I “demake” are remakes of games which, instead of improving the graphic quality as in a “remake”, deal with lowering the polygonal count (or canceling it completely, transforming the game into a 2D product). The aim is often to try to reimagine the game with a retro style, inspired by some old gaming platform. Now, Alex Bowen has created an 8-bit demake of the huge hit of 2023: Baldur’s Gate 3.
In the video that you can find just below it is shown that it is a demake designed to run on an old computer, specifically a TRS-80 Model 100 which features an 8-bit processor at 2.4 MHz, a few kB of RAM and uses a 240 x 64 LCD display.
The video of the Baldur’s Gate 3 demake
The Baldur’s Gate 3 demake is called “Mol” and is not currently a complete product. Bowen explains that it will never be a one-to-one re-proposal of the original game, but rather a sort of “interactive fan art”. He knows well that demakes are often blocked by the owners of the original IP, but he believes that this project has nothing to fear, also because it is dedicated to a niche platform whose production company has long since disappeared.
The game plays like a stylized top-down RPG. The space for “graphics” is really limited and the bulk of the visual elements are created with ASCII. The great strength of a project of this type is its nostalgic value for the machine used, but fans of Baldur’s Gate 3 could also be intrigued by it.
Still talking about demakes, here is Resident Evil 0 in PS1 style.
