Shrek 2 Remastered reviews on Steam are Mostly Negative, with 39% of 596 positive, because of crashes, an Epic account for online co-op and old bugs left in. That was the score on November 14, four days after launch.
Key takeaways
- Players’ biggest complaints are launch crashes, online co-op that needs an Epic Games account, and levels that can block your progress.
- Many reviews say the remaster plays exactly like the 2004 game, with the same camera, controls and companion AI.
- Aspyr has pushed crash hotfixes on Steam but hasn’t addressed the Epic account or the other complaints.
What are the Shrek 2 Remastered reviews like?
Shrek 2 Remastered came out on November 10 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Switch 2 and PC, for $29.99. On the Steam store page, 596 user reviews have come in and only 39% are positive, which Steam labels Mostly Negative.
Critic reviews are thin on the ground. Metacritic doesn’t show a Metascore yet, because it needs at least four critic reviews and the PS5 and Switch 2 pages have one each. So for now, the Steam score is the only real number, and it’s coming from people who bought the game.
Not every review is negative. The positive ones are mostly nostalgia, along the lines of “just enjoy the game and feel the nostalgia”. But the negative ones go into a lot more detail.
Why is Shrek 2 Remastered getting bad reviews?
The complaints fall into four groups.
Crashes. One group of friends said online co-op crashed eight times in under an hour. Aspyr confirmed on November 10 that the game was crashing on launch for some players on Steam Machine, and on November 11 it pushed an additional hotfix for crashes on Steam PC, Steam Machine and Steam Deck. Some players replied that they were still crashing after the update, and others said their controllers stopped being recognised.
Progression blockers. A reviewer with eight hours in the game hit a hard stop on Jack and Jill’s House, where a cow stopped moving properly after being hit. Commenters helped them through it by clearing everything in the cow’s path first. Other players have flagged the Prison Break level, and one forum thread says high frame rates make the chase and escape sequences impossible to beat.
It plays like the 2004 game. This is the one that comes up most. Reviewers say the camera, the keyboard and mouse controls and the AI companions who get in your way are the same as on PS2, and call it a port rather than a remaster. Cutscenes don’t fill the screen either; several reviews mention big borders around them, and there’s no ultrawide support.
Suspected AI art. Several reviewers think some textures were upscaled with AI. That’s their suspicion, not something Aspyr has confirmed or addressed, and the Steam page doesn’t include an AI disclosure.
Why do you need an Epic account for Shrek 2 Remastered co-op?
Online co-op runs on Epic Online Services. The Steam page says the game “uses Epic Online Services (EOS) for online multiplayer features” and supports linking that to your Steam account. In practice, that means signing in to an Epic account inside a game you bought on Steam.
Reviewers aren’t happy about it. One said it stopped them playing with a friend, and another said the account link wasn’t working for a lot of people at launch. Local couch co-op for up to four players doesn’t need it, but that’s had its own problems, with players asking on the forums whether local co-op is getting fixed.
Online co-op was one of the headline new features, alongside photo mode, a cheats menu and 4K. So if you bought it to play online with friends, the part that’s new is the part getting the most complaints. If that’s why you want it, I’d wait for a few more patches.
Was the original Shrek 2 game good?
I thought it was the first Shrek game that was bad, and that’s why people were playing Shrek 2 in general. The numbers back that up. The first Shrek game, an Xbox launch title in 2001, got generally negative reviews. Shrek 2 in 2004 scored 70 to 72 on Metacritic on GameCube, PS2 and Xbox, sold more than 4 million copies, and won Favourite Video Game at the 2005 Kids’ Choice Awards.
It was a four-character co-op game where you switch between Shrek, Donkey, Fiona and the rest, with Hero Time challenges for each character. That’s a big part of why people want it back. It was the Shrek game people actually liked.
Did Shrek 2 need a remaster?
I didn’t realise Shrek 2 needed a remaster. It was a solid licensed game for its time, not one people were crying out to have rebuilt. And going by the reviews, players who did want it back wanted the 2004 game with the rough edges fixed, which is the part they say didn’t happen.
There was some goodwill going in, too. The remaster was announced in October with a GTA 6-style trailer, and the reviews that are positive show people still have a soft spot for it. The physical editions don’t ship until 2027, so Aspyr has time to fix things before those land.
FAQ
Is Shrek 2 Remastered worth $30? Going by Steam reviews, not yet. Only 39% of 596 reviews are positive, and the common advice in them is to wait for a sale and more patches.
Does Shrek 2 Remastered need an Epic account? For online co-op on Steam, yes. The game uses Epic Online Services for online multiplayer, linked to your Steam account.
What platforms is Shrek 2 Remastered on? PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2 and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store. It launched on November 10, 2026.
