Nostalgia is always big business, and you won’t find a more nostalgic bunch than gamers. It’s no surprise then, that more and more classic games from the ‘90s and noughties are getting the remake treatment with each passing year. And 2025 hasn’t been short of them.
Some games desperately need remakes, either to rid them of some of the more archaic elements of old-fashioned game design, or to make them easily accessible again in the modern era. Others don’t really need them at all, but sometimes you just can’t resist a shiny 4K paint job. We’re all only human after all.
Of all the remakes and remastered games I’ve played this year, these three have stood out the most.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Some remakes choose to reinvent rather than simply rebuild. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a good example of this. Others are so loyal to the source material that you almost wonder if such a remake was even necessary. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater definitely flirts with the latter category.
However, while some hardcore Metal Gear fans might argue that sanding down some of the rougher edges of Hideo Kojima’s 2004 masterpiece removes a part of its soul, I tend to think that making it look and play like a modern game, without messing at all with the bonkers story and iconic set pieces, was the right call from Konami.
The beautifully updated visuals bring Metal Gear Solid 3’s Soviet-era jungle setting to life like never before. The environments are brimming with detail and animal life, filling in the blanks your imagination had to handle on the muddier-looking PS2 outing (which, to be clear, I still adore).
Even more significant are the new controls, which replace the original game’s overhead perspective with a now standard over-the-shoulder third-person camera. And Naked Snake, the one-man-army stealth operative capable of near superhuman feats, can now crouch, which is nice.
Other refinements, like mapping the once tedious camouflage system to the D-Pad are also game-changers.
The best thing I can say about Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is that it does offer you the option of playing with the original game’s controls, and I declined that option after a few hours. This is now (narrowly) the best way to play one of the greatest games ever made, and as the first game in the series, chronologically speaking, it’s also the perfect starting point if you’re new to Metal Gear.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
Final Fantasy Tactics started its life as a PS1 game in 1997 and is regarded as one of the best entries in Square Enix’s long-running RPG series – even if it isn’t a mainline numbered one.
I totally missed the original game, but I’ve done my research, and Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles has shown me what I’ve been missing out on for all these years.
If you’re unfamiliar, Final Fantasy Tactics and its incredibly handsome 2025 remake are tactical RPGs set in a Middle Ages-inspired fantasy kingdom in which its nations have been at war, and as Ramza Beoulve, you’re thrown into a Game of Thrones-esque tussle for power.
Final Fantasy Tactics’ politically-charged story remains as relevant now as it was in the ‘90s, and just as compelling are the strategic encounters that play out on varied battlefields that have been beautifully remade for the HD age. The job system, which lets you build a party of different abilities and specialisms to deploy in combat, can be slightly intimidating at first, but the remake adds difficulty levels that can make the battles less punishing if you’re repeatedly getting your backside handed to you.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a lavish remake, from the overhauled UI that makes it easier to keep track of your units and the state of play in battle, to the full English voice cast that brings the excellent script to life. If you’ve never played this genre-defining tactical RPG, now is the perfect time to give it a go.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4
This article is focused on 2025 remakes, but if I was highlighting the best remakes of all time, 2020’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 would certainly be in contention. The wait for the third and fourth entries in the legendary skateboarding series to get the same treatment was a long one, but it finally happened this year, and they’re also brilliant, with a couple of caveats.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 is another ground-up remake of two games that first came out more than two decades ago, and if you were there the first time round, rediscovering some of the greatest levels in the series’ history is a real thrill.
Some have been subtly tweaked too, such THPS3’s Surburbia, which is now set during Halloween for maximum autumnal vibes. You even get a few brand new levels, one of which is water park-themed and just as stupidly fun to trick your way around as it sounds.
Like the previous remake double-pack, you choose from a roster of new and returning pro skaters, and a couple of bonus characters that include Doom Guy and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Michelangelo, because why not?
Downsides? A good chunk of the original games’ music has been replaced by newer songs, likely due to licensing issues. If you’re nostalgic for the likes of Flogging Molly and Less Than Jake, it’s tough to take. As is the first three games’ two-minute timer being crowbarred into the larger levels of THPS4 in place of the original’s free-roaming structure, which doesn’t feel right.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, then, doesn’t replace the original games, but the core gameplay is as ludicrously fun as ever, and as someone who regards THPS3 as the series' peak, I’m very glad to have this version of it.
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