Hey.  Y'know what really grinds my gears?  Bad and/or unnecessary game remasters and/or remakes.

Don't get me wrong--a lot of remasters and remakes are fine.  Many are warranted and a huge improvement.  But many of them are also totally unnecessary, and some of them actually wreck things, in my opinion.  Firstly, the game industry is absolutely obsessed with remastering games.  They release remasters so soon after the original that there's basically no point.  Why remaster a PS4 game for PS5?  Is it really that different?  Is it worth the time, effort, money, humanpower, etc?  Wouldn't all that be better spent on a new game?  I don't think a remaster or remake is warranted until it's at least two console generations back.  In other words, remastering or remaking a PS3 game for PS5 is okay, but remaking PS4 for PS5 is just silly and unnecessary.  As an example, I don't think anyone was screaming and clamoring for a Horizon Zero Dawn remaster.  What's the point?  Oh, but we all know what the point is, thought, right?  Slap a few more trees and rocks in the game, and then you can force everyone to buy it all over again!  MO MONEY!!!

But what annoys me much more are remakes that actually ruin something.  When choosing any game, I will very often go for an original over a remaster.  I am usually more interested in seeing the developer's original vision and art style.  I want to experience that specific moment in gaming history.  I feel like many remakes actually ruin the art style.  Now, there's no question that every remaster/remake ever made is technically superior to the original, meaning that they're higher fidelity.  That's axiomatic.  But higher fidelity does not always a better experience make.  Art style and graphics are different, and in many cases, the original has a specific art style that is lost in a remake.  A simple texture upscale so that old games can be played on new, big screen and not be blurry is fine and dandy, but totally remaking the game often screws up the original intended look or experience.

There's no better example than The Last of Us.  (I'm sure everyone's played it by now, but this is spoiler-free.  Just a couple screenshots.)  The remaster is fine--just an upscale.  But the remake ruins the character's faces, in my opinion.  They're all off, but Ellie is the worst.  Check it out:

Obviously, the remake is far superior technically, with much higher fidelity, but original Ellie is sooooo much cuter.  In my opinion.  They ruined her face.  I bought the original on PS3 years ago, but due to life getting in the way, I never played it.  I finally got around to playing in, and just finished it a few weeks ago.  I loved it, but I'm also so glad that I played the original, and that I also didn't even see the remake until after I'd finished.  I really don't care for the remake faces, and think they ruin the characters.  Oh, but wait!  They added an extra couple of trees in the background behind Ellie in that scene, so that's makes all the difference!  Yup.  So much better!  Pffft. 

If given a choice, the vast majority of the time, I'll pick originals.  I love good graphics, but I want to see the original art style.