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The Must-Have Remasters

The Last of Us remaster's of no huge surprise. We've been softened up to the idea of cross-gen ports with HD collections these past few years. A little bit of polish, some DLC bundled in doesn't sound, on paper, an enticing proposition for double-dipping, especially to the tune of forty quid.

Yet official confirmation of The Last of Us was greeted positively. Not surprising for a game that topped many's GOTY polls last year; if the experience is unique enough, fantastic enough, a replay isn't far away. Doing it on your new shiny console with tarted up visuals and some new Trophies? Sold.

Don't expect The Last of Us to be the only late-gen release swimming for new-gen shores. But if we're drawing up a list here (and we are) here's what we want to see next.

1) GTAV

It's a given it's coming. And the great work Rockstar did squeezing some of the best visuals of last year full stop out of the current-gen machines would make you question what more could they do. But we're eager to return to Los Santos again to experience that three-sided crime story and, if GTA Online carries over as well, it can give Rockstar a second chance in getting the online portion of the game right this time round.

2) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

There's not a console player alive who didn't look enviously at their PC brethren as they cranked up the visual fidelity with a bundle of patches and tweaks to make the latest fantasy epic look stunning. Personally, after loosing my seventy hour save in the game I've been too heartbroken to try again: a new-gen GOTY edition with visuals bettering the PC would make me take up my sword again.

3) Mass Effect Trilogy

Every other month I find my mind drifting back to future of Bioware's deep sci-fi RPG. The daydreaming is less about tackling Reapers and saving the galaxy, more walking the walkways of the Normandy and conversing with the crew. While I was never a fan of the original, ME2 and 3 gave me my own version of the Millennium Falcon and a crew that was shaped by my actions, friendships gained or lost by my words. It's one of the few virtual lives that I've lived that had such an impact that I find myself missing it. Overhauling the visuals, packing every single DLC addition and - hell, let's say it - a developer commentary on that ending would be the complete package that no fan or newcomer could turn away from.

4) Dark Souls II

As we've seen in Dark Souls II most recently, there's expectation (however unwelcome) that E3 and Gamescom reveals and demo won't be matched visually in the final retail product. It's a disappointing acceptance that (hopefully) will be phased out with this new generation of consoles. And in early demos, Dark Souls II looked amazing. For whatever reason the end result didn't match those early concept cuts, we still think From Software can do much better. Still riding on a wave of great review scores and continued chatter, guides and tips that's keeping Namco's hardcore adventure in the minds of players, perhaps a rebuild on newer formats isn't off the cards.

Any others you'd like to see?

HQ