8 Video Games In Desperate Need Of A Remaster

5. Assassin's Creed

assassin's creed climbing
Ubisoft

In recent years some earlier Assassin's Creed entries have returned to varying degrees of quality. In 2016, the brilliant Assassin's Creed 2 and its expansions received a lacklustre texture and lighting update, and last year saw a full-fledged remaster of 2012's uninspired yawn-fest Assassin's Creed 3 - leading players to further question the kind of wavelength Ubisoft is operating on. Sadly, Ubisoft Montreal's flawed yet ambitious 2007 original appears to have been left to rot as a relic of the seventh generation of consoles' early days.

The game is, admittedly, very flawed indeed. The engine is clunky, the missions are repetitive and Altair's stupid midwest accent feels incongruous amongst the more authentic-sounding supporting cast. However, where Ass Creed 1 shines is its setting. 12th century Palestine, a holy land under siege from crusaders provides the basis for a fictional retelling of the historical real-life conflict between the Order Of Assassins and the Knights Templar. It's gritty and urgent, and wandering the grand city of Damascus or the filthy, disease-ridden streets of Acre gave a real sense of a land and a people affected by war where there are only shades of grey.

To make it worthwhile, the game would need some serious reworking from the ground up, eschewing its arcade-y, repetitive errands in service of more engaging missions. The risk would also be present of the game being reworked into a bloated mess like the series' latest iterations, but to liberate the Holy Land all over again would be very special indeed.

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A self-taught video editor with nearly 25 years of experience, Joe worked in freelance videography for many years before joining WhatCulture in 2018. During that time, he has expanded his work to include both writing and presenting, and has been at the forefront of several new channel launches including WhatCulture Horror and WhatCulture Star Wars, largely defining their visual identity through the design and curation of their bespoke assets. As a dedicated WhatCulture Gaming staff member, he has spearheaded numerous new content strategies and formats, and has taken the lead on various charitable projects that have raised large sums of money for charities close to his heart. Bluesky and Instagram: @jjpinwheel