The recently released remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has once again sparked debate about where the line between a remaster and a remake lies. It might seem simple: if the original game is slightly enhanced without changing its core essence, it`s a remaster; if it`s ported to a different engine, it`s a remake. However, the new version runs on Unreal Engine 5 yet is still considered a remaster, not a remake. This is because it doesn`t involve global changes but rather the creation of a kind of “shell,” commonly known as an Engine Wrapper. Let`s try to explain in simple terms what this technology is and how it works.
Literally, Engine Wrapper can be translated roughly as “wrapper for the engine,” which quite accurately reflects its essence. At its core, such remasters utilize the original code and the original engine, which is “embedded” within a new one, allowing it to intercept specific parts. In a broader software context, a Wrapper usually means an additional program enables code to run on hardware and/or software for which it wasn`t originally intended. The simplest and most understandable example here is emulation: for instance, specially written software for Windows allows running PlayStation games, bypassing the original hardware. However, emulation lets a PC “pretend” to be different hardware, while a Wrapper typically operates at the software level.
Early examples of such “wrapping” of old games include various source ports of classic shooters. We`re talking, for example, about GZDoom: formally, it`s a different engine, but it requires the original files to function. A more striking example is Bethesda`s official port of DOOM, executed in Unity: here, the point is using an existing engine rather than one written for a specific purpose.
Perhaps the most well-known modern engine for “wrapping” is the KEX Engine, developed by Nightdive Studios. Many different games have been released on it, most often shooters like Turok, Blood, Quake, or Killing Time, but there are also interesting exceptions like the adventures Shadow Man and Blade Runner or the horror game The Thing. All the games listed above use different engines in their original versions, which doesn`t prevent them from running on the KEX Engine.
In a global sense, KEX is a large superstructure operating at a high level of abstraction. This allows running the original code with minimal intervention. Thanks to support for numerous external libraries and APIs, the engine “intercepts” parts of the executing program and allows them to be replaced. This makes it easy to improve image quality, swap models, increase frame rate and resolution, and make the original code multithreaded. Additionally, it simplifies porting: Turok, for instance, was once a Nintendo 64 exclusive but is now available on many platforms, including PC, PS4, Switch, and others.
Another similar example is the re-release of Halo 2: Anniversary. It`s based on the original 2001 game, including its Blam! engine, which handles internal logic, triggers, and collisions. A stripped-down renderer from Halo Reach is “attached” on top, taking information from the original and processing it as its own. This is largely feasible because the 2001 game is very undemanding by modern standards, allowing it to be processed almost in the background. This also explains the ability to switch to the original graphics with a single button press: the updated renderer simply stops displaying, and the old one, which has been running in the background all along, comes to the forefront.
A more prominent example is arguably GTA: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition, released in 2021. The game runs on the original RenderWare engine but uses Unreal Engine 4 for rendering. This approach allows making graphical changes without altering the core game logic. Specifically, the remaster retained the physics model, the AI for traffic, pedestrians, and enemies, and most animations. Alongside these are improvements like an updated interface, better textures, replaced models, and reworked weather, lighting, and vegetation. The result, as is known, wasn`t brilliant, but the point here is not so much the quality of the specific product as the possibility of making such changes in principle.
A similar situation is occurring with the Oblivion remaster: “under the hood,” the new version retains the same Gamebryo engine with all its native files, over which Unreal Engine 5 is “stretched.” Enthusiasts discovered just hours after the game`s release that the full original game is stored in the files and can even be “edited” using official modding tools from 2006. However, attempts to intervene at the basic level can cause errors due to the specific way the Engine Wrapper works in this case. This is also partly why existing mods cannot be simply ported, although this too may be a matter of time.
Finley Holt