It is very important to us to maintain as much of the original as we can. With today’s technology we can deliver a more realized execution of the original vision, making the details of a mountain range more explicit rather than implied. With Physically Based Rendering, hi-resolution sculpts, and the tools that our engineers created, we can recreate a world that is incredibly detailed. With all those potential changes, it is very important to us that we enhance the source material, changes for improvements not just changes because we can change something.

Mak: It isn’t an easy task to improve on the architecture. We knew from the get-go that we didn’t want to alter it so much that we’d lose the mood and feeling of the original game, especially the sense of scale.

Instead, we try to expand and add ways that make sense to us and hopefully the player. That comes with its own challenges, from reinterpreting the original art and filling in the blanks, to creating new assets.

We start small, recreating a few widely-used textures and some architectural elements, learning the original shape language and design principles. With some input and feedback from the The Last Guardian team, we develop the principles and language for the remake (the TLG team believed our direction felt authentic). Eventually, we move on to the huge arenas and other structures throughout the world of Shadow.