Spoiled again

April has been the month of remakes.

First "Resident Evil 3" gave survival horror fans a new, if somewhat abbreviated, take on the PlayStation classic. Then "Final Fantasy VII Remake" upped the ante, kicking off the first entry in what will be a multi-game series to retell the story of the original in a way I can't actually describe because it would spoil things.

Which brings us to the question of the week.

Can you spoil a remake of a 20 year old game?

After all, the primary selling point of a remake is that it is recreating something the player is already familiar with. There may be variation here and there, but it is generally anticipated that the player already knows what they're getting into before they load the game. In fact, most remakes lean into this, with everything short of giant neon signs flashing "Hey! Remember this!" to nostalgic references.

These things aren't just expected. They are why most people bought the game in the first place.

Which is not to say that nothing is off-limits.

After all, remakes are rarely a one-to-one recreation. There's just as much fun in seeing what is different as there is in seeing what is the same. Naturally, describing the variations in a remake should be considered a spoiler for those who haven't yet played it for themselves. It's one thing to talk about events that both parties know or anticipate will happen. It's another thing entirely to spoil somebody on the changes that a remake brings to the table.

But there's a layer of complexity beyond even that. After all, there are always going to be a subsection of people that play a remake without having played the original at all. To them, everything is going to be new. This creates a somewhat interesting social paradox.

If it were 2010 and I was discussing the Final Fantasy franchise with somebody and brought up a plot detail about "Final Fantasy VII" to a person that hadn't played the game, that would generally be considered fair play. After all, the game was more than a decade old at that point and you can't be expected to tiptoe around things forever.

However doing the same thing in 2020, with a shiny new reimagining available for new players to enjoy, could now be considered a spoiler, in spite of the fact that the general story is even older now than it was back then.

For example, I feel relatively comfortable openly stating that James Cameron's 1997 movie "Titanic" ends with Jack drowning. This is generally considered to be in the realm of common public knowledge, particularly due to the ongoing debate about whether or not there was enough room on that floating door for both Jack and Rose. The "Mythbusters" even did an episode on it.

But, assuming that theaters ever open again, let's say that Hollywood decides it's time for a "Titanic" remake in 2025. A whole new generation that hadn't even been born yet during the height of Leonardo DiCaprio's popularity will flock to theaters for another three hour movie about a boat sinking around a new teen heartthrob.

In that scenario, it would be reasonable to expect that a significant portion of the audience may be going into the movie blind. Thus, it would only be polite for those who know what to expect to refrain from spoiling the inevitable ending.

You could say that the release of a remake somewhat resets the statute of limitations on spoilers to a degree.

In playing through "Final Fantasy VII Remake" over the last couple weeks, it has been tricky discussing the game with other players. Typically speaking, you can gauge what is or isn't off-limits based on how far each player has gotten in the game. If the player is only halfway through the game, then you know not to discuss things that are beyond the point they've played.

In the case of a remake though, discussion is always going to gravitate towards speculation about how expected developments will play out. This means that you have to identify if the person you're talking to has those expectations or not, lest you inadvertently spoil them.

This social tightrope is only going to get tighter as subsequent games are released. I'd explain why, but it won't be long before one of the biggest twists in gaming history becomes off-limits again.

Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and thinks everybody should just go out and play both games as soon as possible so we can all talk freely about it.