Gargoyles Remastered is too faithful to the original to make it fit on modern consoles, but the art style and music carry you through. The rewind feature helps with the challenge, but overall it feels pretty lifeless in today's day and age.
Our editors hand-pick these games based on a broad criteria: similar games that cater to the same player base, or games that share similar themes, gameplay mechanics, or artistic styles.
Gargoyles Remastered is a disappointing time. Fans of the original will delight in getting to play it on a modern system and the quick rewind helps to alleviate some of the more egregious design choices, but it also highlights how barebones this remaster really is. The rough and ready feel isn’t helped by modern visuals that look aesthetically worse and seem to add extra lag and imprecision to the controls. This is one oldie that perhaps should have been left to sleep in stony isolation.
Gargoyles Remastered is too faithful to the original to make it fit on modern consoles, but the art style and music carry you through. The rewind feature helps with the challenge, but overall it feels pretty lifeless in today's day and age.
Truly, this is one for the fans. It’s a remaster for people who have fond memories of renting it for the Genesis back in the day. Fans of the cartoon might also find some value in it, as much as it tends to be an unfaithful adaptation. For everyone else, there are a lot of other games you can play before you need to reach the depths of Gargoyles. It’s not terrible, it just isn’t good. But at least it hasn’t been left sleeping for one thousand years.
Even those who enjoyed the show, but never played the original game, may have trouble immersing themselves in Gargoyles Remastered. Many of the changes made in Gargoyles Remastered are simply that - changes - and not necessarily improvements, leading to an overall disappointment for the potential this could have had.
However, the bare bones game, the lack of any voicework and the emptiness of accomplishment at the end creates a hollow feeling. This really does feel like eating cotton candy: sweet and visually pleasing, but it just will not fill you up. Get it, love it, appreciate it, but don’t over anticipate what’s inside. This is, at its core, another Disney 16-bit port.
For better or worse, Gargoyles Remastered remains a product of its time. The remaster was handled in a way where all remasters of classic games should be handled which is add quality-of-life features like being able to save and modernizing the graphics and sound while giving the player the option to switch to the original version.
No one asked for Gargoyles Remastered, and I can see why. While the 16-bit gothic graphics are gorgeous, the gameplay does not hold up regardless of what style you’re playing in. The combat is dull, the platforming sections are frustratingly difficult due to bad controls, the bosses are laughable, and the experience is over before you know it.
As much I can’t recommend Gargoyles Remastered to most players, I really appreciate Disney Games and Limited Run for creating quality remasters of retro games that aren’t in high demand. I have so much love and support for this project. I’d love to see this kind of treatment for more 16-bit Disney games like The Magical Quest trilogy, Mickey Mania, or Goof Troop.
Unfortunately, a pure remaster of a decades-old game such as Gargoyles means the same clunky platforming and combat mechanics come with it. Still, gamers who appreciate classic games for what they were will without a doubt appreciate what Empty Clip has done with Gargoyles Remastered.