Alongside our Game of the Year top 10 list and personal picks from the Push Square editorial team, we are recognising the best PS5 games of 2024 in select categories. Today is the turn of the best PS5 remake or remaster of 2024.
Bronze Trophy: Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
Nobody wanted it when the project was rumoured, but the proof is in the pudding, and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered has proved a lot of doubters wrong with probably the best example of what a remaster can achieve in 2024. Nixxes has revolutionised the Guerrilla Games effort with a graphical improvement that puts it on par with Forbidden West, and the PS5 Pro takes it to another level. It's now one of the best-looking games on Sony's console; an impressive achievement for a game originally released seven years ago.
Read our Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered PS5 review through the link.
Silver Trophy: Persona 3 Reload
Atlus has had an absurdly strong 2024, and while Metaphor: ReFantazio will take most of the plaudits, the excellent job it did remaking Persona 3 can't be forgotten about. Bringing back SEES to help fight against the monstrosities of the Dark Hour was a genius move, allowing this PS2 classic to shine all over again and introduce it to a new audience after Persona 5 sold gangbusters. Its dungeon crawling is addictive, the remade visuals are wonderful, and the quality-of-life improvements help enhance the JRPG in the areas the original fell short. It's an all-round excellent game, so how about a Persona 4 remake next, Atlus?
Read our Persona 3 Reload PS5 review through the link.
Gold Trophy: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth a pure remake that sticks completely to its source text? Just like Final Fantasy VII Remake, absolutely not. However, even stripped of those additional elements, where Rebirth is faithful to the PS1 classic makes it one of 2024's biggest highlights in this category. Adopting a more open zone format, Square Enix breathes fresh life into memorable locations like Cosmo Canyon and Gongaga to an astonishingly high quality. The majority of what you remember from the original title is there, but now expanded and bigger — just like the first part of the remake project. It may rightly have its critics, but it's impossible to look past Final Fantasy VII Rebirth being one of 2024's best remakes.
Read our Final Fantasy VII Rebirth PS5 review through the link.
Platinum Trophy: Silent Hill 2
To say Bloober Team had its doubters while remaking Silent Hill 2 would be an understatement and a half. We doubted the developer could do it to a high bar based on past projects, and so did you. We've never been happier to be so wrong.
The PS5 remake of Silent Hill 2 faithfully brings back the PS2 horror masterpiece and expands on it in the right ways to create one of 2024's greatest highlights. A genuine Game of the Year contender, Bloober Team had worked with Konami to craft something truly special. Its story is resurrected just as it was first written in 2001. The terrifying town remains the same, except built upon in select areas to offer more explorative opportunities and new ideas. Silent Hill 2 on PS5 is the same as it was on PS2, but it's also not. That's the best thing about these kinds of experiences: you can be faithful while modernising and redefining the source text. Silent Hill 2 does both, making for the very best remake this year.
Read our Silent Hill 2 PS5 review through the link.
Do you agree with our picks for the best PS5 remake or remaster of 2024? Share your thoughts in the comments below and check out more of our Game of the Year coverage through the link.
Comments 27
Silent hill 2 50%? It's good granted but it's not superb. It could have been so much better and it looks good but that's it. I can't fault the audio though as that is really good. Above average at best (please note this is a personal opinion.)
Why does Push Square hate Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?
Or better: Why do they love a mediocre Silent Hill 2 so much?
Not bad picks but just in wrong places for me. For me it's,
1. Final Fantasy 7 ReBirth
2. Persona 3 Reload
3. Horizon Remastered
4. Silent Hill 2 (maybe swap for DQ 3 HD)
@Barry_vV well they gave it the gold trophy so I'd hardly say they hate it.
@Barry_vV it got second place? SH2 Remake is one of the highest rated games of the year not just as a remake but as a stand alone game. It has the highest Steam average rating of any 2024 big-budget game.
I agree with this mostly. P3R is very fun but the Tartarus slog towards the end game is still not very fun—but that is part and parcel of P3.
Rebirth seems great but I got to the Costa de Sol on launch weekend and all the minigames are too much. I have not played it since.
I really really enjoyed Romancing SaGa2 remake, but evidently I have a minority opinion.
@Northern_munkey This comes on top of putting in a #7 for GOTY.
@Konks SH2 was a very blant, boring and empty game. I liked the fullness of FF7 Rebirth, it really was a complete game.
SH2 should have been 4th or not even on this list. Romancing Saga 2 was an amazing remake and deserves that #4 spot more.
@Barry_vV it still made the top 10. I'd agree with you if it didn't make any list but to place #7 is OK (yes it should have been in the top 5) and it got a placing in this poll too.
@Barry_vV If we hated it, the game wouldn't appear on any of these lists or our overall top 10 at all.
@LiamCroft Of course it's exaggerated. Maybe SH2 on place 1 bothers me even more than the second place for FF7.
It was a hard choice, but I went with P3 Reload over Silent Hill 2. I loved both games - the only measure I have is that I immediately wanted to jump back in to Reload after the credits. Silent Hill 2, I was glad to be finished with it. I'll go back to it for NG+ and shenanigans with the chainsaw at some point.
I'm still in the minority of people who don't understand why Rebirth gets the love that it does. The combat in the demo was so bad to me as to be unplayable. I'm sure there's something that I'm missing and I'm just not doing it correctly, but it seems horribly imbalanced.
Why does hitting a small monster with a giant sword do next to no damage and allow it to continue with doing whatever it was doing, but if it smacks Cloud with his little tail, Cloud goes flying, takes a ton of damage, and interrupts his action while going so far as to waste a bar? Why does it seem so difficult to micro-manage each party member? They never seem to have their bars built up when I need them! The flying enemies are a chore, and that last boss in the demo doubly so - I think that's what helped me decide that as much as I adore the original Final Fantasy VII, this one just isn't for me. I'm just surprised that it's as highly rated as it is.
I have such great memories playing persona 3 fes of course I’m going to have to pick reload.
@LiamCroft There's clearly some level of bias against it. Not hated maybe but definitely overcriticized and underrated by this site. Especially when taking into account the criticisms made against it were ignored in other games like Infinite Wealth and Dragons Dogma.
Thought I'd add that my own ranking for Remakes/Remasters this year would also be
1.Silent Hill 2
2.Rebirth
3.P3 Reload
I don't think I have a 4th and 5th yet. But yeah, this is the first list I agree with... Something must be wrong.
Yep this is correct ☑️ The Silent Hill 2 remake is, in my opinion, better than the original and in my top horror experiences of all time. Correct!
@Barry_vV Could say the same for SMTV. Universally acclaimed except on PushSquare.
@B0udoir Also really liked that game
Wow people really love Rebirth on here. I played Silent Hill 2 on its PS2 release. Got half way and was thoroughly bored and didn't understand it's place in peoples hearts. The remake made me fully appreciate why people in fact love the game. On top of that the atmosphere now is genuinely creepy, the visuals for the environment at least are near photorealistic in parts and the sound design, especially ambient is brilliant. Had me on my guard at all times and the only other horror games to do this EVER for me was Resi 1 when I was much younger and the original Dead Space.
Also they improved on what was there with nods to the old games, Rebirth changed what was there, sometimes to it's detriment. I thought the Temple of the Ancients for example was rubbish in the remake and overstayed it's welcome. The gold Saucer was awesome but lost the really fun roller coaster mini game. Queens blood was great but the side story wasn't. I'd prefer it being like 8 instead where you just challenge people.
Also maybe the guys at Push Square have differing tastes, shock. These are don't between all the staff. I see universal praise for Persona 5, I think it's an overrated slog where parts might have just been a visual novel for how much exposition there was and because of that it put me off even wanting to try any other Persona. But different strokes and all that.
Rebirth > Silent Hill 2.
I dunno about everyone else, but the Silent Hill 2 remake sort of made me realize how aloof James is as a character. The game is simultaneously terrifying and sort of silly because James is sort of unlikeable to me. I feel like my opinion of Silent Hill 2 is a little bit less than it was before the remake, and I say this totally feeling that the remake was fantastically made. Bloober finally proved they can do it. It’s still good, just not what I remembered, you know? It’s not quite a REmake or Rebirth where I’ve got a new level of appreciation for the source material. The gameplay was effective, but I like the story less than I did 20-ish years ago.
Oh, and Dragon Quest 3 belongs on this list.
@Stale-Bread I agree for Persona 5. It is so overrated and I never understood the lack of criticism from the press against this game. Remove the nice artsy UI with the colors and music, and it just becomes a bland and never ending visual novel with a poor story. The combats and dungeons are subpar compared to SMT, which is crazy since it is derived from this game series. They could at least keep in Persona what makes SMT great. My theory is that most people forged an opinion by playing just a couple of hours but never spent the 120 hours to complete the story…
Silent Hill 2 is easily my favorite game of this year.
@B0udoir "people forged an opinion by playing just a couple of hours but never spent the 120 hours to complete the story"
I have 650+ hours clocked between Persona 5 the original release, Royal and the PS5 remaster. The game for me is perfect 🙂 If I could change something I would change nothing! most people fall into this category if you see the reviews, user reviews and awards it earned.
It didn't click with you which is fine we all have that one game we hate that everyone loves, mine is GOW Ragnarok. I was so bored playing through that I wondered if I was mentally ill. It happens 🤷🏼♀️
Wah wah Rebirth wah wah wah😭
The only category this year with truly top tier games from platinum through to bronze
It's easily Rebirth for me.
The only one of these that I have played so far is Horizon Zero Dawn (remake). Sure, it looks very nice, but it is exactly the same game as it was in 2017 (seven years ago).
I am disappointed that an award for the Best Remake/Best Remaster is even necessary.
Although I cannot speak for anybody else, I would much rather developers focus their efforts into making new and original games, not simply making their old ones look and perform better.
No dark forces. This entire thing is now rendered moot.
Is it just me that thinks Persona 3 is the most repetitive, dull, easy slog of a game ? It looks like it.
Granted, I only spent about 18hrs with it but maann....
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