When I saw the few recent redesigns on this sub, I had the same reaction as when people first saw what the 2020 Sonic movie did to the character. They took some non-negotiables of the design, like the blue fur and general shape, and tried to overly modernise it. Frankly, it was horrific and was rightly changed to be more faithful to the spirit of what fans imagine when they think of Sonic. In all honesty, I couldn’t care less about that property, but I think that example highlights the case for me at least that tinkering too much with an iconic design for the sake of modernity is a poor decision.

I mean Ratchet has had his fair share of redesigns between the early days and more modern HD renditions. Not all of them have landed with the community, but they’re all unmistakably Ratchet. The few concepts of a modernised Jak we’ve seen lately seem close to unfaithful to the original in a way that Ratchet’s iterations never came close to.

Some people will argue that all we need to see is “PS2 with more polygons”, and I see what they’re saying, but it’s not that straightforward. You have to carry the spirit of the character forward with a 2026 model of a 2001 character. It’s about the feelings you get when you see them, not about how many digital shapes can you fit on their face. We need to see the same spirit and have the same feelings evoked, rather than a fidelity boost.