Resident Evil 2 (2019) or: The RE2make

It's October, so what better time than now to bring my horror marathon back to where we (almost) started: Resident Evil 2. I think I love this game.

I played this on my PS5.

Much like RE7 before it, I went into this game with very high expectations. The original Resident Evil 2 is one of my favorites in the series so the idea of seeing that game through a new lens was exciting. Sure, Raccoon City has been done to death in all of the spinoffs I've played, but a "proper" return to it still had some appeal to me.

The game starts with this beautiful render of a burger.

If somehow you aren't aware what this one is, it's a third-person remake of Resident Evil 2. It takes the environments, plot, and general progression of that game and repurposes it for a "modern" action game. You'll still be aimlessly roaming around looking for keys and fiddling with arcane puzzles, but the combat and general movement has been fully overhauled. And, let me tell you, this game feels good to play. You'll kind of just have to take my word on that because I don't know how else to convey that the shooting and mobility in this make you feel pretty adept. Critical headshots give off a satisfying "pop", and shotgun blasts are appropriately messy and visceral.

Look at that gore!

The story is, well, it's Resident Evil 2. It's the same general beats and progression, just done in higher fidelity and with new performances. It's good. New-Leon sounds like a giddy schoolboy at times, which takes some getting used to, but it kind of fits the first-day-on-the-job-rookie aspect of his character. I didn't think the original performances were bad (certainly not as bad as the first game) but it was nice seeing some of the same locations and cutscenes done up in a more "cinematic" style.

Now, you didn't think I'd talk about this game without bringing up Mr. X, did you? Though I'm still not sure where the moniker "Mr. X" even comes from, since it's seemingly only ever referred to as a Tyrant in all the games I've seen it show up in. Anyway, this guy is scary. Once he started showing up I grew considerably tenser because the station was no longer this familiar, relatively safe place I once knew. Yes, you can (usually) hear him coming, but that only makes the dread worse because sometimes he'll pass you by. It's some really ingenious design. Mechanically he's not too dissimilar from RE7's Jack or Marguerite, and functionally he does what the Crimson Heads in the REmake did by keeping explored locations dangerous, but the end result is something truly memorable.

Things were already bad but I wasn't about to let them get a whole lot worse.

I've included my clear screens for my multiple playthroughs below. I was mighty tempted to do four runs through this game, but after being told that there was very little difference with the Leon A vs. Leon B (and same for Claire) I decided I'd stick with just the one set of playthroughs for now. I think I may come back to this game in the future and give Hardcore mode a shot. Anyway, first up is my Leon A, then there's my Claire B.

There were also some bonus modes that I gave a shot. I played through The 4th Survivor (which has you play as Hunk) and thought it was fine, but the other "Ghost Survivors" missions were less enjoyable. I switched them down to "Training" and was able to complete all of them, but I don't have it in me to put in the effort to actually complete them. Still, I've included my times for the Hunk chapter and then the four (training mode) Ghost Survivors missions.

This game is fantastic. The original Resident Evil 2 was one of my favorite RE games before this and with this remake there's yet another contender for "best game in the series". I've honestly got no idea how I'd rank the games at this point, but I can see why this one was such a tour-de-force when it came out. I feel like I should have more to say about it, but I find it's often easier to say why something is bad than why something is good, and this game is simply astounding. It takes so much of the original and modernizes it without losing what made that game special.

To close, and I mentioned it earlier, but there have been a lot of games to include the RPD. Here's all the games featuring Raccoon City I can think of, with the games featuring the RPD station being underlined: the original Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil Outbreak, Resident Evil Outbreak: File  #2, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Umbrella Corps, and now this RE2make. I know the RE3make will also feature it (or it should, anyhow) and through some cursory Googling I can see Resident Evil Resistance and RE:Verse both have maps set in Raccoon City, because of course they do (though I don't currently plan to play either of these). Capcom has gone back to this particular well a number of times.