Whatever you’ve heard about Red One, it’s probably true. Is it the latest casualty in Hollywood’s quest to Marvel-ize any straightforward story it comes across? Yes. Is it overstuffed with self-serious Christmas lore and an abundance of yolked, stone-faced protagonists? Definitely. But it’s also, maybe, not as irredeemable as some might have you believe.

Sure, Red One is every bit the empty star vehicle that we’ve come to expect from Dwayne Johnson. It feels like the total sum of the actor-entrepeneur’s career choices, combining the tone of his better action films with the whimsy of a deeper cut like The Tooth Fairy. That makes for a film that’s not quite sure what it wants to be: An edgy movie for kids? A kids’ movie for adults? It’s anyone’s guess, but Johnson’s squeaky-clean schtick doesn’t entirely smother the film’s ambitions. It doesn’t boost its charm either, but still, maybe a middling Christmas comedy is a bit better than an outright trainwreck — especially in times such as these.

In 1997, I used my brother’s PlayStation to boot up Final Fantasy 7, and my life was forever changed. It launched me into a campaign of devouring every single RPG I could get my hands on — all of those games were an escape from the troubles of my childhood. Now, Dragon Quest 3’s remake is one of the starkest reminders I’ve found of why I fell in love with games to begin with — a dazzling return to a world filled with wonder and childlike innocence; something people might just need right now.

It’s not hyperbolic to say that Dragon Quest 3 is one of the most important video games ever made. It was utterly foundational for the very idea of what we see as role-playing games — the “hero’s” quest, an overworld map to explore, the introduction of class and job systems, and a day/night cycle. It’s a game that quite literally wrote the blueprint and now, nearly 35 years later, things have come full circle. Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is a dazzling re-creation of the RPG that keeps the “classic” heart of the game intact while making some smart modernizations to help newcomers. There are a few places where it feels like Square Enix could have gone a bit further, but just like the original was a blueprint for RPGs at large, this feels like it could be a blueprint on how to remake them.