This whole remakes are new games or not debate are giving me Ship of Theseus paradox vibes
For me games are about software development much more than gameplay. Saying reausing the gameplay does not make a game new it's like saying a movie remake with the exaclty same screenplay is not a new movie. Like, can we really say Lion King and Lion King lice action are the same movie only with a different animation technique? (Original being 2D cartoonish animation, remake being a 3D photorelistic motion-captured animation)
Of course no, because just like games aren't mainly about gameplay (but from coding and overall development) movies are more about filming filming and editing. The process seems more important than the actual product.
Of course, writing the screenplay and the elaborating a gameplay obviously counts in as part of the process but you can reuse them and integrate as part of a new development cycle
Keeping the same energy, from a software standpoint as long the game developed source code, assets and models are mostly original then it counts as a new game
When I release a patch of an old system, I'm still working using the source of the original system. Even if it comes to a point the source code now it's not even 10% it was originally, still "the same" system, because every iteration was built in the back of an preexisting original software
When I'm creating a brand new system, even when I reuse identical user-cases and usability in practice what really counts is how my back code is being written. Don't dare me to say I'm developing the same system because technology and methods behind this new software can be completely different even if the user don't perceive it as a new software
