It’s been over 2 years since the release of the hit remake of Resident Evil 4 and with remakes becoming more successful and prevalent, IGN got a chance to sit down and interview director Shinji Mikami.

I think the comprehensive and fundamental understanding of what it was that made the original work in the first place is probably the most important point of a good remake. Everything from the ground up, basically. There’s a few examples of that with certain series that Capcom has put out.

With more remakes on the way, Mikami discussed what he thought the team did well when remaking his original game:

Another thing I thought was really well done was the way they took the half-assed scenario that I just wrote up in two weeks and really built up on that and really fleshed it out. They showed that they really understood the characters and their interactions. They showed a good understanding of the backbone of each character and they took not just the scenario itself, but even the dialogue, and they improved all that stuff so that was really great.

Mikami would go on to explain what he believes makes a good remake of a game:

The comprehensive and fundamental understanding of what made the original work in the first place is probably the most important point of a good remake. One thing that really stands out about remaking The 25th Ward was, at the time when we did the remake, it was completely unplayable. It was originally only available on Japanese flip phones. And, on top of that, it never actually ended. The original version didn’t have a proper conclusion or ending to it.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to play the remake yet and you’re trying to decide whether or not you want to get into the spooky season mood, you can read our review for the game here.