I recently played the 30 minute one-shot demo of Resident Evil 2’s upcoming remake over the weekend, which, as anyone who knows me, will know that I have been counting down the days until I can get my hands on this as the original is something that will forever hold a special place to me.
I had hoped that the remake would be amazing, something that held true to the original whilst refreshing the game just enough to be a new experience that lives up to the original and even perhaps surpasses it. As it turns out, after playing the demo, I was totally right to think these things. I started the demo with a level of trepidation, as mentioned above I had unreasonably high expectations of the game, but from the second I started the Demo I had fallen in love with Capcom’s newest iteration.
Firstly, I roamed around Racoon City Police Station’s entrance hall, and as I did so, everything felt so familiar and brought huge levels of joy to me… But at the same time everything felt different, polished and the general layout of the entrance hall was very different to what I have been used to for the past 20 years of replaying Resident Evil 2. This is the true essence of the way Resident Evil 2 has been remade, everything feels that bit more polished and stands to make the world of Resident Evil 2 represent what feels like Capcom’s true vision of the game they released all those years ago.
So I leaned back onto what I remember from the original and went in through all the processes that I had become oh so familiar with over the years… But it didn’t work. This is the first time with the demo that I realised they had brought in enough new content to satisfy veterans of the game such as myself, but there I was, trembling, as I lead myself through the game’s frst corridoor, and came across my first Zombie.
HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.
Zombies in Resident Evil 2’s remake are absolutely terrifying. Capcom has done an absolutely stellar job with the undead here, giving them incredibly erratic AI that has a new level or persistence when it comes to devouring you as quickly as possible. One moment that stands out for me is as I was walking up 3 flights of stairs, one particular Zombie was so adamantly trying to get at me that he fell over the banister and dropped 3 flights of stairs, broke his legs and STILL FUCKING CRAWLED AFTER ME. My wife took a photo of me playing this section and honestly, that is the look of pure fear on a friday night.
As a mention to the Zombies of RE2 they are using the physics engine of RE7, which is to say that the rotting, infested bodies of each of the undead are totally perfect; at one point I drew my knife and slashed the arm of an undead twice – which opened the arm as I watched each tendon snap before the arm totally fell off – not that it stopped the thing coming after me though.
Leon (Who you play as in the demo, but by extension I assume Clare as well) has been absolutely refined to perfection. Everything down to the speed he runs at has been absolutely nailed for the remake as you hesitantly run the corridoors of RE2’s iconic police station. The added ability to move while you aim is an absolute godsend as well, especially given the new erratic nature of the undead.
If you havent had a chance yet, I implore you to play through the oneshot demo and I challenge you not to pre order the game the second you finish it. Everything is so perfect and I honestly cannot wait to get my hands on the full package.