One of many hot topics across the gaming industry right now is credits, or more specifically, making sure that the people who develop video games and contribute in capacity are properly credited for said work.
It's with that fact in mind that I was particularly eager to boot up Gears of War: Reloaded, to see how the upcoming Xbox Game Studios remaster would handle crediting the teams that have worked on it.
It's unfortunate that this is even newsworthy, but the sad reality is that even now, many big companies don't credit appropriately.
The reason I was particularly curious is that Gears of War: Reloaded is the second remaster of the original game, building on work previously done by The Coalition with 2015's Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.
When I first began playing Gears of War: Reloaded, I immediately checked to see how the game handles its credits. Navigating to the Extras tab, I'm pleasantly surprised by what I see: Instead of bundling the game's various layers into one lump sum, every layer of Gears of War: Reloaded credits is present and available to check.
It's a neat approach, and one that I'd like to see more video game remakes and remasters adopt in the future. It's not difficult to locate, it's not overly complicated, and each one is viewable by itself instead of requiring you to sit through the entire credits if you're just looking for one particular segment.
I also have to mention that upon finishing the campaign, the credits roll in order, beginning with Gears of War: Reloaded, then shifting to Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, before finally concluding with the original credits for Gears of War.
From Xbox Series X|S to Xbox One and then finally back to Xbox 360. No one is left behind from any generation, which I seriously appreciate.
Video game crediting isn't always done right, especially with remasters
It's unfortunate that this is even newsworthy, but the sad reality is that even now, many big companies don't credit appropriately, removing key chunks of the teams that worked to make a video game's launch possible.
That goes triple with remasters and remakes, where possible oversights and outright malicious excisions are all too common.
Earlier this year, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD for Nintendo Switch removed the developers who worked on the original Wii game, simply noting that it was based on their work without any specific attribution.
This isn't even the first time it's been an issue just with Nintendo. In 2023, former Retro Studios staff criticized Nintendo over the crediting setup in Metroid Prime Remastered for Nintendo Switch.
Prior work shouldn't be erased, whether it serves as inspiration for a remake or the foundation for a remaster.
Instead of having the credits for the staff that worked on the original game included in any way, the game chucks them all into one pile with a single line: "Based on the work of Metroid Prime (original Nintendo Gamecube and Wii versions) development staff."
Konami's Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner remaster, Mars, takes a similar unfortunate approach, with the original team relegated to “A tribute to the original production staff and contents.”
Hopefully Gears of War: Reloaded can serve as an example
Hopefully, we'll see more remastered games in the future, using the example set here with Gears of War: Reloaded. Prior work shouldn't be erased, whether it serves as inspiration for a remake or the foundation for a remaster.
In my review of Gears of War: Reloaded, I wrote that "Everything is building on the bones of a prior remaster, yet the result is a hair more visually impressive than I would've imagined before first playing it. Nostalgia plays tricks, and the overall improved image quality is more than I expected."
Gears of War: Reloaded is now available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (Steam and Xbox PC), and PlayStation 5. It's also available in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
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