Whatever I'm going to say about the remake can be contextualized by my thoughts on the original, as conveyed
earlier in the year; I'm not going to dwell on
ActRaiser fundamentals in light of that.
I think the absolute shining star of this version are the visuals. This sort of pre-rendered uncanniness and resultant "stiffness" go extremely aptly with the subject matter, and fly in the face of pre-conceived notions of what video games ought to look like in the year 2021. It's a remake of a thirty-year-old game in the first place, and this aesthetic direction further sets it apart from the pack in really good ways.
Where it falters is unfortunately most of the rest of it for me. The music is largely straightforward orchestration and electric guitar waffling that doesn't really do the material favours; Koshiro is extremely good with old, "outdated" chipsets and live instrumentation or approximations thereof tend to fall flatter in his work. The elaboration of the sim sequences with tower defense battles draws out the game length really laboriously, combined with other decisions to that end like having to dip into monster lairs for a few seconds to hack at an orb instead of the process being automated. There's an odd insecurity in the original game's systems being inadequate, and that simply adding more Stuff would elevate the game to its stated promise. Instead, I find it diluted, and the relaxed, meditative exhalation provided by the city-building mostly sabotaged by excessive mechanical fussiness.
The writing probably irks me the most, early on anyway. It's localized consistently well, that's for certain; something the original oscillated back and forth between good and less compelling effect. The issues arise from the profusion and tone of the text, where the original achieved much with a kind of anonymous, endearing sincerity as to its subject matter. In here, the phrasing is more linguistically considered but the characterization afforded to the angel in their new sarcastic and mischievous incarnation, or the more character-focused arcs with the heroes of each realm, turn the atmosphere of the game to a more jovially mortal perspective that I'm not sure it narratively benefits from. There is just so much verbiage afforded to the script now and the quiet little heartaches and solemn morality tales of the original script that are still present are at risk of being drowned out under the rest.
I don't think
Actraiser (curiously with an uncapitalized r) in this form is absent of the aspects that make it remarkable, but it is an expansion of the form in ways that don't always gel with the evocative conciseness that powered the original work.
