Panzer Dragoon: Remake

The beautiful and atmospheric rail-shooter of olden times returns stronger than ever.

The Panzer Dragoon Remake marks a welcome return for one of Sega’s most enigmatic series. Although this first game is slightly hamstrung by its own position in history, it implies that the return of Panzer Dragoon is in very good hands.

Sega's phenomenal Sega Saturn on-rails shooter has been delighting gamers for 25 years and now, you can enjoy the action on Switch.

Although I am someone who grew up loving Sega, I can’t exactly say I have a lot of nostalgia towards the Panzer Dragoon games. That can basically be said about any other cult classic originally released solely for the Saturn. The first time I played a Panzer Dragoon game was when I bought Orta on the original Xbox. I eventually picked up a Saturn with a handful of its most important titles, including the Panzer Dragoon games. I really liked the first game, but it suffered from the same prob...

Fans of the series will appreciate this faithful remake of the original Panzer Dragoon, but its price-to-game-length ratio is abysmal.

Panzer Dragoon was originally released back in 1995 for the Sega Saturn. Since then, the franchise has seen a handful of sequels, including a series of RPGs. Now it’s time to fly back to its roots with a remake of the original game that started it all. Panzer Dragoon: Remake is a complete overhaul of the beloved classic. While the gameplay is essentially the same, the visuals have received a substantial upgrade. A lot has changed in gaming since 1995, does Panzer Dragoon: Remake have what it takes to rekindle the nostalgia or is this a game that’s better left as a memory?

Releasing the original Panzer Dragoon as a standalone remake is a bold move to begin with. A dual-pack of both remakes could have made a bigger splash, but while we wait for Zwei‘s re-release to materialize, this is what we’ve got. Approach it with caution and an open mind.

Panzer Dragoon: Remake is a cool window back to a neat little corner of video game history. With modernized graphics acting as rose-tinted glasses to make it more visually pleasing than the 1995 original, this is a neat little arcade shooter that keeps things exciting for an hour or two. It’s just enough to make me wish that the developers had gone a little farther and built this remake up with more levels or, maybe, gambled on a fully modernized take on the original’s simple concept.

Visually, Panzer Dragoon is quite stimulating. The cutscenes are a bit wonky when it comes to the human characters, but the dragon designs are fantastic, as are the levels and environments. The visual and auditory design is truly unique, and easy to get lost in.