Resident Evil 2 was a masterpiece when it was initially launched greater than 25 years in the past on the unique PlayStation, and it was a masterpiece when it was gorgeously remade in 2019. Capcom’s remake is now on Xbox Sport Move for the primary time, and it’s one of many best suggestions I could make. It units the usual for a modern-day remake of a groundbreaking online game, and helped encourage final 12 months’s equally nice Useless Area remake.
For the horror-averse, Resident Evil 2 will not be for the faint of coronary heart. The remake is bloody and gory. The sport is stuffed with surprising moments and well-earned leap scares. The reasonable casting of shadows from a personality’s flashlight has spooked me extra instances than I’d prefer to admit. However as zombie video games go, Resident Evil 2 is immensely gratifying, with intelligent puzzles to resolve and a satisfying, solely barely tacky story.
However don’t simply play the Resident Evil 2 remake to completion; I like to recommend taking part in it via to its finish once more. And once more. After which 5 extra instances. Resident Evil 2 is price replaying till all of the meat has been picked clear from the bone, figuratively talking, as subsequent playthroughs supply new challenges, highly effective unlockables, and contemporary views on tips on how to survive Capcom’s model of horror.
Resident Evil 2 warrants a number of playthroughs primarily based on its construction. Gamers have the choice of beginning the sport as both Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield, after which, after beating it, taking part in via a extra condensed model of the story as the opposite character. These “Second Run” playthroughs allow you to go to new areas, encounter completely different characters, and fill in gaps within the sport’s story.
After beating the sport a minimum of as soon as, I counsel the next: Beat it once more in underneath three and a half hours to realize an S rank, unlocking a gun that provides you infinite ammo. Then take Resident Evil 2 for one more spin, this time with out the strain of ammunition shortage and with a newfound familiarity of the sport’s map and puzzles.
Revisiting the sport this week, I cozied up with my Samurai Edge pistol — the one with countless bullets — an unbreakable knife, and Polygon’s information to puzzles and secure combos in an try to finish an S+ rank runthrough of RE2 on hardcore mode. Which means I can solely save the sport a complete of 3 times, and enemies are a lot harder to take down.
However regardless of the strain of taking part in on a better problem degree, taking the sport in hourlong chunks between saves turns RE2 into one thing extra akin to a roguelike. I see how far I could make it, on this now-familiar place, earlier than I have to save once more (or die attempting). I’m nonetheless plugging my manner via it, in pursuit of securing its Platinum trophy, and looking out ahead to one more runthrough once I’m carried out (subsequent, I’ll go for the “A Small Carbon Footprint” problem, which requires lower than 14,000 steps complete).
It’s an odd taste of consolation meals, maybe, taking part in via a scary sport time and again. It’s like a Saturday afternoon rewatch of The Shawshank Redemption or The Hunt for Crimson October on TBS; I do know the beats, I’m nonetheless captivated by the deaths and the drama, however I stroll away happy, blissful to revisit it once more later.
Whenever you’re carried out with Resident Evil 2, from a narrative and replay perspective, there’s much more. For one more replayable, shorter, however tougher expertise, there are a number of Survivors modes. They’re price taking part in too, if solely to expertise the joys of battling zombies as a big block of tofu.