Best "Retro Revival" so far?

[CryptRat]

Final Fantasy : the 4 heroes of Light briefly revived a long dead franchise.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

...

There's a new Master of Orion on the way too.

 

[Obviousplant]

Re: OP, if we're talking strictly revivals of old franchises, then none so far, at least as far as the "actually advanced the game somehow" bit is concerned.

Using this criteria, I'd have to say Rayman Origins and Sonic Generations and maybe Dragon's Crown. Out of RPGs? Knights of the Chalice (even though it isn't a kickstarter RPG and it predates all these nostalgia reboots) and Divinity: Original Sin. Say what you will about the graphics, story, coherency and even encounter design, but D:OS does feel like a step forward for RPGs when it comes to battle systems. ToEE with environmental spell interaction and less binary AP system, sounds like a step forward to me. Granted I haven't played every old obscure CRPG there is, but I can't think of another turn based fantasy RPG which reaches that level of intricacy.

Of course I'm thinking more in terms of genre than franchise reboot, D:OS seemingly takes more after Ultima 7 and Temple of Elemental Evil than previous games in the series.

 

[Blowhard]

I think the ease and cheapness with which games could be developed on the DS last gen made the release of some incredibly interesting games possible. Etrian Odyssey, Dark Spire, Devil Survivor, Strange Journey.

You could say that Souls games are more reminiscent of an earlier game design ethos and thus more "retro." I definitely feel like their popularity could be considered some sort of revival - just evidence at least that you don't have to create a brain dead autopilot jerkoff simulation to sell games.

Human Revolution, while not up to the standard set by the original, definitely feels like it came from a better time, maybe 7 or 8 years before it did release. Which, considering how awful and utterly streamlined things have gotten in that timespan, can basically be considered retro.

Knights of the Chalice I don't think was particularly succesful sales-wise, but I loved its approach. It was like the distilled, no-bullshit essence of every great tactical CRPG by a person clearly fed up with all the bullshit of tactical CRPGs. If you want to look at a game that actually trumps and perfects the formulae of the games it seeks to emulate, rather than just passively glorify and repackage them for a new generation, I think KOTC is the best of the bunch.

 

[Night Goat]

New Vegas, the only Fallout game since 1998

 

[Sceptic]

Tesla Effect, for sure. Mind you it wasn't perfect, but it brought almost exactly what I wanted from a retro revival: a classic FMV Tex adventure with high-resolution video and graphics. Every other revival that I've enjoyed, I enjoyed despite some major flaws, but with this one I felt the flaws were comparatively minor.

 

[MRY]

If truly anything is up for grabs, this seems pretty easy to me: the SNES era reboots of the core NES games, assuming those count as "retro revivals": Super Mario World, Super C, Castlevania IV, Megaman X. I think a case could be made for the next generation, too: Mario Cart 64, Super Mario World, Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64, Symphony of the Night, Shining Force 3, the Shining in the Darkness sequel (name escapes me). I've heard good things about the Tell Tale Sam & Max, the Bionic Commando remake, and the recent Wolfenstein remake. I don't know whether the single player was any good, but Wolfenstein Enemy Territory was ludicrously great.

Actually. No. I think there's an easy answer, though not sure it fits the bill: Duke Nukem 3D.

Actually. No! Even better! The Sierra VGA remakes of the pre-VGA titles, especially QFG.

WAIT!

Might it be Day of the Tentacle as a revival of Maniac Mansion?

Or wait. Metal Gear Solid, perhaps?

Gah, the field is too crowded. It's impossible.

All I know for sure is that they used to be able to reinvigorate franchises really well.

 

[Beautiful Clown Painting]

New Vegas, the only Fallout game since 1998

Yes.
And Strange journey.

 

[TripJack]

raymond origins definitely

 

[CyberWhale]

is shit. Donkey Kong Country Returns on the other hand is a worth-vile mention even if it doesn't reach new heights for the series. Unfortunately dum Nitendo and no PC port.

 

[Alex]

 

[taxalot]

Elite Dangerous ?