Should remakes include extra material from the sequels/prequels?

[ChrisIII]

I'm currently playing Yakuza Kiwami (Remakes of Yakuza 1 and 2 but made after the sequels) and a lot of the side content in the game directly references events in Yakuza 0, such as the weird cult, the pocket racer circuit, as well as events that happen in the sequels such as Majima's fellow Yakuza being in Jail. Granted, there's not much of this in the main story.

Last of Us remake didn't add any 2 story content I think although it did use a few of the mechanics.


The Spider-Man ps5 upgrade does have the same face Peter uses in Miles Morales although they were made around the same time so probably doesn't really count.

The FF7 remake features several characters from spin-off material like the movie, portable games etc. although it isn't as much a "remake" as a semi-reboot I think.


Some are wondering with the rumors about Red Dead Redemption I being remade if there should be references to Arthur Morgan to harmonize the two games better. Or Metal Gear Solid III Delta featuring Skull Face cleaning up after Big Boss or confirmation that "Zanzibar land" from II is the same area.


If Knights of The Old Republic gets a remake there's speculation it will probably stick to the new Disney canon's changes to Jedi/Sith mythology.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

It depends on what the content is and whether it adds something to the current story.

Stories are often products of their time so changing them feels enticing. But not every change adds to the original story so it's a case by case thing.

[Hiromi]

if you're going through the trouble of making an actual remake(ie rebuilding the entire game from the ground up) then there's nothing wrong with adding stuff as it's essentially a new game at that point anyway, otherwise just call it a remaster if it's identical to the original just with updated assets and engine

[BeastieRunner]

Crash Team Racing, the Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy, LA Noire, and the Mass Effect Legacy Trilogy all added to the base game and in the case of ME & LAN, included all the "exclusive" content locked (cosmetic, weapons, missions, etc) to certain consoles and editions. They streamlined, unified, and flat out added to the game in spots.

Those were done well IMHO.

Alan Wake, Ghostbusters, were merely graphical updates, although well done without changing the game.

I think it depends on the game.

[ChrisIII]

Turns out that the RDR "remake" is just going to be a port to PS4/PS5 and switch with no added material outside of foreign language tracks. Plus it's going to be $50!

At least the MGS ports include some interesting extras and some games/versions of games that are fairly rare, and with a better price point.

There were reports they were considering a proper remaster but they decided to cancel it after the GTA trilogy debacle.

[Immortal Weapon]

I like it when remakes add material from sequels and spin-offs. It makes things a lot more cohesive. The resident evil 4 remake made Luis a former umbrella scientist who was on the team that created Nemesis, Leon still uses the knife that Marvin gave him, operation Javier is mentioned and Leon's experience in RE2 factors into his motivation to save Ashley. These additions do a great job to make RE4 feel connected to the rest of the series.

[Lukmendes]

I like it when remakes add material from sequels and spin-offs. It makes things a lot more cohesive. The resident evil 4 remake made Luis a former umbrella scientist who was on the team that created Nemesis, Leon still uses the knife that Marvin gave him, operation Javier is mentioned and Leon's experience in RE2 factors into his motivation to save Ashley. These additions do a great job to make RE4 feel connected to the rest of the series.

The Operation Javier one is, odd, because the way its events are described have nothing to do with the one you actually see in Darkside Chronicles (For starters, Leon wasn't there), so that one is questionable at best, actively contradictory at worst.

But then again, Capcom can be pretty terrible at following their own continuity even when they aren't deliberately retconning stuff.

Either way, adding stuff from sequels and whatever is fine as long as it's done organically, otherwise it may just look off.

Resident Evil Remake 1 however, is a case of a game looking stupid by not referencing other stuff, because Rebecca has largely the same role and a different personality compared to RE0, and despite RE0 retconning Marcus as the cause of the infection around Arklay mountains, remake1 completely ignores this and keeps a file from the original RE1 where it's talked like Umbrella planned the lab's destruction, so that was stupid... That on top of the game not having the canon ending, even though as early as RE2 it's established that Jill, Chris, Barry and Rebecca all survived.