ANOTHER TAKE: A Newcomers Perspective on Resident Evil 2

Writer’s Note: Sometimes, release dates can suck. While there is no doubt that Resident Evil 2 is the first big game of consequence of 2019, it has to be noted that it is sharing a release window with one of the most anticipated games in years (and one I’ll be reviewing): Kingdom Hearts 3. In Stat X Media, there is no bigger long-time fan of the Resident Evil  series than our own Parker Hanson, which is why he’s doing our official review of the game coming later tonight (his first full playthrough impressions are live). While no one knows the Resident Evil series like Parker’s fandom dating back to the late 90’s, me being a relatively newer fan of the series (starting with 2009’s Resident Evil 5) and someone that also beat Leon’s first full playthrough, I wanted to share my take on the game from a different perspective.

When I think of the survival horror genre, I think about my entry point in the late 2000’s. This was the time when the genre started seeing a massive shift from what it was known for: a genre of supply scarcity and stress management. My entry to this genre came after 2005’s Resident Evil 4 (a game I didn’t experience in its entirety until the HD versions hit in 2011). This game is the one that set a mold for third person shooters going forward, from the over-the-shoulder perspective and a new level of depth in shot detection and context sensitive design. It also imbued something not seen in the survival genre before: the power fantasy. Supply scarcity was counteracted by upgradeable equipment. Any stress generated was replaced by the catharsis of dominating once scary opponents. The survival horror genre evolved, becoming more action games with a horror motif than games that legitimately scared you.

Experiencing the genre through the lense of the Dead Space series and the later Resident Evil games Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, I never experienced what true survival horror was back in the day. The timing was also funny cause my experience with Capcom’s series came at a time where the later entries were reviled for straying too far into the action realm and abandoning its survival horror roots. Going back and playing the original Resident Evil game through the remake in 2015, it was startling to experience a game so obtuse in the way it played (the tank controls were terrible), but so fascinating in its interlocked, adventure-like design.

When Capcom announced they were also going to remake the sequel, I was expecting that game to just be a 1-on-1 remake like the original. I surely wasn’t expecting for them to go the extra mile and make a game that, from how it looks and how it plays, is basically a new game.

This is where as a relative newcomer, I can appreciate even more what Capcom did. Having no idea or any ties to that original game, I’m literally experiencing a new game from Capcom. It’s fascinating to experience a remake that stands on its own two legs without it winking or nodding to any prior version. More importantly, it is also fascinating to experience something that feels like the start of a renaissance of what people used to consider true survival horror.

The truth is, Capcom has been on the path of course-correction for a while. 2017’s Resident Evil 7 was their first attempt at providing a new game in the series that was closer to the item scarcity, more adventure-style feel of the original game while still feeling like a modern game. What’s impressive is how, with Resident Evil 2, they actually were able to translate the engine powering Resident Evil 7 (which was designed to be entirely in first person), and make it feel exactly the same and completely natural in the over-the-shoulder perspective the series was known for with Resident Evil 4. They somehow managed to make a game that has the perspective of the fourth entry, yet feels modern and completely different at the same time while fully embracing the early entries’ scary roots.

The remake of Resident Evil 2 will stress you out. A lot. In the course of the first three hours, I literally took 3-bathroom breaks to break the tension. The game’s atmosphere is dreary, intense and never lets up. The game’s gorgeous, horrible looking environments are designed in a way that, at any given moment, anything can pop up to startle you. This game’s third person perspective manages to outdo the stress from the first-person perspective of Resident Evil and does so by focusing on one key feature: the power fantasy doesn’t exist in this game. Despite packing a cavalcade of zombies, the monstrous lickers and some weird plant abominations, the game intentionally doesn’t equip you to eliminate everything you see. Item/bullet scarcity and limited inventory continuously puts you between a rock and a hard place, especially when making the tough choices of freeing your inventory to carry important puzzle pieces. Zombies may sometimes take up to 7 headshots to fully go down. Enemies you take out don’t randomly drop ammo you can use later. Everything you do, everything you use, everything you waste matters. It’s a feeling of constant defeat I haven’t seen in a game in a long while, which can deliver some of the greatest thrills, and also some of the game’s biggest annoyances.

To me, nothing represents the highs and lows of the game’s stress better than the Tyrant. This hulking beast dressed up as a detective appears close to halfway through and delivers both the game’s best and worst moments. The Tyrant takes the concept of the father in Resident Evil 7 and stretches it to the breaking point. This dude will literally follow you EVERYWHERE. It doesn’t matter if you are in one of the game’s designated “Safe Areas”. He’ll follow you there, sometimes appearing at the most random corners without any notice. The scare factor of just listening to the Tyrant walk around, and the thrill of running into him and planning and execute an escape provides one of the most rewarding feelings of any game, but also comes at the expense of the game’s sense of adventure and discovery. If you are someone that likes to take their time, scour every corner of every room, looking for clues and explore to their hearts content, the appearance of the Tyrant severely hurts that experience as you’ll have to rush all the time. With the game divided into rooms that unlock later, don’t be surprised if you find yourself missing something valuable later in the game because you were busy trying to evade this hulking idiot.

Despite some of the drawbacks of the consistent sense of stress provided by the Tyrant, this version of Resident Evil 2 has to be commended for being the first entry in the series to be able to maintain a sense of dread towards its enemies better than any other entry before it. Even when the game starts taking the turn towards the sci-fi like elements of the game’s virus near the end, playing in those scenarios are still places to not take lightly. The lack of any power fantasy throughout pays dividends, as the enemies near the end will always have the same quirks as the ones at the beginning.

Because of the timing of release and no review deadline to worry about, in order for me to experience as much as I could from this title before the next big game comes out in the coming days, I decided to try out the game through its “Assisted Mode”. Being the top option of the three “difficulty” options, I assumed it was the “Easy” option. Boy was I wrong. The “Assisted Mode” enabled Aim Assist and a bit more resistance to hits, but the intensity of the enemies, the item scarcity, the stress, it all still feels just as intense as the game’s “Standard” mode I tried with the game’s 1-Shot demo. Like Parker mentioned in his first impressions article, this game is not a necessarily easy entry point for people with no prior experience with survival horror. If you come into this game with the action mentality of prior entries (especially with the game’s tight gameplay), prepare to get your teeth kicked in even in the “Easy” mode.

Having finished the first of the allegedly 4 playthroughs of the game, there is more to the game than meets the eye. And the best part is, the game respects your time. In an era where we’re seeing so many games bloat up their length time to deliver a sense of “Value” at the cost of the game’s quality, it is good to see a game that knows when to end at the right time. My “Assisted Mode” playthrough clocked me around the 7 hour mark, and with the game emphasizing players to finish all the available playthroughs to experience the entirety of the story, there is still a lot of game to be had. But if each playthrough clocks around the same time, it still a great value itself.

Ultimately, flaws and all, I have to commend Capcom for the tremendous quality of this release. Despite the cynical nature of remakes these days, where they’re only seen as signs of creative bankruptcy trying to capitalize on something old, Capcom went above and beyond to make this feel completely like a new game. For people like me that came to the series later, this game does a good enough job to be something that can be easily understood on its own without any prior knowledge of the original PlayStation release. Furthermore, Capcom has now raised the bar for remakes, and any developer looking into bringing back something from their old catalogue now has a high bar to meet. Highly recommend people to give this game a try. Unless they can’t handle horror-induced stress. If you are one of those people, stay away.

Look for our official review later tonight.

All images captured through the PlayStation 4's share feature.