Demake

Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997 on PlayStation. In those days, the NES, despite Nintendo only discontinuing it in 1995, was considered practically ancient. Things aged faster in the ‘90s. By the time the PlayStation had passed into antiquity in the aughts, the denizens of Web 2.0 became aware of a Famicom/NES demake of Final Fantasy VII. Since Final Fantasy VII was still fondly remembered and the retro gamer identity was reaching its maturity, this was a fascinating topic of conversation. Just hearing about it…

The developer of the cancelled Portal 64 demake has said the project was “probably doomed from the beginning.” James Lambert has spent the past couple of years working on a version of Valve’s first-person shooter Portal that could run on the Nintendo 64.  Earlier this year, Lambert released a demo of Portal 64 that featured 13 of the 19 chambers found in the original game, but shortly after First Slice was shared, Lambert was asked by Valve to take it down. “I have been in communication with Valve about the future of the…

As if I really needed an excuse to play more Furi. But if you were looking for one, The Game Bakers have provided today. The developer has released Furi Demake – The Chain, a fully 2D recreation of the first boss battle, for free on Steam. To reiterate, Furi Demake – The Chain is only comprised of the first boss battle against the eponymous ‘The Chain’, a jailer who acts as your first brick wall of many. The original game had 10 of said walls to smack your face into until their demise. Though, at least one kind of…

Despite the final officially licensed cartridge for the NES being released back in 1995 (the PAL-exclusive The Lion King, for those curious), indie developers have continued to breathe some modern innovation into the retro gaming platform through homebrew titles. One particularly recent and notable example — Broke Studio’s Super Tilt Bro., previewed by Gizmodo — introduces Wi-Fi-enabled online multiplayer to the NES almost 30 years after the console was discontinued.Super Tilt Bro. is an open-source eight-bit fighting…

You've heard of the 2023 Dead Space remake, but now you're able to play an unofficial, fan-made "demake." The 15-minute experience features a PS1 aesthetic and was created by Fraser Brumley. You can download the demake for free on itch.io.This game feels and plays just like the 2008 original, but looks like a PS1 game from 1998. "I've been working on this for a lot longer than I planned and the end product is probably shorter than you expect but I hope you have fun playing it," Brumley said.…

Coming soon to your nearest Toys “R” Us Have you wanted to play Dead Space, but both the 2023 remake and the 2008 original are just not quite old enough for you? You’re in luck, because now you can play Dead Space reimagined as if it was running on the PS1 via a short Dead Space Demake demo developed by Fraser Brumley. The tech demo is only 10-15 minutes long, and it seems unlikely it will ever get any more extensive than that. I gave it a try, and it… sure is Dead Space as depicted through chunky polygons and…

Three months or so in, 2023 has been the year of the remake, as some of this year’s best-reviewed games have been new versions of Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime, and Dead Space. Now, developer Fraser Brumley is looking to go the opposite way. Dead Space Demake is available for free on itch.io and clues us in on what it might have felt like if Visceral Games released Dead Space in the PlayStation 1 era. It’s not even close to the full game — you should be able to get through it in around a half-hour —…

Genshin Impact has undergone a demake in a newly released pixelated fan project, and it looks amazing. Freelance pixel artist OhoDavi recently shared their latest project which has been in the works for a while, and it brings the free-to-play action role-playing game (RPG) to the world of 2D-pixel art (via PCGamesN). Sharing the 20-second clip on Twitter, OhoDavi showcased what Genshin Impact would look like if it was a turn-based RPG. The art style is stunning and depicts the characters Ningguang, Keqing, Aether, and…

Noclip does it again Here at Destructoid, we’ve covered the Bloodborne PSX demake fan project pretty comprehensively — mostly because it rules. The scope of the demake is insane, and now we have a full 40-minute documentary on how it was made thanks to the YouTube Channel Noclip. The Noclip team actually had the chance to meet and speak with Lilith Walther, the creator of the Bloodborne demake. Walther was inspired by Photoshop mockups/renders of God of War 3, Uncharted 2, and BioShock demakes, and created a…

The fan-made demake of Elden Ring that imagines how the title would play on a Game Boy in 1993 has been fully released, offering up an early part of The Lands Between.  Built by Shintendo, this version of Elden Ring bears a striking resemblance to early The Legend Of Zelda titles and offers up the Precipice of Anticipation, Northern Limgrave and Stormveil Castle from the FromSoftware game. Playable on itch.io here, the demake can be played in-browser, via emulators or even on real retro hardware. A trailer for the…