Is There a Panzer Dragoon Saga Remake Called "Azel Resurrection" in the Works?

You may have heard that a Panzer Dragoon Saga remake is in the works. Called Azel Resurrection, this was supposedly revealed by a 4Chan user’s friend at Sega, and would consist of the following:

• A reimagining of Panzer Dragoon Saga, like Final Fantasy VII Remake.
• Will keep the same combat system, but will improve controls, camera, and UI.
• Some fights will be huge, like the battle against the Guardian Dragon.
• In addition to being able to move sideways around enemies, you’ll also be able to move on top and under them.
• Dragon bosses will have weak points hidden under their armour. Edge will need to crack open the armour to reveal those weak points.
• No release date has been decided yet.

The following concept art pictures were also “leaked”:

I particularly like the Valiant Wing Agility Class model; it’s one of my favourite dragon forms from Panzer Dragoon Saga. Edit: the fourth image wasn’t included in this 4chan topic but was provided by windyhouse on the Forever Entertainment Discord server and was apparently shared earlier by Carl Beaumier from a deleted 4chan topic.

The Panzer Dragoon series has a long history of fake entries. These images could simply be an continuation of that tradition. Keep in the mind that although Panzer Dragoon: Remake appears to be selling well, a Panzer Dragoon Saga remake would be a much more complex and expensive undertaking. Not to mention that, with the already announced Panzer Dragoon II Zwei: Remake and Panzer Dragoon Voyage Record, the lineup of future entries to the series would be starting to look crowded if a third developer were involved. To give a comparison, the much more popular Resident Evil series is being remade one game at a time.

The way that the features of this remake are being framed sounds very much like the extension of what we already have. For example, reusing the old battle system and extending it with the ability to move over and under enemies has long been a fan favourite idea for a Panzer Dragoon Saga remake or sequel.

Nostalgic fans tend to be conservative about what they want from a remake, extending old systems rather than reinventing fundamentals. Whereas if an actual remake was green-lit, the developers would likely look at how the concept of Panzer Dragoon Saga could be updated for a modern audience (as the developers of the Final Fantasy and Resident Evil remakes have done) if the significant money that a Panzer Dragoon Saga remake would require was to be invested (compared to the smaller rail shooter remakes). For better or worse, Panzer Dragoon Saga is very much a product of the 90s and would require some significant gameplay changes to make it accessible to modern gamers. Panzer Dragoon Saga’s original audience was never large enough to warrant a remake targeted solely at millennial nostalgia.

As much as we might like the sound of Azel Resurrection, it’s likely that this is fake news.