Suikoden I And II HD Remaster Improves The Style, But Not The Substance, Of Two Classic RPGs

When you’re going into battle against a totalitarian empire, choosing the right people for your army is crucial. You’ll need military strategists, of course, and hardened warriors. People who can supply and feed the troops are essential. And if you want any real chance of success, you can’t forget to bring along a motley assortment of fashion designers, jugglers, children, and wild animals.

Suikoden and its sequel are regarded as some of the best RPGs made for the original PlayStation. Suikoden I & II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars puts that reputation to the test, bringing both games to a modern audience with few changes aside from a serious visual overhaul. As the remaster shows, the early Suikoden games’ reputation is well earned, though perhaps overblown, with its unique collect ‘em all character recruitment system doing some heavy lifting to cover for middling combat and writing.

Home Front

Suikoden I and II, both centering on a series of wars, are set three years apart. In the first game, the son of a prominent general in the Scarlet Moon Empire leads a rebellion against his tyrannical government after stumbling into an encounter with the Liberation Army. The sequel centers on a young soldier who joins the battle against his homeland after being betrayed and nearly killed by his commander. Several characters from the first game return for the second, making it more fulfilling, but in no way necessary, to play them in order.

The schtick of Suikoden, and likely the reason the series is so memorable, is the ability to build a 108-member army by recruiting NPCs. Not all of these recruits come into battle with you; some tend to the castle that serves as your home base. Some will join you after a simple conversation, but to convince others to join the cause you’ll need to complete side quests, woo them with specific party members, or otherwise prove that your cause is worth fighting for.

It’s a compelling idea, and it provides a good reason to talk to everyone you meet. Like in any RPG, most NPCs just spout a canned line or two, but once in a while, they’ll provide help in battle or back home. Getting another party member for battle can be fun, but finding someone who wants to help run the day-to-day operations of your castle feels more tangible, as they make visible and functional differences to the space. Adding to your staff feels like building a community as much as tending to the logistics of your army, both of which are satisfying.

Enemy Territory

When you’re not gathering recruits, you’ll spend a lot of time fighting. There’s a lot to like about the series’ combat, but it doesn’t feel quite as good in 2025 as it may have when the games were first released. Magic is cast using runes that can be equipped by anyone, meaning, with the exception of a handful of characters who sport unique runes, your six-person party feels interchangeable. Suikoden’s other trick is Unite attacks, which use two or more characters’ turns for one supercharged move. It all adds up to a fun combat system that requires a bit of strategic thinking both in and before battle, but otherwise doesn’t feel particularly special.

Both games also offer some variety with duels and army battles. Duels are essentially rock-paper-scissors matches that ask you to choose one of three commands based on hints the enemy gives about their intentions. Army battles in Suikoden I follow a similar format, employing three types of units with strengths and weaknesses. Suikoden II introduces a much-improved turn-based system that feels like a lighter version of Fire Emblem. While both of these are rarer than the standard turn-based combat, they help sell both the large scale of the series’ conflicts and the personal nature of their protagonists’ fights, making them a welcome if sometimes simplistic addition.

War Stories

More than anything else, the Suikoden series is lauded for its story. Both games center on young men who are dragged into the realization that they’re fighting for the bad guys, but as resonant as the idea of a person working to dismantle the empire they once served is, the execution doesn’t really hold up. Suikoden II’s writing is a big step up from the first game, but neither feels terribly original. Most of the huge casts are made of anonymous stock characters, and even the games’ best character moments don’t end up being memorable.

Vague writing also drags down the pacing, as you’ll often be given little or no direction on where to go next. A new log that lets you read back every conversation you’ve had does help, but in some cases the only way to proceed is by randomly wandering the map or talking to NPCs until you trigger the next story beat.

Writing standards have changed since Suikoden I and II were released, and both games feel like products of their time. Nowhere is that clearer than in the blatant sexism present throughout the script. I was taken aback early in the first game when Odessa, the leader of the Liberation Army, apologizes for failing to repel an attack because she was protecting a child, saying, “It seems I’ve chosen to be a woman over my responsibility to the Liberation Army.”

Conflating Odessa’s womanhood with her desire to save a child, and framing that as a failing, may be the most shocking line in either game, but things don’t really get better from there. Female characters are sexualized to an absurd degree, especially in Suikoden II. One member of your army makes a pass at the teenage protagonist the instant she meets him. A pair of circus performers can barely appear on screen without someone commenting lecherously on their looks. Given how flat most characters are, it’s astounding how much the games go out of their way to depict the women as jokes, sex objects, or inferior to their male counterparts.

We’re a long way from the ‘90s, and sadly, none of the above would have stuck out among most of the era’s pop culture. You could argue that the games are a product of their time, and that a remaster should preserve games as they originally existed rather than changing them for modern audiences. But Suikoden I and II were given a graphical overhaul, new sound effects, and quality of life features like the option to speed up battles. Konami made these changes to correct what they saw as issues that would alienate a new generation of players. To simultaneously leave such sexist dialogue intact sends the message that the games’ belittling treatment of women is a lesser problem not worth fixing.

Nostalgia may be the primary motivation to play through Suikoden I & II HD Remaster, but that’s not to say it’s the only reason. There’s some compelling combat, a good-but-not-great story, and a genuinely original quest to build and staff your castle that spans through both games. The HD treatment given to both titles is impressive, and Suikoden II in particular features some stunning art that’s nearly on par with Square Enix’s HD-2D remasters.

But for all that, I can’t help but be disappointed by this collection. Aside from its fresh coat of paint, Suikoden I and II remain largely the same as they first appeared, even in spots where a modern update is sorely needed. The two classics feel stuck in limbo; not quite the games you might remember from childhood, but not transformed into something more befitting the current day, either. I have no doubt that Suikoden I & II HD Remaster will rekindle a love of the series in plenty of players, but it mostly convinces me that remasters are a pale replacement for either remaking games entirely, or preserving and playing games in their original state, where their flaws and outmoded prejudices can at least be written off as the product of another age.

6/10

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars launches on March 6 on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Inverse was provided with a PC copy for this review.

INVERSE VIDEO GAME REVIEW ETHOS: Every Inverse video game review answers two questions: Is this game worth your time? Are you getting what you pay for? We have no tolerance for endless fetch quests, clunky mechanics, or bugs that dilute the experience. We care deeply about a game’s design, world-building, character arcs, and storytelling come together. Inverse will never punch down, but we aren’t afraid to punch up. We love magic and science-fiction in equal measure, and as much as we love experiencing rich stories and worlds through games, we won’t ignore the real-world context in which those games are made.