to be re-released urgently.
Aftermath: New Vegas
Year of release: 2010
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
The only role-playing game whose depth, quality of writing, and innovative world-building remains unrivaled to this day. New Vegas is the best and most notable game in the Fallout series, which in itself is a good reason to give it a second life. Not to mention, the vanilla version of the game will benefit from the bug fixes usually associated with re-releases. If we clean up the bugs and improve the graphics a bit, the 10/10 will change to 11/10.
Is a re-release actually happening? Theoretically, yes. The recent re-release of Oblivion has been a huge success – it's unlikely that Bethesda will decide to stop there. But New Vegas is probably not the first place on the list of candidates. Typically, publishers prioritize parts of series developed by their in-house teams.
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Dragon Age: Origins
Year of release: 2009
Developer: BioWare
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Origins is the best game in the Dragon Age series, and its approach to combining classic RPG mechanics with modern cinematic storytelling is even more relevant now, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 world. Especially in The Veilguard, which took the series in a completely different direction.
Perhaps the graphics component will benefit the most from a re-release. Origins don't age much, so more detailed faces and environments would help immerse the world. And gear might need a rework, too: well-written characters will look good in battle gear.
And while the Mass Effect trilogy received a well-deserved re-release a few years ago, Origins is unlikely to receive the same privilege. It seems like there aren't enough people left in the studio who understand the game engine.
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Black and white
Year of release: 2001
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Peter Molyneux's reputation aside, Black & White is a truly extraordinary god simulator. Not only is it tied to the player's relationship with his people, but it's also tied to a giant, independent animal that serves as the embodiment of a god in the game's world. Black & White turns out to be ambitious, strange and sometimes disturbing – but that's its appeal.
In fact, it's unlikely the project will be playable in 2025. The game isn't sold on Steam or GOG, and it doesn't officially support modern systems – fans can only search for pirated copies and install custom patches. And thanks to the re-release, Black & White could sparkle with new colors, especially if its supposed developers make the behavior of the giant animals' AI a little more predictable.
Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines
Year of release: 2004
Developer: Troika Games
Publisher: Activision
Bloodlines is the perfect example of a game that is iconic, historically important, and completely impossible to play without angst in 2025. Despite its half-baked, buggy state and one of the worst “sewer” levels in video game history, the Troika Games project is an incredibly compelling sandbox. It is full of interesting characters and situations that players can interact with in many different ways. Even the type of vampire chosen when creating the main character can completely influence the course of events.
For these reasons, Bloodlines is an exemplary candidate for a reissue. Cleaned up technical issues, restored cut content, slightly improved the combat system, and other small quality of life things. There's a lot to do, but a modern, polished version of the game would be a real highlight.
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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2
Year of release: 2004
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: LucasArts
While the first KotOR remake exists in perpetual production hell, the sequel could benefit more from a re-release. The reality is that the second season, like Bloodlines, is excellent but unfinished. The game tells perhaps one of the best stories in the Star Wars universe and the plot has not lost its relevance. But a huge amount of content was cut from the project, which was supposed to connect the various parts of the story – the third act in particular is filled with annoying gaps and dangling narrative threads.
A careful re-release, which restores some cut content (as fan mods have done) and integrates it properly into the storyline, could confirm this is a completely new game.
© Steam
